Louisiana vs App State Predictions and Odds

Louisiana vs App State Betting Preview

WagerTalk college football handicapper Tony Mejia offers his Louisiana vs App State betting preview for the Sun Belt Championship on Saturday, December 4 at Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana. At the time of posting, the Mountaineers are a 3-point road favorite at Lousisana, with the total sitting at 53 points.

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Louisiana vs App State Predictions

Appalachian State Mountaineers -3 at Louisiana Ragin Cajuns
Total: 53 Points
The Ragin’ Cajuns won the regular season meeting 41-13 win on Oct. 12 in Lafayette. ULL also won and covered last year’s meeting 24-21 at App State.
Since that loss, the Mountaineers are 6-0 straight-up and 5-1 against the spread.
This will be the last home game for Cajun head coach Billy Napier, who has taken the Florida coaching job.

Because Coastal Carolina was robbed of playing in the Sun Belt Championship game last season, the league will have the only two participants ever to square off for the title battling in Lafayette. Appalachian State (10-2, 8-4 ATS) has hosted the only two meetings with Louisiana, winning both. To remain the only team ever to hoist a trophy in this event, the Mountaineers will have to hold serve as a 3-point road favorite.

Oddsmakers installed Appalachian State as ‘chalk’ despite a 28-point loss the first time they ventured into Cajun Country.

The Ragin’ Cajuns (11-1, 5-7 ATS) are in elite company this season, joining No. 1 Georgia and the American’s Cincinnati and Houston as the only teams to get through their conference schedule with a perfect record. East Division champion Appalachian State only lost once, falling in Lafayette 41-13 on Oct. 12. It hasn’t lost since.

Revenge is certainly on the minds of the Mountaineers, who are back in a Sun Belt Championship for the third time in four years after getting beat out by Coastal in the East last season. However, since the Sun Belt Championship game ended up getting canceled due to COVID-19, a conference title game that was created just a few years ago will again be a matchup between the only teams to actually take the field to play for a title.

The revenge angle plays for the Ragin’ Cajuns too since Appalachian State won in both ’18 and ’19, posting victories by scores of 30-19 and 45-38. Louisiana will step out on to Cajun Field looking for its first Sun Belt Championship game win against the only team that can be considered its rival, particularly since the school was 0-8 against the Mountaineers prior to a 24-21 upset in Boone in the 2020 regular-season finale.

This season’s rout, played on a Tuesday night, saw the Cajuns up 20-3 after the first quarter as senior QB Levi Lewis ran for the first score and threw for another. The Mountaineers cut the deficit to 27-13 entering the fourth but were done in by a pair of TD runs from backs Montrell Johnson and Emani Bailey. UL-L outgained App State on the ground 246-78 and limited it to an 0-for-11 showing on third down.

Johnson, a freshman, looks like he’s going to be a special back. Running behind an offensive line that has been productive all season, Johnson has a highlight-reel 99-yard run TD to his credit this season and a team-high 11 touchdowns. Sophomore Chris Smith actually leads the team with 803 rushing yards and a 6.0 average, giving the Cajuns a great backfield one-two punch. Behind strong recruiting and tremendous player development, Louisiana has emerged as a consistent winner going 39-12 over Billy Napier’s four seasons at the helm after he inherited a team that went 15-22 in the three years prior to his arrival.

That success led to Napier being hired as head coach at Florida on Sunday. Despite his imminent departure, he’s set to coach the Ragin’ Cajuns in the Sun Belt Championship game, which will certainly be his last hurrah since he’s not going to coach in a bowl.

Coming off a 21-16 win over Lousiana-Monroe that was much closer than expected, UL-L has now won a school-record 11 consecutive games. With 19 seniors and members of the coaching staff not expected to return, the mission is to walk off Cajun Field with the championship all of those guys pledged to bring to Lafayette. Good luck stepping in front of that. Louisiana should be relatively healthy too, although safety Percy Butler and CB Mekhi Garner sat out the regular-season finale due to undisclosed injuries.

Appalachian State failed to cover a 24.5-point spread in a 27-3 home loss to Georgia Southern on Saturday, ending a run of five consecutive spread victories. Although South Alabama, Troy and Georgia Southern all finished with sub-.500 records, holding the three to 17 combined points is nonetheless impressive.

The Mountaineers have gone 6-0 (5-1 ATS) since losing in Lafayette and were placed in a favorite’s role here. With Napier back for one last mission, the recommendation is to take the points.

What can Oregon do differently to reverse the drubbing they received from Utah two weeks ago? Join Joe, Dave, Adam and Bryan for College Football Daily as we preview this weekend’s NCAAF conference championship games. https://t.co/wRkrItY6DY

— WagerTalk (@WagerTalk) November 30, 2021

Louisiana vs App State Analysis from The GoldSheet

Louisiana vs App State Video Preview

Can the Ragin Cajuns send Billy Napier off with a conference championship? WagerTalk college football handicappers Dave Cokin, Teddy Covers and Ralph Michaels offer their Louisiana vs App State Sun Belt Championship preview.

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