The 2020 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team represented the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

in the

2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 151st season of college football games in the United States. Organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision ...

. The Ragin' Cajuns played their home games at

Cajun Field Cajun Field is a football stadium located on the South Campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the city of Lafayette, Louisiana. Nicknamed The Swamp, it is the home field of Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns athletics. Cajun Field is primaril ...

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette (, ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the most populous city and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth largest incorporated municipality by population and the 234th- ...

, and competed in the West Division of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

. They were led by third-year head coach

Billy Napier William Hall Napier (born July 21, 1979) is an American football coach currently serving as head coach at the University of Florida. From 2017 until 2021, he served as head coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, amassing a 40–12 rec ...

. The Cajuns began the season with an away matchup against a preseason top-25

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

and concluded their regular season at conference and in-state rival Louisiana–Monroe. Shortly before the season began, Offensive Line Assistant Coach D. J. Looney, 31, died of a heart attack while at practice on August 1, 2020. He was honored at the Week 9 matchup against UAB in his hometown of

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, where players all wore Looney's name on their jerseys. The win over Iowa State marked the first victory against a ranked team on the road in team history, the second victory ever against a ranked team, and the highest ranked team ever defeated. The following week, the Cajuns were nationally ranked for the first time since the 1940s, reaching 19th in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

. During their Week 2 overtime victory against

Georgia State Georgia state or ''variation'', may refer to: Primarily * Georgia State University ("State", "Georgia State"), a state university * Georgia (U.S. state) ("Georgia state"), a state of the United States of America Sports * sports teams of Georgia St ...

, the Cajuns secured their first victory in overtime since the 2005 conference matchup against the

Troy Trojans The Troy Trojans are the sports teams of Troy University. They began playing in the NCAA's Division I-A in 2001, became a football only member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2004, and joined that conference for all other sports in 2005. Troy Univer ...

. During Week 14, Louisiana was ranked for the first time ever in the

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

rankings, at No. 25. This was also the first time the Cajuns had been ranked in the three major college football rankings (No. in the 20 AP Poll, No. 21 in the

Coaches Poll The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officially ...

, and No. 25 in the CFP rankings). During Week 14, the Cajuns defeated

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

for the first time in school history, bringing their all-time record against the Mountaineers to 1–8. The Cajuns ended their season by defeating the

UTSA Roadrunners The UTSA Roadrunners is a collegiate athletic program that represents the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). The UTSA Roadrunners are also commonly referred to as "UTSA", "Roadrunners", "Runners", “The Meep Meeps”, or simply “The Bi ...

in the

2020 First Responder Bowl The 2020 First Responder Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 26, 2020, with kickoff at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time Zone, EST (2:30 p.m. local Central Time Zone, CST) on ESPN College Football on ABC, ABC. It was the 11th e ...

. Senior RB

Elijah Mitchell Elijah I. Mitchell (born May 2, 1998) is an American football running back for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Louisiana. Early life and high school Mitchell grew up in Erath, Louisi ...

earned the bowl game MVP. This also marked the first time a Sun Belt team took part in that bowl game.

Previous season

The Ragin' Cajuns finished the 2019 season 11–3, 7–1 in Sun Belt play to finish in first place in the West Division for the second consecutive year in the Sun Belt Conference. The Ragin' Cajuns then played in the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game, losing to

38–45. The Cajuns, finishing second overall in the Sun Belt, were invited to play in the

LendingTree Bowl The LendingTree Bowl is a postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game that has been played annually in Mobile, Alabama since 1999. In 2021, the game was moved from Ladd-Peebles Stadium to Hancock Whitney Stadium, on the ...

