Arkansas State Red Wolves at Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
Fri Nov 20 · 11:00 PM CT
By Pablo SanchezUpdated 4d ago·2 min read
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Arkansas State and Louisiana Tech haven't shared a conference in a quarter-century. Friday night in Ruston, that rivalry is officially back on.
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Best BetLouisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech's 2025 was simply the better résumé: an 8-5 record, a bowl win, and a coach entering year 5 without a quarterback change to sort out. Arkansas State's ceiling is real, but breaking in a new starter against an unfamiliar opponent is a tougher get-right spot than the Bulldogs face at home. Back Louisiana Tech to win it outright.
Arkansas State
+Won Xbox Bowl 34-28 to close 2025
+Butch Jones brings 6th-year staff continuity
+Added Vanderbilt transfer QB Drew Dickey
−Lost 3-year starter Jaylen Raynor to portal
−Other roster attrition via transfer portal
−Replacing significant offensive production and rhythm
Louisiana Tech
+Finished 8-5, won Independence Bowl 23-14
+Sonny Cumbie enters 5th year, no QB change
+Added proven transfer weapon Talyn Shettron
−First season in a new, unfamiliar conference
−Paid a costly ~$5M CUSA exit settlement
−No track record against new Sun Belt foes
The headline here is personnel, not history. Arkansas State enters 2026 without the guy who ran the show for 3 years: Jaylen Raynor, who led the Sun Belt in completions and yards before bolting for the transfer portal, has been replaced by Vanderbilt transfer Drew Dickey. Louisiana Tech, meanwhile, gets to keep the band together under Sonny Cumbie, who's about to coach his 5th season in Ruston and just watched his offense close out 2025 with a 23-14 Independence Bowl win over Coastal Carolina.
Both rosters look different than the ones that finished last season. Arkansas State absorbed real attrition beyond just the quarterback spot, with multiple portal departures thinning out a group that still managed to win the Xbox Bowl 34-28 over Missouri State behind Corey Rucker's 166 receiving yards. Louisiana Tech leaned the other direction in the portal, adding Oklahoma State transfer Talyn Shettron to a receiving corps that already helped close out an 8-5 season.
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ARST Arkansas State
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This is also Louisiana Tech's first year as a Sun Belt program after cutting ties with Conference USA, a move that cost the school roughly $5 million in an exit settlement. That's a real number, but the bigger question on the field is how a team that spent years game-planning for CUSA opponents adjusts to a new league on the fly, starting with a Red Wolves team it hasn't lined up against in the standings since the late 1990s.
Arkansas State Red Wolves
Nov 13?@ Coastal Carolina—
Nov 7?vs UL Monroe—
Oct 16?@ Southern Miss—
Oct 8?vs South Alabama—
Oct 2?@ Louisiana—
Sep 26?vs Kennesaw State—
Sep 19?@ TCU—
Sep 12?vs West Georgia—
Sep 5?@ Memphis—
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
Nov 13?vs Southern Miss—
Nov 6?@ Troy—
Oct 30?@ South Alabama—
Oct 16?@ UL Monroe—
Oct 9?vs Louisiana—
Oct 2?vs Army—
Sep 19?@ Baylor—
Sep 12?@ LSU—
Sep 5?vs Northwestern State—
Recent form.
Butch Jones is now in year 6 in Jonesboro, and the stability matters given everything Arkansas State is replacing on offense. Dickey walks into a system that's been productive, but he's doing it without the guy who set the tone for 3 straight years, and that's the kind of transition that can look fine in August and shaky by November. Louisiana Tech doesn't have that particular problem, but it has its own version: new league, new travel, new opponents its coaches haven't scouted before.
Arkansas State Red Wolves
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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
Zoom out and this is exactly the kind of game the Sun Belt wanted when it brought Louisiana Tech aboard. The Bulldogs and Red Wolves used to be regulars on each other's schedule, and the 2015 New Orleans Bowl between an 8-game-winning-streak Arkansas State team and a Jeff Driskel-led Tech squad is still the modern high point of the series. Tech leads the all-time series 26-12, but neither program looks much like the ones that used to play these games every fall, which is part of what makes Friday interesting.
