On Saturday, Louisiana football eyes its first Sun Belt championship game title facing Coastal Carolina in Conway, a rematch of the Chanticleers' 30-27 win in Lafayette in October.
Even though Coastal is ranked higher, at home, and won head-to-head, the team's head coach Jeremy Chadwell calls Louisiana the favorite.
"[Louisiana] had a chance to rest and get everybody back,” he said. "If you’ve got a team that’s full-go, and you’ve got a team that’s not, no matter what happened previously, I would think they would be the team that has the chance to be most fresh and ready to go. That's they way I view it, and our team feels like the underdog coming into this."
Chadwell has been unhappy with the scheduling and Cajuns' week off for a week. Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill, though, would not pander to the Coastal coach Monday.
This rematch has all the smoke of a championship game. The Cajuns, who lost two SBC title games to Appalachian State the last two years, does have the "big game experience."
Senior linebacker Ferrod Gardner said Louisiana has the want-to, too.
"You say you want to be great, this is another opportunity to show the world how great we are," he said. "They're a great team, this is a great opportunity for them as well. I just know we want it more."
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