2012 New Orleans Bowl

[MetryCajun]

This is a terrible opinion piece. What a waste of time.

[wcd35]

If you have Cox, WatchESPN is now available on mobile devices. You can watch the replay on phones/tablets

[Turbine]

It's on ESPN 3

I should say it's on XBox Live but I'm watching it now on ESPN 3 XBox style.

[MissingMandy]

Theres always one in every crowd. What an idiot.

[cajunfan79]

The cox4 is standard definition right?

[Hammer58]

What a tool.

[wgwillis]

http://www.rantsports.com/ncaa-footb...-more-neutral/

Should Locations of Bowl Games Be Kept More Neutral?
by Mike Atkinson

The UL Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns defeated the East Carolina Pirates 34-43 today in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.

Offense was on display as both schools set a bowl record for first half points scored, and both finished with high yardage totals.

UL Lafayette jumped out to an early lead, but ECU ended up making this a great game, down to the final play.

The thing about this game that caught my attention the most though, was the crowd.

The game was played in New Orleans, LA, in front of 48,828 fans.

The crowd quickly became a factor for ECU. Especially late in the game, ECU had to burn time outs because of crowd noise and had trouble getting a few snaps off.

When calls went against the Cajuns the crowd booed, and throughout the game there was a crowd reaction in favor of the Cajuns.

As the camera panned around the stadium, there was red all over the crowd. Any ideas why?

Well, UL Lafayette is located in Lafayette, LA, 141 miles from the Mercedes-Benz Dome, where the game was played. According to MapQuest, this is roughly a two and a half hour trip.

ECU on the other hand, is 949 miles from the stadium, roughly a 15 hour trip. For players, flight is an option. However, when fan bases travel, not many offer flights to see the team play.

It doesn't take a genius to realize why there were more Ragin' Cajun fans at this game. Essentially, this was a home game for them.

This is not the only bowl game throughout the years where location could have favored one team.

In 2008, the Ohio State Buckeyes played the LSU Tigers for a national championship in the Louisiana Superdome.

The stadium had the word "Louisiana" in it. There's no way a game as big as a national championship should be played in a "neutral" site, where one team has a clear distance advantage.

I'd even say smaller bowls, like the New Orleans Bowl should be kept more neutral. Part of the fun of bowl games is being able to travel to a stadium where no one has a clear-cut advantage.

The worst part about this is that sometimes, the lower ranked team can get a free home-field advantage just because of the bowl it landed in.

It would be hard to find a way to fix this problem, but something needs to be done. Right?

Follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeAtkinsonRS or visit his Rant Sports Author Page.

Tough Tinsel. Are we to be punished because love & support our team? UCF is a lot closer to St Petersberg than UL is to NOLA but we just out supported our team over theirs. They had the same opportunity as us. Reap it Homer!!!

[CharlieK]

Yes it would have been much better to have ecu play someone else from 700 miles away in front of 10,000 people and have everybody involved lose money. Why didn't we think of that. Idiot.

[DocCajun]

Lol this is ridiculously stupid. What would he suggest the bowls do? change locations every year so things are fair? Not allow certain teams to be invited because of location? Well Mike, that ain't happenin'. Best of luck with your writing thing lol

[moorecajun]

Tough Tinsel. Are we to be punished because love & support our team? UCF is a lot closer to St Petersberg than UL is to NOLA but we just out supported our team over theirs. They had the same opportunity as us. Reap it Homer!!!

And San Diego State is a LOT closer to San Diego than UL to New Orleans BUT that didn't seem to help them either.

[CajunSaint]

chowderhead. how many times did louisiana a&m play for a bcs title an hour and a half down the road from their place? how many times did southern cal play in the bcs rose bowl game? but when it comes to a mid-major then it's suddenly unfair? unwad your panties, why don't you. as for ecu having to play what amounted to a road game, they knew the job was dangerous when they took it. so step off.

[NOCajun]

Lol this is ridiculously stupid. What would he suggest the bowls do? change locations every year so things are fair? Not allow certain teams to be invited because of location? Well Mike, that ain't happenin'. Best of luck with your writing thing lol

As opposed to stupidly ridiculuos??