Troy New Orleans Bowl Champs Troy-34 Rice-17

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Acadiana-area college football fans remember UL's Cajun Field hosting a bowl game one year ago. On Wednesday, Troy University's Trojans saw why, first-hand. The Trojans, who face Rice in tonight's 7 p.m. R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl in the Louisiana Superdome, took a bus tour of the Ninth Ward and other areas surrounding New Orleans. It gave the team and travel party a look at the devastation that Hurricane Katrina brought and continues to bring to the area. "It sort of puts things in perspective," Trojan head coach Larry Blakeney said. Last year's New Orleans Bowl was shifted to Cajun Field in October, just over a month after Katrina's late-August assault, while the Superdome was being rebuilt and refurbished. Southern Mississippi beat Arkansas State 31-19 in Lafayette's first-ever bowl game. The Superdome is back in operation, as is much of the metro New Orleans area, and will host tonight's nationally-televised (ESPN2) game. But the Trojans got to see areas that are still a long way from normal. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[RCAJUN90]

They are giving Rice all they can handle.

[wcd35]

wow, 41-17 quite the beatdown. Way to go Troy. Thats how ya do the Belt proud. Come on Middle!

[texasboy40]

way to go troy way to rep the subelt, congrats on the big win!

[DaddyCajun]

Troy certainly did the Belt and their University proud!!! I hope Middle Tennessee does the same in their bowl game!!!

These types of wins is what moves a conference forwards!!!!

Thanks Troy for a game well played. You put your foot on Rice's throat and knew which way to lean to finish them off!!!

Merry Christmas,
DaddyCajun

[NewsCopy]

NEW ORLEANS - A great night for the New Orleans Bowl? Just playing the game in its home city made it that way ... not that the folks running the bowl didn't appreciate Lafayette's host role last winter. A great night for the Sun Belt Conference? You bet. Sun Belt champion Troy made a huge statement for the league with its 34-17 victory over Rice's Owls in Friday's sixth annual New Orleans Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome. Teams from Conference USA, which had provided opposition for the Sun Belt winner in the bowl since the game's second year, had won three in a row dating back to 2003. "The Sun Belt Conference is viewed as weak, and everybody looks down on us," said Troy senior offensive guard James Gardner. "We needed to win this game to show that people can't run over us." Perception aside, the Sun Belt and Conference USA split its six inter-conference meetings this season. Troy had one of those losses, a 21-3 setback against UAB. The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

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NEW ORLEANS - Those close to the Troy University football program kept saying all year that the Trojans new spread offense was a work in progress. To a man, they said that their offensive production would increase as the team (a) learned the offense's subtleties and (b) became more comfortable with the radical change. Maybe they were right. The Trojans embarrassed Rice 41-17 Friday in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome, giving Troy its first-ever Division I postseason win and giving the Sun Belt Conference its first bowl victory since 2003. "I don't know what the future holds for us," said Troy coach Larry Blakeney, "but I'm sure proud of this win right now." The rest of the story Dan McDonald dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

NEW ORLEANS -- A great night for the New Orleans Bowl? Just playing the game in its home city made it that way ... not that the folks running the bowl didn't appreciate Lafayette's host role last winter. A great night for the Sun Belt Conference? You bet. Sun Belt champion Troy made a huge statement for the league with its 41-17 victory over Rice's Owls in Friday's sixth annual New Orleans Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome. Teams from Conference USA, which had provided opposition for the Sun Belt winner in the bowl since the game's second year, had won three in a row dating back to 2003. "The Sun Belt Conference is viewed as weak, and everybody looks down on us," said Troy senior offensive guard James Gardner. "We needed to win this game to show that people can't run over us." Perception aside, the Sun Belt and Conference USA split its six inter-conference meetings this season. Troy had one of those losses, a 21-3 setback against UAB. The biggest Sun Belt win in that series was provided by Louisiana-Lafayette in its 31-28 win at Houston back on Oct. 7. The Cougars went on to win CUSA's West Division and beat Southern Miss in the CUSA title game. The rest of the story By Dan McDonald Gannett News Service

[Pirogue]

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