What Billy Napier, Florida coaching candidate, told Cajuns about future after 11th win

Whatever the future holds for UL football coach Billy Napier, it always can be said his fourth regular season at Cajun Field, and possibly his final one, ended in style.

Even if it was not pretty.

No. 23 UL (11-1, 8-0 Sun Belt Conference) closed with a 21-16 win over in-state rival UL Monroe (4-8, 2-6) on Saturday, sending the Ragin’ Cajuns into the Sun Belt Conference Championship game on Dec. 4 (2:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) against Appalachian State riding an 11-game win streak.

It happened amid reports regarding Napier, evidently the top candidate to replace the fired Dan Mullen at Florida, and his coaching future.

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Napier took more than 45 minutes before addressing media members after the win, but he said none of that time was spent discussing with his team what will happen next for him.

But he did say some victory cigars were smoked.

"No decision has been made yet," Napier said. "We're still certainly evaluating everything, and I think the main thing here is that our focus is on this team, this group, and the work that's left to be done.

"You know, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

The Cajuns have not lost a game since dropping their season opener 38-18 at Texas.

But ULM didn't make extending the streak easy on Napier.

"Sometimes you've got to win ugly," he said.

The Cajuns had fewer first downs (17) than ULM's 20 and were held under their average for total offense with 382 yards. They were 3-of-12 on third-down conversion attempts and 1-of-5 going for it on fourth down. But that didn't seem to matter after what most suspect was Napier's final regular-season game at Cajun Field.

"Ugly wins, they still matter at the end of the day," said running back Emani Bailey, whose third-quarter touchdown run helped put UL up 21-10.

The streak is the longest in school history. The 11 wins tie the school record UL set when it went 11-3 in 2019. And the 8-0 conference record marks the first time the Cajuns have gone undefeated in Sun Belt play.

What awaits is UL’s third Sun Belt title game meeting with App State in four years.

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The Cajuns lost the first two, in 2018, the conference’s inaugural championship game, and 2019, both in Boone, North Carolina.

They were to have faced Coastal Carolina in the 2020 championship, but it was canceled due to COVID-19 issues within the Chanticleers’ program.

UL built its 2021 season around one more shot to win it all, knowing several key pieces – Napier chief among – could, or will, be gone in 2022.

Starting quarterback Levi Lewis, a super senior, was among 19 Cajuns who took part in pregame senior day festivities, indicating they don't plan to return.

Seven other super seniors also will have expired eligibility after this season, including seventh-year senior Ken Marks, UL’s starting left tackle, and starting inside linebacker Ferrod Gardner, along with receiver Jalen Williams, outside linebacker Chauncey Manac, nose tackle Tayland Humphrey, safety Cam Solomon and kicker Nate Snyder.

But there also were several key Cajuns among the 19 who do have eligibility remaining, but evidently don't plan on using it, including starting right tackle Max Mitchell, center Shane Vallot, starting safety Percy Butler, tight end Hunter Bergeron and key special teams player TJ Wisham.

Mitchell and Butler are NFL prospects, as are Manac, Gardner and Humphrey.

The band is not broken up just yet, though.

"It hasn't been difficult," safety Kam Pedescleaux, who had a team-high 10 tackles, said of dealing with Napier rumors. "I feel like as a team we don't really focus on those outside things.

"We hear things about it. But as a team we stay together. We know that this group is special, and we just want to go bring those seniors out with a win, and a championship to Lafayette. That's all we want to do: Bring a championship to Lafayette."

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Florida football coaching candidate Billy Napier on UL Ragin' Cajuns