By Colin McGuigan

NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana and Marshall clinched berths to the 2024 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Football Championship with victories in Week 14 play. The Ragin’ Cajuns are making their conference-leading fifth championship game appearance, while the Thundering Herd is a first-time championship game qualifier.

The championship game host will be determined based on a composite average of selected computer rankings that include all games on the final weekend of the conference regular season. The host site will be announced on Sunday, Dec. 1, when these rankings become available. The championship game will be contested at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Dec. 7, and will air nationwide on ESPN for the seventh-straight season.

Louisiana won the Sun Belt West Division with a 7-1 record in conference play. Marshall won the Sun Belt East Division with an identical 7-1 conference mark. Coastal Carolina also clinched bowl eligibility for the fifth-straight season with a win in its regular-season finale.

Following a 2023 campaign in which the Sun Belt led the nation with 12 Bowl Season participants, eight Sun Belt teams are bowl eligible in 2024—Arkansas State, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Louisiana, Marshall, South Alabama and Texas State—tied for the most among non-autonomy conferences.

Louisiana outpaced in-state rival ULM, 37-23, to earn its fourth 10-win campaign over the past six seasons and its conference-best fifth berth to the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Football Championship Game over the past seven years as the Sun Belt West Division champion.

Running backs redshirt sophomore Zylan Perry (19 carries, career-high 150 yards, 2 touchdowns) and redshirt freshman Bill Davis (17 carries, 78 yards, 1 touchdown) combined for 228 rushing yards and three touchdowns to propel the Ragin’ Cajuns offense. Redshirt senior quarterback Chandler Fields threw for 188 yards and the other two Louisiana touchdowns and a Louisiana defensive back—this time redshirt freshman Kody Jackson—hauled in a pair of interceptions for the second-straight week. Also contributing defensively were senior linebacker K.C. Ossai—with a team-high 13 tackles and the game-sealing interception—and redshirt junior defensive lineman Jordan Lawson—with seven tackles and a team-high 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Marshall overcame a 17-0 halftime deficit and prevailed 35-33 over James Madison in double overtime to earn its first-ever berth to the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Football Championship Game as the Sun Belt East Division champion.

The Thundering Herd used a 17-point third quarter, including scoring on back-to-back plays from scrimmage with a 16-yard touchdown reception by redshirt sophomore tight end Toby Payne and a 28-yard pick-six by redshirt junior defensive back Jadarius Green-McKnight to even the contest. After trading fourth-quarter touchdowns on extended drives, Marshall failed to convert a potential game-winning field goal as time expired, forcing overtime.

The Thundering Herd and Dukes traded field goals in the first overtime period, but James Madison broke through with a nine-yard touchdown connection from redshirt sophomore quarterback Alonza Barnett III to redshirt sophomore running back Wayne Knight in the second overtime. Marshall’s defense stopped the James Madison two-point try, giving the offense the opportunity to win the game on its ensuing possession.

Back-to-back reverses—the first a touchdown run by redshirt sophomore wideout Tychaun Chapman on a flip from senior running back Ethan Payne and the second a two-point pass from redshirt junior quarterback Braylon Braxton to redshirt junior wide receiver Chuck Montgomery on a second flip from Payne following a direct snap—secured the win for the Thundering Herd.

COURTESY SUN BELT CONFERENCE