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. Previous season. The Ragin' Cajuns finished the 2016 season 6–7, 5–3 in Sun Belt play to finish in fifth place. They were invited to the New Orleans Bowl where they lost to Southern Miss. Preseason. Sun Belt Media Day. Preseason All–Conference Team. "Offensive" "Defense" "Specialists" 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.