, their first time taking part in the annual

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

bowl game. They played Miami, OH and won their third overall bowl game by the score of 27–17. For the first time in decades, the Cajuns received upwards of 26 votes in the

USA Today Coaches Poll The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officiall ...

and 2 in the

Preseason

Recruiting class

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Preseason

References:

Season/Postseason

References:

Sun Belt coaches poll

The Sun Belt coaches poll was released on August 25, 2020. The Cajuns were picked to finish first in the West with 47 votes and second in the conference behind

Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference teams

Offense ''1st team'' *

(LA, SR, Running Back) ''2nd team'' *Levi Lewis (LA, SR, Quarterback) * Trey Ragas (LA, R-SR, Running Back) *Max Mitchell (LA, JR, Offensive Lineman) *O'Cyrus Torrence (LA, SO, Offensive Lineman) Defense ''1st team'' *Joe Dillon (LA, R-SR, Linebacker) ''2nd team'' *Zi'Yon Hill (LA, R-JR, Defensive Lineman) *Eric Garror (LA, JR, Cornerback) Special Teams ''1st team'' *Rhys Burns (LA, JR, Punter) ''2nd teams'' *Eric Garror (LA, JR, Return Specialist)

Athlon Sports Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference teams

Offense ''1st team'' *

– SR, Running Back *Max Mitchell – JR, Offensive Line ''2nd team'' *Levi Lewis – SR, Quarterback * Trey Ragas – R-SR, Running Back ''3rd team'' *O'Cyrus Torrence – SO, Offensive Line ''4th team'' *Jamal Bell – SR, Wide Receiver *Shane Vallot – R-JR, Offensive Line Defense ''1st team'' *Joe Dillon – R-SR, Linebacker ''2nd team'' *Zi'Yon Hill – R-JR, Defensive Line * Percy Butler – JR, Safety ''3rd team'' *Chauncey Manac – R-SR, Linebacker *Eric Garror – JR, Cornerback ''4th team'' *Kris Moncrief – JR, Linebacker *Asjlin Washington – JR, Cornerback *Kam Pedescleaux – R-SO, Safety Special Teams ''1st team'' *Rhys Burns – JR, Punter *Eric Garror – JR, Return Specialist References:

Lindy's Sports Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference teams

During the announcement, Lindy's also picked the Cajuns to win their third-consecutive Sun Belt West Division Championship as well as named Senior running back Elijah Mitchell to the Preseason Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year. Offense ''1st team'' *

– SR, Running Back ''2nd team'' *Levi Lewis – SR, Quarterback * Trey Ragas – R-SR, Running Back Defense ''1st team'' *Joe Dillon – R-SR, Linebacker ''2nd team'' *Zi'Yon Hill – R-JR, Defensive Line Special Teams ''1st team'' *Rhys Burns – JR, Punter ''References:

Personnel

Schedule

The 2020 schedule consists of 6 home and 6 away games in the regular season. The Ragin' Cajuns will travel to Sun Belt foes

Texas State Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

and Louisiana–Monroe. The Cajuns will play host to Sun Belt foes

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...

Coastal Carolina Coastal Carolina University (CCU or Coastal) is a public university in Conway, South Carolina. Founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College, and later joining the University of South Carolina System as USC Coastal Carolina, it became an in ...

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage l ...

, and

South Alabama South Alabama is the various parts of southern Alabama. Although it is not a strictly defined geographic region, it generally includes all Alabama counties south of the Black Belt. In that view, ''South Alabama'' consists of just the two counties ...

. The Ragin' Cajuns will host one of the three non-conference opponents at

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of ...

, from

NCAA Division I FCS The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

, and will travel to

of the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

and UAB of the

C-USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

. Louisiana had a game against

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

, which were canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On August 12, the Cajuns and Iowa State reached an agreement to play each other. This game will replace the Cajuns' Wyoming game that was canceled. On August 13, New Mexico State decided to postpone all their fall sports to the spring. This canceled their October 23 contest with Louisiana. On August 17, McNeese pulled out of the agreement to play Louisiana in the Herbert Heymann Classic on September 5. On August 20, the Cajuns reached agreements with UAB and Central Arkansas to play them away on October 23 and home on November 21, respectively. :Schedule Source:

Game summaries

at Iowa State

at Georgia State

Georgia Southern

Coastal Carolina

at UAB

at Texas State

Arkansas State

South Alabama

at Louisiana–Monroe

at Appalachian State

vs. UTSA (First Responder Bowl)

Postseason Accolade

Rankings

Players drafted into the NFL

Notes

:1. Many games during the 2020 season denoted “0” in attendance due to

regulations. See Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

{{Sun Belt Conference football champions

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football seasons Sun Belt Conference football champion seasons First Responder Bowl champion seasons

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football program is a college football team that represents the University of Louisiana at Lafayette at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. Since 1971, the t ...