DENTON, Texas - All of a sudden, the race is on, and look who's in the thick of things.

Three weeks ago, Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun football team was 0-2 in Sun Belt Conference play. Now, the Cajuns are tied for second, one-half game out of the league lead, and they've got the only team ahead of them coming up in a season finale.

Thanks to UL's third straight last-minute victory Saturday, this one by 31-28 over four-time Sun Belt champion North Texas, and losses by UL Monroe and Arkansas State, the Cajun squad is two wins away from no worse than a share of the league title.

"We're not thinking about anything but Florida International now," Cajun head coach Rickey Bustle said only minutes after UL's third straight victory. "Those guys had a big win and they led the whole game today. Our kids aren't going to look past anybody. They've gotten to this point by taking things one game at a time."

That didn't mean that the UL bench wasn't doing some scoreboard-watching, and found out early in the game that previously-unbeaten ULM had lost at home to FIU 31-29. A short time later, Arkansas State finished a 45-7 humbling at the hands of Middle Tennessee.

"We saw the scores," said Cajun quarterback Jerry Babb. "Mostly, it was the coaches telling us because they saw the same thing."

Those results left ULM at 3-1 in the league, and every other team in the league has at least two losses - UL, Troy and ASU at 3-2 and North Texas and Middle Tennessee both at 2-2. The Cajuns host FIU at 6 p.m. next Saturday at Cajun Field, and then have two weeks to prepare for the Nov. 26 season finale at ULM that could determine the league title.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com