2021 New Orleans Bowl: LOUISIANA (36) MARSHALL (21)

[CajunVic]

So, apparently you can tell people to go f@ck themselves, just dont tell a PMS joke or it will get taken down.

*hard eyeroll

I liked your pms joke . . . It was clean and from the Bible . . .

[JamesTheJeweler]

I liked your pms joke . . . It was clean and from the Bible . . .

Haha! Thats what I thought! Look at us....agreeing and _____. Must be the Christmas spirit.

[ZoomZoom]

Ok…which one of you clowns flying to the NOLA Bowl is this? Red thong involved.

https://www.insider.com/man-kicked-o...sk-2021-12?amp

[angeleast]

Haha! Thats what I thought! Look at us....agreeing and _____. Must be the Christmas spirit.

Vic is turning to the LIMA BEAN side of life!!

[CajunVic]

Vic is turning to the LIMA BEAN side of life!!

Oh no . . . LIMAPHOBIC . . . nothing about James or you . . . Have just always had the Limavirus . . . and deathly afraid . . .

[Million$Mullet]

Ok…which one of you clowns flying to the NOLA Bowl is this? Red thong involved.

https://www.insider.com/man-kicked-o...sk-2021-12?amp

We have a J1M sighting

[Hudsheen#Fired]

Ok…which one of you clowns flying to the NOLA Bowl is this? Red thong involved.

https://www.insider.com/man-kicked-o...sk-2021-12?amp

Is Just1More back???

[CajunVic]

Is Just1More back???

No, he was kicked off the plane for too skimpy a mask . . .

[CRAWFISH61]

The best thing about this years New Orleans Bowl is that the greatest Cajun football team is playing in it.

[Turbine]

The best thing about this years New Orleans Bowl is that the greatest Cajun football team is playing in it.

This! ^

[Cajun Monkee]

Wish I could make it, but my better half is 8.5 months pregnant. So, we are staying in for the next few weeks in case the little one is ready to come into the world sooner than our due date in early January.

But I will be watching on TV and yelling as if I was there!

Kinda this.

We've missed one home game (wimpy azzed thoracic surgeon) and none of the NOLA Bowls in the last 12 years. But this hurts.

Spent some time with my surgeon Tuesday and my wife is exhausted from hauling my broken down azz all around.

And our first granddaughter will be experiencing her first Christmas where she actually has some personality.

I am broken-hearted we can't make it, but I'm I simply can't ask her to sacrifice the moments she and mini-Monkee will have this weekend.

Can somebody (MAT?) do something obnoxious at the game for tomorrow? (Like asking a Marshal fan whether sex is better with their cousin or a buffalo?) If you can whistle, do it loud and offend the lady in the chair backs and make the Acadian paramedics and the security guys move to another portal.

When we win, tell Mickey Loomis to get the hell out of Maggard's office.

Don't mean to whine, but this is kind of therapeutic for me.

Y'all have a great time. to paraphrase John Lewis.....y'all don't get in trouble, but if you do make it fun trouble.

#GeauxCajuns

#cULture......and yes, I think we got one.

[Turbine]

bump

[CajunVic]

bump

I agree, looking for a better score . . . GEAUX Cajuns.

[NewsCopy]

One drawback of Louisiana's now-regular bowl participation is that it normally conflicts with fall semester graduation exercises, but back in 2011 when the Ragin' Cajuns made their first bowl appearance the athletic department found an alternative.

That tradition continued Friday afternoon, one day before the Cajuns' matchup with Marshall in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, when four Cajun football players and two support staff members received their diplomas and were honored as graduates during the Cajuns' Fan Fest celebration at the Sheraton headquarters hotel.

Quarterback Levi Lewis, tight ends Pearse Migl and Hunter Bergeron and former quarterback and now student assistant Beau Kalbacher were all in full red cap and gown for the brief ceremony that also included manager Logan Boudreaux and athletic trainer Matt Melancon. That group entered the hotel ballroom with their teammates and staff lined up on both sides amid the strains of "Pomp and Circumstance."

"These young men worked really hard for four or five years to get their degree, and had the extra burden of being a student-athlete which is very time consuming," said UL president Dr. E. Joseph Savoie, who has now officiated for bowl-week graduations at each of UL's five New Orleans Bowl appearances. "They had to put in the extra academic work, so it's certainly worthy of celebration and we're happy we have the opportunity again to do it."

The tradition began at the 2011 New Orleans Bowl, Louisiana's first-ever Division I bowl appearance, but that year the graduation was kept secret to all but a few Cajun staff members and the honored graduates. The rest of the Louisiana team and party and the fans on hand for the inaugural Friday afternoon Fan Fest were caught by surprise.

Vice president for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Bryan Maggard said he was told about the mini-graduation at bowl games not long after he took the job, and was wholeheartedly for its continuation.

"Any time you can actually have your students experience the event that they came here for, it's a good thing," Maggard said. "This is the culmination of all the hard work academically. I know it's important to the university to make sure we find an opportunity to let these student-athletes experience the event that all students come here for. It's something that's a priority, it starts with our president, it's something we're all supportive of and excited about."

Savoie made the quick trip from Lafayette to New Orleans after officiating at the school's nursing graduation earlier Friday.

