UL Lafayette @ Arizona preview

THE STORY: It is the end of a long season in the desert, a season that saw coach Mike Stoops fired on Oct. 9 and interim coach Tim Kish giving way in the last week to Rich Rodriguez, who has coached at West Virginia and Michigan. The Ragin’ Cajuns are coming off a disappointing 30-21 loss at Arkansas State that ended their hopes at a Sun Belt title.

TV: None. LINE: Arizona -14.

ABOUT LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE (8-3): After a season-opening loss at Oklahoma State, the Ragin’ Cajuns reeled off six consecutive wins before running into trouble, losing two of their last four. Junior quarterback Blaine Gautier has thrown for 2,173 yards and 19 scores and has a rating of 150.5. Alonzo Harris does the bulk of the rushing and is averaging 4.4 yards per carry on 136 attempts. Louisiana-Lafayette is 6-2 in the Sun Belt Conference.

ABOUT ARIZONA (3-8): The Wildcats are coming off their biggest win of the season, 31-27 over Arizona State in the Territorial Cup. Quarterback Nick Foles has been the team’s top player, but backup Bryson Beirne threw one pass after Foles was shaken up against the Sun Devils and clicked on the game-winner with Juron Criner. Foles had 370 yards in the air before coming out of the game. Although Arizona lives by the pass, running backs Keola Antolin, Ka’Deem Carey and Daniel Jenkins all average more than 4.5 yards per carry.

EXTRA POINTS:

1. Gautier has already been sacked 18 times in 11 games.

2. Foles needs 18 yards to reach 4,000 yards for the season.

3. Rodriguez is the 30th coach in Arizona football history.

PREDICTION: Arizona 30, Louisiana-Lafayette 20 - Foles will close out the season by carving up the Ragin’ Cajun defense.