All colors, of course, are actually a range of hues, so vermilion comprises a range from red to near-orange. But the reason that schools choose team colors is to distinguish themselves from their opponents. Since variations of red & white are, by far, the most common colors in college athletics, we need to distinguish ourselves. Vermilion is unique to UL; it is important that we define our unique color... well, uniquely.
By placing UL's vermilion exactly between red and orange, so that it is not clearly either color, we can capitalize upon and promote our unique color as both a trademark and a school identifier.
Bright orange-red is also an appropriate color to reflect our culture. There are a large number of distinctive icons in Cajun culture that are bright orange-red: boiled crabs, tabasco peppers, crawfish bisque, ripe tomatoes, old barns, rusty tin roofs, new fiddles, piléed brick and azaleas.
Even the wild swamp iris Iris nelsonii, named for the late UL faculty member Ira Nelson, is a dusky shade of vermilion.
UL's colors are vermilion and white. Every school in the country uses white, so that's a problem. Fortunately, vermilion is unique to UL.
It seems that there are only three choices for vermilion.
We can use it.
We can change it.
Or we can lie.