Do latest bowl projections see Louisiana football winning Sun Belt Conference?
Entering the 2023 college football season's final regular season month, Louisiana football needs one more win to reach bowl game eligibility.
The Ragin' Cajuns (5-3, 2-2) snatched up another big-time Sun Belt Conference win last weekend, this time a huge West division matchup at South Alabama, 33-20.
What's important for UL is its still very much alive, and actually sitting in a great spot with two West wins over the Jags and Texas State, to contend for the divisional championship.
When breaking down Louisiana's bowl projections as the season hits November, there are some nods to it winning the Sun Belt title. How many pundits believe the Cajuns will win the conference come season's end? Let's take a look.
The Sun Belt Conference this season has five primary bowl game tie-ins and, if there’s space, could have as many as eight landing spots like the 2022 season.
Few Louisiana football bowl projections suggest it could win Sun Belt Conference
For the first time this season, some national experts think the Ragin' Cajuns can capture the conference title.
It's not likely any Sun Belt team will be the highest rated Group of Five team so it can forget about any New Year's Six Bowl spot. In this instance more often than not, the league champion automatically falls into the New Orleans Bowl.
The Athletic and College Football News predict UL to land in the New Orleans Bowl (Dec. 16, 1:15 p.m.). The most fascinating forecasted matchup there is against possible Conference USA champion Liberty.
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Where Ragin' Cajuns could most likely play in a bowl game?
If you follow the prognosticators, Louisiana will most likely play in the First Responder Bowl (Dec. 26, 4:30 p.m.) in Dallas.
For the past couple of weeks, this has been where the majority of projections have listed UL. This week, ESPN's Kyle Bonagura, CBS Sports' Jerry Palm and Athlon's Steven Lassen all have the Cajuns in the First Responder Bowl but the matchups are varied with a couple being Power Five teams.
Predicted opponents are UCF, South Carolina and Rice.
Other bowl game destinations for Cajuns
The Frisco Bowl (Dec. 19, 8 p.m.) is still another popular guess. Sporting News and USA Today project UL in Frisco during bowl game season and that game has intriguing matchups listed with Memphis and Mississippi State being the opponents.
Outlier projected destinations for Louisiana are the Camellia Bowl (Dec. 23, 11 a.m.) in Montgomery, Alabama, the 68 Ventures Bowl (Dec. 23, 6 p.m.) in Mobile and the Boca Raton Bowl (Dec. 21, 7 p.m.).
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Where Louisiana football stands in latest bowl game projections
