The New Orleans Bowl

The Ragin Cajuns draw the Aztecs

The college football bowl season is upon us. One of the match-ups that we will be taking a look at is the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl between the San Diego Aztecs and the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin Cajuns. Obviously the site favors the Ragin Cajuns because the game is practically in their backyard and San Diego must travel cross-country. This game should feature some high scoring. One of the great story lines for this game is that it is the first time that the San Diego Aztecs will have been in back to back bowl games since 1968. The Ragin Cajuns started their season 6-1 and then lost the last two. The two losses put a slight tamper on what was quickly becoming the best season in school history.

For San Diego the impact players will be some returnees and some new faces. For San Diego, they return quarterback Ryan Lindley. His numbers are lower than last year but he also lost both of his top receivers to the NFL. With the receivers group expected to be the bright spot this year, the Aztecs promptly lost three receivers to season-ending injuries before the season started. This has allowed a converted DB Colin Lockett to take over as the top receiver on the season. One of the best running backs in all of college football happens to be Ronnie Hillman. He has amassed over 1,600 yards rushing and 19 touchdowns. This makes the Aztecs a very tough team to scheme. If Louisiana-Lafayette tries to stack the box to take away Hillman then Lindley can just pick off his receivers. The Aztecs also have a top ten offensive line in fewest sacks allowed.

The Cajuns have relied on Blaine Gautier to deliver the ball for them. He has responded by chucking 20 touchdowns against only 5 interceptions. The Cajuns are led on offensive by four first-year guys and love to run the multiple spread offense. One of the keys for the Ragin Cajuns is Harry Peoples. Peoples has come in at wide receiver and delivered in a big way. He is a deep threat with breakaway speed but loves to run the slant route over the middle. Much like San Diego, you have to pick your poison with Louisiana-Lafayette. They will spread the ball out and hit their backs and receiver on quick slants and 5 yard hitch routes. If you come up to the line to play bump and run then they have been known to switch to a pistol formation and run the veer option. Without deep coverage, if a back, or Gautier breaks free into the secondary there is no one there to chase them down. Whatever scheme the Aztecs choose to run they had better stay at home on the gap assignment as well as tackle well.

The R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl looks to be a high wire circus act with plenty of scoring. There should be a ton of passing yards and some gaudy quarterback numbers. With so much scoring, possessions will be crucial and the team that wins the turnover battle will probably win the game.

The New Orleans Bowl to be Held at the Superdome

The Louisiana Superdome which has hosted the Super Bowl many times will be the site for the New Orleans Bowl to be held December 28. The bowl is an annual postseason college football game. It was previously known as the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. Before that is was named the Wyndham New Orleans Bowl. It was originally created in order to showcase the champions of the Sun Belt Conference. The bowl now features the champion of the Sun Belt Conference against a team from the Conference-USA.

Although it is played in the Superdome in Louisiana it was forced to move to Lafayette in 2005 due to the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. It returned to the Superdome the following year. It featured Troy, who was the co-champions of the Sun Belt Conference facing Rice. This was the first bowl game Rice had been in for 45 years. Still Troy defeated Rice 41 to 17.

The stadium is the largest fixed dome structure in the world. It has a seating capacity of 70,000. The 2009 New Orleans Bowl featured Middle Tennessee vs Southern Mississippi with Tennessee winning 42-32. Dwight Dasher, QB for Middle Tennessee, was named the Most Valuable Player. Tennessee's head coach, Rick Stockstill faced Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora in the contest. Each of the teams were paid $325,000. Tennessee had been on a winning steak going into the bowl having won six games straight prior to the bowl.

Dasher rushed for a total of 201 yards. This was the most ever by a quarterback in a bowl game. This earned him the title of the most yards rushed in a bowl game by a quarterback. The title had previously been held by Vince Young with 200 yards. Young ran his yards in the 2006 Rose Bowl against Southern California. Dasher rushed for two touchdowns while he also passed for two additional touchdowns.

Mississippi quarterback Martevious Young made 18 of his 34 passes for a total of 271 yards. This earned three touchdowns along with two interceptions. Damion Fletcher, who ran 78 yards for Southern Miss finished the season with 1015 yards. He became the ninth player in major college football to top the 1000 mark in all four seasons. With his total of 5302 yards overall rushing Fletcher passed the previous record of 5259 that had been set by Herschel Walker. This also topped LaDainian Tomlinson's 5263 yards.

Since the New Orleans Bowl was started Southern Miss and North Texas have made the most appearances with four each while Southern Miss racked up a 3-1 record and North Texas holds a 1-3 record. Memphis and Troy both have had two appearances and each of them have a record of 1-1. The other teams participating in the bowl have been Colorado State, Florida Atlantic, and Middle Tennessee with one appearance each. Each of these teams also has a 1-0 record.

The final three teams, Arkansas State, Cincinnati, and Rice have each made one appearance and their records are 0-1 each. Last year was the highest attendance in the New Orleans Bowl history with 30,228 fans watching the game.

The New Orleans Bowl Odds and the New Orleans Bowl Preview & college football betting lines will be released in the beginning of December. If you love college football then you probably have a few favorite NFL teams as well. At Allpro our NFL odds and offerings we also have game preview for the Lions vs Packers, Saints vs Panthers, Broncos vs Raiders and all of your favorite pro football matchups. Take a moment to check out the NFL previews and the betting trends which let you see which way the public is swinging on the betting lines themselves.