They narrowly missed out on playing their first-ever Division I-A bowl game at home last December.

Now, if the University of Louisiana football team lives up to expectations this fall, the Ragin' Cajuns will be celebrating a Crescent City Christmas.

The New Orleans Bowl and the ESPN network recently announced an agreement that will move the bowl game later in the bowl postseason, with this year's contest slated for Friday, Dec. 22, in what will by then be a renovated Louisiana Superdome.

In past years, the winner of the Sun Belt Conference football title has played in the season's first bowl game against a Conference USA opponent. That game was played between the dates of Dec. 14-18 until last fall, when the game was on its latest-ever date of Monday, Dec. 20.

"And we still ran into some final exams," said New Orleans Bowl Executive Director Billy Ferrante. "We thought we were late enough where that wouldn't be a problem, but that was before Katrina."

Hurricane Katrina pushed back Southern Mississippi's semester by a week, and USM was still completing finals during the days prior to the game. Ironically, the game was moved to Lafayette and to Cajun Field because of hurricane damage at the Superdome.

This year, the move to a later date virtually insures to conflicts with exam schedules.

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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com