ULL Ranks 3rd in Preseason Sun Belt Poll, Places 5 On All-SBC Team

UL-Lafayette entering the field 

With a new coach and increased fan base, Louisiana Lafayette has come a long ways in college football. The Cajuns, who tied the school record for wins with a 9-4 record last year and finished third in the Sun Belt with a 6-2 record, received two first place votes and 81 total points in the balloting of the league's head coaches.

FIU was picked as the league favorite with five first place votes and 92 points with Arkansas State finishing second with 85 points and two first place votes. The Cajuns were third, well ahead of fourth place Western Kentucky (70 points), who received the final first place vote. Troy was fifth (60) followed by Louisiana-Monroe in sixth (47), Middle Tennessee in seventh (42), North Texas in eighth (36), Florida Atlantic in ninth (23) and South Alabama in 10th (14).

The third place selection is the highest by a UL squad since being picked to win the crown in 2006, the season after the Cajuns won their most-recent title.

Five Ragin‘ Cajuns players were named to the 2012 preseason All-Sun Belt Conference football team. Let’s take a look!

Seniors Brett Baer (Brandon, Miss.), Leonardo Bates (New Orleans, La), Javone Lawson (New Orleans, La) and Melvin White (Freeport, Texas) plus sophomore Alonzo Harris (Gadsden, Ala) were each named to the 26-player preseason team in a balloting of the league's head coaches and select media.

"Being picked to finish third shows how far this program has come in a year and the amount of respect we have gained around the conference," UL head coach Mark Hudspeth said. "It's not where you start, it is where you finish. We have a lot of work to do if we are going to meet our team goal of winning the Sun Belt championship."

The Ragin' Cajuns will report for preseason camp on Aug. 1 with the first on-field practice scheduled for Aug. 2. UL will open the 2012 season at home against Lamar on Saturday, Sept. 1 beginning at 6:00 p.m. in Cajun Field.