LAFAYETTE (Press Release) – Featuring seven games in the state of Louisiana and three national broadcasts on ESPN2 and ESPNU, Louisiana Football’s 2019 campaign was announced by the Sun Belt Conference on Friday morning.
The schedule stacks up nicely for Ragin’ Cajuns fans with six games at Cajun Field, along with the season opener against Southeastern Conference-opponent Mississippi State (Saturday, Aug. 31). The exciting matchup will be played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. Fans interested in painting downtown New Orleans and the Superdome in Vermilion can visit RaginCajuns.com/NOLA19 for ticket information. Season ticket requests and renewals for 2019 are being taken by the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office at the Cajundome, which includes all six games at Cajun Field.
“Our entire organization is extremely excited about the 2019 Louisiana Football schedule,” head coach Billy Napier said. “It is a tremendous opportunity. We get to represent the University, Acadiana and all Ragin’ Cajuns across the country on national television three different times. We look forward to playing six home games right here at Cajun Field, and also opening the season in our home state in New Orleans. In the meantime, we are hard at work building the identity of our 2019 team and preparing for the challenges ahead.”
Of Louisiana’s six contests in Lafayette, three games will come against opponents who were postseason eligible a season ago, including a highly anticipated Sun Belt title game rematch with Appalachian State (Wednesday, Oct. 9). The Ragin’ Cajuns also welcome Troy (Saturday, Nov. 23) and ULM (Saturday, Nov. 30), both of which were bowl eligible in 2018.
Fans unable to attend the games will still be able to catch the action across the ESPN Family of Networks. Three games will air on ESPN2 or ESPNU and all other home contests and league matchups will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Louisiana opens the season with four-straight non-conference games beginning with the blockbuster matchup with Mississippi State to kick off the season. Coach Napier’s squad then hosts Liberty (Saturday, Sept. 7) and Texas Southern (Saturday, Sept. 14) over the next two weekends before traveling to Athens, Ohio, to face Ohio (Saturday, Sept. 21) before its first league game.
The Ragin’ Cajuns’ Sun Belt opener will be played on the road at Georgia Southern (Saturday, Sept. 28) before heading into their first of two bye weeks, a new addition to the scheduling format this season. The bye week was placed to help avoid weekend conflicts with the University’s Fall Break.
Coming out of the bye week, Appalachian State visits on October 9 for the Wednesday-night, primetime matchup on ESPN2. The Wednesday game allows fans to partake in the upcoming Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, which begins the following day. The second of three midweek games occurs eight days later when the Ragin’ Cajuns travel to Jonesboro, Arkansas, for a date with Arkansas State (Thursday, Oct. 17) on ESPNU.
Following its second bye week, Louisiana welcomes Texas State (Saturday, Nov. 2) to Lafayette for Homecoming Weekend before turning things around quickly and hitting the road for an ESPNU contest at Coastal Carolina (Thursday, Nov. 7). The final road game of the season will be played at South Alabama (Saturday, Nov. 16).
The season concludes with a two-game homestand around the week of Thanksgiving when Troy (Saturday, Nov. 23) comes to town, followed by ULM (Saturday, Nov. 30).
To access the full 2019 schedule, click here.
