NCAA football takes on a rare midweek game date as the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers face off against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns at the L.T. Smith - Houchens Industries Stadium in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Thursday morning (Australia Time).

The Hilltoppers, while currently unranked, are 4-2 overall and are 1-1 in Sun Belt play. WKU has won over the Kentucky Wildcats of the SEC as well as Division I independent Navy, while dropping a 52-20 loss to Tennessee and a 31-24 rivalry game against South Alabama. They are playing in their last year in the Sun Belt before moving to the more competitive Conference USA where they will meet their old Sun Belt rivals Middle Tennessee and Florida International. New coach Bobby Petrino, who was dismissed from Arkansas after a sex scandal involving him and a co-worker, has put together quite a competitive team.

The Ragin' Cajuns have rebounded fiercely from a 0-2 start, losing to Arkansas and Kansas State before dominating Nicholls State 70-7 and winning over Akron and Texas State. They also hold bragging rights against WKU, winning 31-27 in Cajun Field on Nov 17, 2012. They also won the New Orleans Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome, holding Eastern Carolina to 34 points, while scoring 43 of their own.

The game should be an exciting, Southern-style matchup featuring a lot of rushing and not much passing. Both teams are not ranked highly in passing, with WKU 46th overall in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 259.3 yards per game and Louisiana 62nd with 242 passing yards a game. Both, however, run a ground-oriented game; the Ragin' Cajuns are 23rd nationally with 217.2 rushing yards a game and WKU 26th with 214.3. WKU's star, Antonio Andrews, has compiled 882 rushing yards so far and is on track to break his 1,684-yard personal record set in 2012. Louisiana-Lafayette distributes rushing yards evenly, as two, Alonzo Harris and Elijah McGuire, have gone more than 240 yards each for the season.

The result of Thursday's game will determine who leads the Sun Belt, at least until the weekend rolls around. But it should still be an unpredictable matchup which could go either way.

Watch the game LIVE here (10:00 am AEDT) LINK 1 LINK 2 LINK 3