PreGame 2011 New Orleans Bowl - Walking To New Orleans

[Turbine]

Then the article is wrong. It's 42,000 distributed not sold. The NO Bowl gives away lots of tickets. And im sure many of these will go unused. So while I expect a large crowd I definately wouldn't expect over 42,000.

Same terminology used by roughly 34 other bowls.

[CajunRed]

Same terminology used by roughly 34 other bowls.

I was thinking the same thing.

[Turbine]

It would be a nice gesture if Hud would have him down to the locker room before kickoff.

That would be the new definition of BitterSweet

[Turbine]

Perhpas he was thinking about his OC interviewing for another gig.

Focusing on Bowl Games is not easy.

[CoolCajun123]

I am leaving for new orleans tomorrow morning. I am planning to go to the D-Day museum and the game on Saturday. Does anyone know if we can bring cameras to either one?

[cajun1169]

This old ignorant pecan head dude to lazy to look it up for his ownself. Learn how to read and look info up on the internet. LOL

[CoolCajun123]

Shut up you ole cracklin, greasy soul glo looking tar ball

[Lexhead]

From the Times-Picayune

Coach Mark Hudspeth put the juice in the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns

Published: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 3:45 AM Updated: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 4:41 AM

By Nakia Hogan, The Times-Picayune NOLA.com

When Mark Hudspeth arrived at Louisiana-Lafayette 367 days ago, the veteran coach who had spent time leading a Division-II program and as a Southeastern Conference assistant knew something was missing with the Ragin' Cajuns.


Louisiana-Lafayette Coach Mark Hudspeth enlivened the locker room and pushed the team's players to the limit on the field. The Ragin' Cajuns, who will face San Diego State in the New Orleans Bowl on Saturday night, won eight games for the first time since 1993 after being picked to finish last in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Ragin' Cajuns hadn't been to a bowl game since 1970. At times they had withered against bigger teams and were raced past by more athletic outfits.

Something was lacking. The Ragin' Cajuns needed an edge. They needed a fix. They needed some type of shot in the arm.

Hudspeth, who has guided the Ragin' Cajuns to Saturday night's R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl against San Diego State (8-4), went even further. He decided to toe the line, to go against conventional wisdom.

He decided to bring in the "juice." He quickly recruited a street-smart student manager and gave the young man orders to bring in the "juice" that'll push his players to run faster and hit harder.

"We call it the juice, and we take it everywhere we go Ñ in the weight room, to the practice field, sometime in the meetings before we start," Hudspeth said. "We utilize that quite often."

The "juice," as Hudspeth refers to it as is a mixture of hip-hop, rock and pop music that blares from the speakers as the Ragin' Cajuns go about their work.

"I like '80s music," he said. "But my guys don't like '80s as much. So we play a lot of hip-hop and things like that."

"Originally, it was Coach's idea," ULL student-manager Chris Hilliard said. "When he came in, he wanted juice Ñ as he calls it Ñ and energy. So he asked for us to play music. And ever since, I've just been playing it."

And ever since, the Ragin' Cajuns (8-4) have been making history. They shattered the school's per-game attendance record. They won eight games in a season for the first time since 1993. Their defense tied an NCAA record for interceptions returned for a touchdown, with seven. (The record has since been broken by Southern Mississippi). And they qualified for their first bowl game in 41 years.

But the biggest change came in the attitudes of the players, who were coming off a 3-9 season that resulted in the firing of Coach Rickey Bustle.

Despite being picked to finish last in the Sun Belt Conference and ranked as the worst team in the nation by some preseason publications, the Ragin' Cajuns managed to play themselves to as high as the No. 32 ranking in the BCS standings.

"It took a lot of hard work and creative motivational ways to get our guys believing that they were better than people were giving them credit for," Hudspeth said.

"We push our guys to the limit. And we get the most out of them in everything we do. And to me, it has really paid off."

The players said they know exactly the reason for their success.

"I give all the credit to the coaches," cornerback Dwight Bentley said. "They came in and made us bust our behind. They worked us harder than we've ever been worked. I just thank God for sending us these coaches."

"(Coach Hudspeth) is just a winner," said defensive tackle Derreck Dean, a product of McDonogh 35. "He came in here and had a plan and changed the whole attitude of the football team. He had a plan for us, and it worked out."

It may be working out too well, though.

Because of his quick turnaround job at Louisiana-Lafayette, Hudspeth has become one of the hot names for schools searching for a new coach.

Hudspeth, a former assistant at Mississippi State and head coach at North Alabama, was rumored or linked to vacancies at Southern Mississippi, Tulane and Ole Miss, to name of few.

But Hudspeth downplays it all.

"It's a lot better than the alternative," said Hudspeth, who was a finalist for the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award. "But that's really a compliment to our team's success. Whenever a head coach is mentioned anywhere, that's a compliment to his players that they are playing hard and they are winning games and they are a good football team."

The players said it hasn't been a distraction.

"That's expected," Dean said of the attention his coach is drawing. "Everybody in this NCAA industry wants to be a winner. It's a business. If he has a job opportunity, you can't blame the man for taking it. But we are just going to enjoy him while he is here. He's a winner, and everybody is going to want him."

For now, though, Hudspeth and his team just want to get back to the "juice."

¥¥¥¥¥¥¥

http://www.nola.com/nobowl/index.ssf...ce_in_the.html

[Lexhead]

The Times-Pic-yer-nose just cannot bring themselves to acknowledge us as Louisiana. Wear your red, and make sure it says "Louzisiana" on it.

[nathancpike]

I am leaving for new orleans tomorrow morning. I am planning to go to the D-Day museum and the game on Saturday. Does anyone know if we can bring cameras to either one?

Cameras are allowed in the Dome. You can usually bring them to most museums; usually, there may be a couple exhibits where they'll ask you to turn off your flash.

[BeauCajun]

Just want to throw out a word of advice for Cajun fans entering the dome. Get to the gates early. For those that haven't been to the dome in some time or who have never been, security personnel will ask you to empty your pockets of metal objects and will check bags, purses, etc. They will wand scan all those entering. Don't wait until 5 minutes before game time to enter from Champion's Square and expect to see kickoff from your seat. If you enter on that side you will have to walk across the dome to our home side seating. Give yourself time to get cold beverages and visit with your fellow Cajun Fans. Pay IT Forward. Buy a Cajun Fan you don't know a drink.

Y'all pass a good time. The BC train departs the station in 6 hours.

[RaginFan2]

The Times-Pic-yer-nose just cannot bring themselves to acknowledge us as Louisiana.

That's because they have trouble seeing anything else through their purple & gold glasses.