"Made it with 15 minutes to spare," he joked. "This is what we're all about, giving these young people a good solid educational background so they can go out and be good employees and be good members of their community. They've earned it, they deserve it and we need to do whatever it takes to celebrate it."

"No doubt about it, it starts with him," Maggard said of Savoie. "He sets the tone. The fact that he's been here for every one of them in New Orleans shows his dedication. Anytime we can do something like this, it's a great thing."
* * *

Saturday's 8:15 p.m. contest at the Caesars Superdome will be the first-ever between the Cajuns and the Thundering Herd, but it won't be the last.

Marshall, along with Old Dominion and Southern Mississippi, will be moving from Conference USA and joining the Sun Belt Conference in all sports, no later than the start of the 2023 fall season. James Madison, which is moving up from the FBS ranks, is also joining the Sun Belt to give the conference 14 football playing schools.

"I think it's great," Marshall head coach Charles Huff said of joining the Sun Belt. "I think it's going to create a lot of opportunities for our program. Obviously moving into the Sun Belt, the level rises and the gap widens from where we are to where we need to be to compete at a championship level in the Sun Belt.

"That means our administration is committed to investing the resources and investing the things needed to get us there. Ultimately that willingness to invest is going to help our student-athletes. We're going to be able to get more academic counselors, more personnel, more support. Ultimately, it's going to make our student-athletes' experience better, so to me it's a positive."

Louisiana head coach Michael Desormeaux is already looking forward to the future conference alignment.

"It's exciting for our conference to add the quality of teams that we've added, and Marshall is certainly no exception," he said. "I think it's a cool matchup in the fact that we're in separate conferences now but very shortly we'll be playing each other on a regular basis. I think that's something that people are kind of watching in the conference, to see how this turns out a little. But it is a turning point for our conference and something that I'm excited about."

During Desormeaux's quarterback career from 2004-09, the Sun Belt had its share of upheaval with six membership changes. Only four schools that were part of the league in his senior year remain – UL, ULM, Troy and Arkansas State.

"I've been around here for a long time, and for a long time I've seen teams leave our conference," he said Friday. "It's really fun to be in the position where teams want to be a part of it."

The Sun Belt is expected to play football in geographical divisions when the alignments become official, likely for the 2023 season. Marshall will be in an East Division with long-time and traditional rivals Appalachian State, Old Dominion and James Madison along with Coastal Carolina, Georgia State and Georgia Southern. UL will line up with South Alabama, Troy, Southern Miss, Arkansas State, ULM and Texas State in the West Division.

Huff is more than ready to face some close-by rivals, in contrast to the current Conference USA, which has two schools based in South Florida and a trip to UTEP that's 1,645 miles from Marshall's Huntington, W. Va., home base.

"It creates a competitive environment because of the location, because of the history and tradition of these schools playing in the past," Huff said. "Location wise it creates an opportunity for our fans to travel to some of these games. With us being centrally located it's going to help with that. All of these teams are ultra-competitive so it's going to be some good games."
* * *

Desormeaux took part in the New Orleans Bowl's annual Friday media day at the Superdome along with Ragin' Cajuns players Levi Lewis, Lorenzo McCaskill, Percy Butler, Zi'yon Hill and Johnny Lumpkin.

He spoke of how much each has meant to the Cajun program, but he reserved some special praise for Lewis, one of the many UL regulars who will play their final college game Saturday.

"You can never put a price tag on guys that have done it," Desormeaux said. "Levi's career here has been nothing short of remarkable. Having a guy like that, that you really trust in that room, to take control of the game, to go out there and deal the ball and get it where it needs to go, get the offense running, it's a huge comfort blanket."

Lewis will make his 38th straight start at quarterback Saturday, with the Cajuns going 33-4 over the past three seasons. This year, UL's already recorded its highest win total ever, and enters the bowl on a record 12-game win streak.

"The thing about him is nothing's ever been too big for him," Desormeaux said. "When things kind of go haywire, with everything going on, when you've got someone like that that's cool, calm and collected, you just feel a whole lot better about going into something like this. It's something that I'm so proud of, to be a part of his last game here and get to see him go do it, because that guy has done a lot for our university."

Louisiana Athletics
RaginCajuns.com
PRESS RELEASE

[ZZeebart21]

Kinda this.

We've missed one home game (wimpy azzed thoracic surgeon) and none of the NOLA Bowls in the last 12 years. But this hurts.

Spent some time with my surgeon Tuesday and my wife is exhausted from hauling my broken down azz all around.

And our first granddaughter will be experiencing her first Christmas where she actually has some personality.

I am broken-hearted we can't make it, but I'm I simply can't ask her to sacrifice the moments she and mini-Monkee will have this weekend.

Can somebody (MAT?) do something obnoxious at the game for tomorrow? (Like asking a Marshal fan whether sex is better with their cousin or a buffalo?) If you can whistle, do it loud and offend the lady in the chair backs and make the Acadian paramedics and the security guys move to another portal.

When we win, tell Mickey Loomis to get the hell out of Maggard's office.

Don't mean to whine, but this is kind of therapeutic for me.

Y'all have a great time. to paraphrase John Lewis.....y'all don't get in trouble, but if you do make it fun trouble.

#GeauxCajuns

#cULture......and yes, I think we got one.

Hang in there Monkey!!

Z