2017 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team

The 2017 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team represented the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Ragin' Cajuns played their home games at Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana, and competed in the Sun Belt Conference. They were led by seventh-year head coach Mark Hudspeth. They finished the season 5–7, 4–4 in Sun Belt play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place.

On December 3, the day following their final season game (a blowout lost against Appalachian State 63-14), head coach Mark Hudspeth was fired. He finished with a seven-year record of 51–38. However, due to NCAA sanctions in 2016 because former assistant coach David Saunders arranged fraudulent college entrance exams for recruits, his official record was 29–38. On December 15, the school hired Billy Napier as head coach.

Preseason All–Conference Team
Offensive
 * OL Kevin Dotson (second team)
 * WR Keenan Barnes (Third Team)
 * OL Robert Hunt (Third Team)
 * OL D'Aquin Withrow (Third Team)

Defense
 * DL Joe Dillon (first team)
 * DB Tracy Walker (Third Team)

Specialists
 * K Stevie Artigue (first team)

Schedule
Louisiana announced its 2017 football schedule on March 1, 2017. The 2017 schedule consisted of five home and seven away games in the regular season. The Ragin' Cajuns hosted Sun Belt foes Georgia Southern, Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico State, and Texas State, and traveled to Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Idaho, and South Alabama

The Ragin' Cajuns hosted one of the four non-conference opponents, Southeastern Louisiana from the Southland Conference, and traveled to Tulsa from the American Athletic Conference and Southeastern Conference members Ole Miss and Texas A&M.


 * Schedule Source:

Texas State
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