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

[CharlieK]

Grade for Dez as Head Coach: Given the challenges of a short staff, missing starters, worst case A-.

Grade for Dez as OC: Considering I don't know 1/10,000 the football the offensive coaches do, it's hard but my gut says overall B, with the opening sequences being top tier. We fell into offensive doldrums for a bit, but we also had pretty poor field position for a good part of that. Clearly re-juggling the line made a big difference late in the game.

The future looks bright.

[KajunKrazy]

1) Scripted plays to begin the game - Excellent
2) Defensive readiness for Marshal to begin the game - very good
3) Players in position to make plays - very good
4) Emotionally ready to start the game - very good
5) Defensive adjustments to Marshals offensive adjustments - took time, but once they figured out how to attack marshal's blocking schemes for Ali they stopped Marshal cold. Very good
6) Offensive adjustments to marshal's defensive adjustments - There was a stretch where Marshal's defense was able to stop UL's offensive attack during the middle of the game. UL had to rearrange the O. Line to create effective blocking schemes & take control of the LOS. Once again, it took a while but once they figured it out that was church. Very Good.
7) Critical play calling at critical times. Both of the big bombs that Levi got off were daggers to Marshal. They were the difference in that game. It took a lot of nerve for Desormeaux to call the second play to Bernard. Pulling that play off sealed the deal for UL. - Excellent

A head coach will probably never have a more nerve racking game than his first one. In this case Desormeaux wasn't just an interim coach coaching a bowl game for someone leaving the team. It was his baby & he knew people would have the gavel out judging his performance following a local legend. So the pressure was on for him. Coaching short handed with a lot of key players out & having to deal with his first recruiting classes is about as tough a situation as this guy may ever have to deal with. Considering all of those factors. He & his staff did a very admirable job.

Agree with you 100%.

[Duggie35]

There were three Marshall fans who snuck up to the 500 section & that was it. There were 5 people on the 200 & 300 section of the Cajuns side. there were maybe 500 people in the suites & on the Marshall side of the field in the 200 & 300 sections & that's a stretch. There was no one sitting in the end zones at any level that I recall. The 100 section on the Marshal side could have moved over to the Cajuns side & still not filled every seat. So if you take half of the lower deck & put every single fanny in that place in the seats, there still would have been seats left over. I don't know what your point is, but I can tell you for a fact there wasn't 12,000 people in that place unless there were a thousand in the press boxes.

Is there a reason why we want to focus on those that were not there, rather than those that were?

[UL_Cajuns]

21,642 in Attendance is not all that bad considering all the excuses people had with the Covid Protocols. We had less at some of the home games this year.

Those who missed the game sure did miss a good time had by those that attended. WOW it was my first NOLA bowl and we had a ball!

[CajunNation]

The biggest issue with NOLA Bowl attendance this year was the quick turnaround from the CCG.

We’ve never dealt with this before. A lot of people spent their “bowl money” and had the “bowl experience” at the CCG.

This season, if the NOLA bowl were near New Year’s with a better opponent, we would have brought 30k, easy.

[CajunEXPRESS]

He probably was very consistent in practice, giving the coaches enough evidence to stay with him. Like everyone I’m very happy for him, and thank God he settled into a great mentality when it mattered most.

[RaginDave]

This game was not as close as the final score would indicate. Looking at this more closely/statistically, this should have been a blowout.

First Downs---UL 23 Marshall 13
Total Yards---UL 498 Marshall 286
Passing Yards--UL 278 Marshall 99
Rushing Yards---UL 220 Marshall 187
Penalties----UL 6-50 Marshall 9-80
Turnovers----UL 0 Marshall 2
TOP-----UL 37:26 Marshall 22:34

[Esqueleto]

What going see a 12-1 Cajun team not good enough? Who would of been good enough? There would have been a bunch of other excuses not to go. I heard plenty enough excuses not to go. For years, people said that winning would cure attendance. If a 12-1team isn’t enough motivation to go to New Orleans to watch our Cajuns then nothing is.

Yeah, no ____, a top 20 Cajun team at that. This fanbase is not good and there is no other way to put it. Sorry

[Million$Mullet]

Yeah, no ____, a top 20 Cajun team at that. This fanbase is not good and there is no other way to put it. Sorry

Sorry is the other way to put it

[Cajun90]

If a 12-1team isn’t enough motivation to go to New Orleans to watch our Cajuns then nothing is.

Oh if that game had the Cajuns in the CFP because we were conference champions the motivation to go would be crazy.

Time to demand a true playoff system and anything less than every conference champion having a seat at the table should be a non-starter.

[CajunVic]

Yeah, no ____, a top 20 Cajun team at that. This fanbase is not good and there is no other way to put it. Sorry

The fanbase is fine . . . it’s just small . . .

[CajunEXPRESS]

The fanbase is fine . . . it’s just small . . .

Exactly. You can’t be critical of a non fan not being a fan. That’s like being blamed for not asking a really cute girl for a date because you prefer Bradley.