LAFAYETTE, La. -- Arkansas State University and Louisiana-Lafayette do not enjoy each other.
Without a school nearby to cause regional friction, the Ragin' Cajuns are the Red Wolves' largest rival.
It just so happens Arkansas State (4-3, 1-2 Sun Belt Conference) needs to beat the Ragin' Cajuns at 6 p.m. tonight at Cajun Field.
"This just has always been that hot-headed, energetic environment," ASU Coach Blake Anderson said. "That's purely out of competitive nature of the two football teams."
Carrying two conference losses, the Red Wolves are in no position to lose a third, especially not against their first West Division opponent on the year.
An ASU loss in head-to-head matchups against West Division opponents (Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, Texas State) likely would remove any chance the Red Wolves have at qualifying for the Sun Belt Championship Game on Dec. 1.
As of today, the West is a tossup and the East is a powerhouse. Louisiana-Monroe is 2-1 and sits ahead of ASU and Louisiana-Lafayette (3-4, 1-2), which are tied for second. In the East, Troy and Georgia Southern are tied at 4-0, with Appalachian State in third place at 3-1.
The brewing rivalry has stakes.
"We need to win a game just because we need to win a game," Anderson said. "It just so happens that it's them."
Arkansas State has met the Cajuns 45 times, the second-most games against any opponent in school history next to Memphis at 57. The home team is 14-3 in the past 17 meetings and has won four in a row since Louisiana-Lafayette's 55-40 victory in 2014 doused this rivalry with lighter fluid.
Sixteen penalties were called, and eight were for unsportsmanlike conduct. Two players were ejected. One of two ejected Red Wolves spit on a Cajun player. Two other Red Wolves were later reprimanded by the Sun Belt for in-game incidents that "could have led to serious injury," per a Sun Belt news release.
"There's been a lot of water under the bridge since then," Anderson said roughly one year after ASU beat the Cajuns 47-3 in 2017. "We handled ourselves last year with them really, really well."
The Red Wolves and Ragin' Cajuns have played two of the same teams this season: No. 1 Alabama and No. 25 Appalachian State.
Arkansas State's 57-7 loss to the Tide on Sept. 8 and Louisiana-Lafayette's 56-14 loss Sept. 29 do little as far as scouting each other.
The Appalachian State losses, ASU's 35-9 defeat on Oct. 9 and Louisiana-Lafayette's 27-17 loss to the Mountaineers last weekend, provide a better look at what's to come.
"I think the last few weeks are a lot better for us to look at, in terms of comparison," Anderson said. "Nobody matches up to Alabama. In fact, them and us have matched up with them as good as anybody all year. I don't take a lot of account, in particular, into that game."
The scouting report on the Ragin' Cajuns is they are large and can run the football.
Sophomore running back Trey Ragas (97.1 ypg) and senior running back Elijah Mitchell (71.0 ypg) have rushed for 1,117 yards in seven games in Coach Billy Napier's first season.
"They're playing hard, too," Anderson said. "One of the first things you always look for when you have a coaching change is just the energy level that they play with and the excitement going around with what they're doing. And they are playing extremely hard."
Sports on 10/27/2018