Louisiana football schedule 2022: Ranking all 12 Ragin' Cajuns opponents by difficulty

In his first season as coach, Michael Desormeaux will lead Louisiana football against a favorable schedule.

How Desormeaux follows Billy Napier, who turned four tremendous seasons with more than 40 wins and a Sun Belt championship into the Florida job, will be closely watched.

The good news for UL is it has one of the weaker conference slates, avoiding Appalachian State, James Madison and Coastal Carolina, along with a non-conference schedule with at least three winnable games.

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There are plenty of wins for the Ragin’ Cajuns this year. But let’s rank the opponents, easiest to toughest.

12. Arkansas State (home)

Ever since Blake Anderson left Jonesboro for Utah State, Arkansas State hasn’t been the same. The Red Wolves won two games in 2021 and not much more is expected out of them in 2022. Louisiana should roll ASU.

11. Southeastern Louisiana (home)

UL opens the season and the Desormeaux era with the Lions. The Cajuns shouldn’t overlook Southeastern, a FCS foe. Weird things can happen in openers sometimes. Plus, in recent seasons, the Lions have given other Group of Five teams from Louisiana fits, taking both Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana Tech last year down to the wire.

10. Georgia Southern (home)

Clay Helton was fired from Southern Cal and landed in Statesboro this offseason. He’s taking over a rebuild job and GSU’s roster isn’t up for challenging UL this season.

9. Southern Miss (away)

This will be Southern Miss’ first season in the Sun Belt. Coming from Conference USA, the Golden Eagles will struggle this season. It’s going to take Will Hall some time to get USM back to competing for conference titles and Louisiana shouldn’t have a problem, even on the road.

8. ULM (away)

The Cajuns have won four straight in the rivalry series. ULM and UL will meet early in the season in 2022 and will be a tone-setter for rest of Sun Belt play. Terry Bowden led the Warhawks to four wins last season, above their expectations. ULM will be solid but can’t overtake UL.

7. Texas State (away)

Texas State finished second in the Sun Belt West last year. The Bobcats have picked up a couple of immediate impact players out of the transfer portal and should be improved from last season’s 4-8 record. This game being the regular season finale, Texas State could be playing for bowl eligibility and sometime desperate can lead to upsets.

6. Rice (away)

This isn’t your Rice football team from three years ago that was winning two games per season. Mike Bloomgren has started to right the ship in Houston and this will be the most talented Owls teams he’s had going into this fifth season. In UL’s first road game of the Desormeaux era, matching up with Rice will be tricky and will test the Cajuns’ toughness with how Rice plays a smashmouth brand of football.

5. Troy (home)

Yet another Sun Belt team with a first-year coach, as Jon Sumrall takes over the Trojans. Sumrall has extensive background as an assistant in the SEC and knows what it takes to win. Troy will likely be better than it was a year ago at 5-7. The Trojans could be the second-best team, behind Louisiana, in the Sun Belt West.

4. Eastern Michigan (home)

Talk about unfamiliarity. UL and Eastern Michigan have only met twice, with the series tied 1-1. The Eagles have gotten better over the past six years under Chris Creighton with four bowl appearances during that stretch. EMU has upset Purdue and beaten Coastal Carolina in recent years. This is be a challenging, Week 2 matchup for the Ragin’ Cajuns.

3. South Alabama (home)

South Alabama gave UL one of its toughest league games in 2021 with the Ragin’ Cajuns escaping 20-18. With attrition, the Jags could take a small step back in 2022 and it will be interesting to see how they handle the restructure in the league. South Alabama should be in the race for No. 2 in the West behind UL, but Troy should also be in that mix.

2. Florida State (away)

Louisiana won’t have anything to lose in this late season trip to Tallahassee. It’s still unclear how Florida State is going to look this season. Jacksonville State went to Doak Campbell Stadium and beat the Seminoles last year with a roster far less talented than the Cajuns. FSU will be bigger and faster but UL could have a shot.

1. Marshall (away)

Marshall has been one of the more consistent G5 programs in the country the last eight years. And the Thundering Herd, one of the four teams to just join the Sun Belt, should be an immediate contender. This game, a midseason, midweek night game on the road for Louisiana, will require the best effort to get a win. Marshall is a very tough place to play.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Ranking Louisiana Ragin Cajun opponents on 2022 football schedule