The story Billy Napier hears the most is from the night the goal posts came down.
It was 1996, and the Louisiana football team had scored what some might say was the biggest win in school history. For a program that dates back to 1901 and spans more than 1,130 games, that is saying something.
With college football celebrating 150 years of history this season, the Sun Belt is taking a look back at the history of the conference’s 10 football-playing members.
No football program in the Sun Belt goes further back than the one at this university based in Lafayette, Louisiana. But first, some recent history: The Ragin’ Cajuns had a century of gridiron history when the school began playing football games in the Sun Belt Conference in 2001, the first season the league sponsored the sport.
The first Sun Belt championship came in 2005. Beginning in 2011, the school began a string of playing in four consecutive R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl games at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Last season, after another bowl appearance in New Orleans in 2016, UL played a bowl game outside Louisiana for the first time since 1944 when it played in the Orlando, Florida-based Cure Bowl.
The bowl games are fun, but what happened the night of Sept. 14, 1996, is the stuff of south Louisiana legend.
That’s the night No. 25 Texas A&M came to Cajun Field and played before a then-record crowd of 38,783 fans. With the help of three touchdowns on defense, Louisiana defeated the Aggies 29-22 in a game that saw coach Nelson Stokley carried off the field as the goal posts came down.
Napier wants to see more of that. As the 27th coach in school history, the second-year head coach said he constantly hears from fans about that night.
“I meet people every day that have stories from their experience and their time, whether it’s being at the A&M game or about the goal posts being marched downtown,” Napier said at Sun Belt Football Media day in New Orleans. “I’ve heard every story. It’s a terrific place because of the people.”
The program history is filled with other milestone moments. The first intercollegiate game came in 1902 at home against LSU. On New Year’s Day 1944, the school played a bowl game for the first time and won against Alabama A&M at the Oil Bowl in Houston, Texas. The first conference title came in 1952, a Gulf South championship clinched with a win against McNeese State.
A second bowl appearance came in December 1970 with a Grantland Rice Bowl loss to Tennessee State in Baton Rouge. The Cajuns waited another 41 years before they could play in another bowl game.
Through the years, the school has had several standout players. Many also made their mark in the NFL. Jake Delhomme went from quarterbacking the Cajuns in their upset to Texas A&M in 1996 to leading the Carolina Panthers to a Super Bowl appearance in 2006.
Brian Mitchell completed his college career with an NCAA-record 47 career touchdowns and Brandon Stokley became the first NCAA receiver to average 100 receiving yards per game for his career.
In 2003, Charles Tillman became the highest drafted player in school history when the Chicago Bears selected him with the third pick in the second round (No. 35 overall) of the NFL Draft. He went on to earn NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
Louisiana is also the only Sun Belt school to be an Division I-A/FBS member since that level was created in 1978.
“We have a history and tradition, and I think we have a fanbase that is its own unique creature and entity,” Naper said. “There’s a certain level of pride that goes with that because we have been around. There are generations of players and alumni, and there’s a certain level of pride that comes with that; I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Cajun Field opened in 1971, and since 1988, it has held the nickname of “The Swamp” for its field-level placement being two feet below sea level. Then-strength and conditioning coach Mickey Faulkenberry gave it that name. The stadium has been expanded multiple times and can seat more than 41,000. The latest expansion came with the placement of seats in the south end zone to give it a U-shaped bowl setting.
With 18 seasons in the Sun Belt, the school has seen the conference grow from when it could get only one school in a bowl game each season. In 2005, the Cajuns tied for a league championship but didn’t land a bowl berth because of a tie-breaker loss to Arkansas State.
The league now has tie-ins with five bowls each season, giving Louisiana and others more postseason opportunities.
“When we get going, we can put 35,000 in the place and have one heck of a college football Saturday,” said Napier, whose team played last season in the inaugural conference championship game against Appalachian State. “That’s where we want to go. We want to get it back to that.”