N. O. Bowl Observations

[USLJim]

I really enjoyed the game. I sat in the upper deck chairbacks, my normal seats, and there were a lot of UL people there supporting the bowl. It was kind of exciting attending a Bowl game in your home town. I felt a part of Lafayette's and UL's History.

The field was awesome looking. If we want our home games to look like that,then people better start filling the stands. Won't be able to do that unless we have some EXTRA cash on hand.

Talked to a few ASU fans who expressed to me that they were having a good time and really liked Lafayette and our facilities. Some were first timers who vowed to return next year for the ASU-UL game.

Also, the ASU fans expressed somewhat remorse that they were in and not us but, "Hey, they beat us", Nice folks.

We even compared the Evil Empires in our states, Arkansas and LSU.

Oh, well, Enjoyed myself and made some friends.

Geaux Cajuns.

[Oldman]

Just a few things I noticed last night.

First, the field looked great in High Definition!!! The grounds crew did a wonderful job and the field looked "brighter" than any of the other games I watched this year. They must have replaced the burnt out lights, and maybe even cleaned the fixtures because it looked great!

ASU. Nice crowd supporting the Indians. I thought they played a terrific game. Kept it close but seemed to get away late with two turnovers deep in their end. Also, looked as if USM was bigger in the trenches and that may have taken its toll as the game wore on. As for Noce - nice job!! He really kept them in the game, mostly with his feet.

Crowd. A little disappointing. I saw somewhere that the official attendance was around 18K; but it looked less on the tube -- more like 14-15K.

TV. Mediocre announcers. Also, had hoped for more scenes from around the area, so that was not up to expectations.

How would the Cajuns have done? A question we will never truely answer; but I think we could have hung with USM. Biggest problem would have been their size on the lines, expecially against our smaller defensive front. However, I think we could have moved the ball on the ground a little better. Guess we'll just need to make sure we're in the game next time!

Shof

remember shof "what counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight-it's the size of the fight in the dog." ....i thought we would have beaten them.

Be safe see you at the ball park.

[BirdofParadise]

This may come as a shock because it did to me. My cousin in New Iberia said this morning he had no idea the new orleans bowl was in lafayette

Ads were run on all three TV stations in Lafayette and at least seven radio stations. In addition there were stories every day in the Lafayette paper.

Sometimes folks have to pay attention.

[TheRaginCajun06]

Ok well here are some observations I made last night.

Stan's and Nitetown were both closed and so was Graham.

I thought people were talking about making the downtown area a big part of the game, but when the nite clubs aren't open (I know Tuesday they're usually closed, but this was a special event) this hurts the possiblity of making more $$$.

City Bar and 410 were pretty busy though.

The marketing may have been out there, but a lot of people who don't follow college ball didn't know what the heck I was talking about when I said "New Orleans Bowl in Lafayette".

The managers of the restauarant I work at had no clue there was a Bowl game in town (they are women, but they usually have a clue about whats going on and when).

I saw ads a few days leading up to the bowl, but it wasn't full blown. There should have been more emphasis on the importance of a healthy crowd at this game. We all saw it on these forums. We know why it was important to have a huge crowd last night, but for those 90,000 who stayed at home last night they didn't have a clue.

To those who did know about the game... I heard a bit of people saying... ASU and Southern Miss... bore fest and then you read online and they have the bowl game ranked last and articles not supporting the game it makes you understand the value of the game was nothing to many people.

I'd love to see Lafayette as a football town. High school football does really well, but we fail on the college level.

[DaddyCajun]

This may come as a shock because it did to me. My cousin in New Iberia said this morning he had no idea the new orleans bowl was in lafayette

I know he does not live under rock, so it must be that the New Orleans Bowl concentrated TOO much on Lafayette and NOT Acadiana!!!!!


DADDYCAJUN

[Mineshaft]

Ads were run on all three TV stations in Lafayette and at least seven radio stations. In addition there were stories every day in the Lafayette paper.

Sometimes folks have to pay attention.

Some people have more important things to do and more priorities than to just watch tv and read the newspaper. They dont follow sports 24/7 like you do. Give those people a break. What a stupid statement on your part.


I guess everyone in Acadiana(Population 100,000+) should of known the game was in lafayette?

[Geaux clotille]

Being without a sponsor, I would thonk it could be anyone's bowl at this point, next year and beyond.

Like Jim we had fun, but I did wimp out at half time and came back to my warm house- but hey I'm a girl!

[HoustonCajun]

I'd love to see Lafayette as a football town. High school football does really well, but we fail on the college level.

There were 35,000 in Mobile for the GMAC Bowl last night for Toledo and UTEP. This is in a town that doesn't have college football and teams that would appear to be of little interest to anyone in south Alabama.

With only 18,000 in attendance and perhaps 10,000+ of those from USM and ASU, that would mean that only about 8,000 or fewer fans from Lafayette and the state of Louisiana showed up. That is pretty bad. There should be NO EXCUSES to not get at least 25,000 at a bowl game. It's always the same old excuses, Tuesday night game, too cold, etc. etc. The upside of hosting a bowl game (and potential for future bowl games), increased exposure for Lafayette and UL, the economic impact to the city and region with increased tourism revenue from hotels, restaurants and shopping, an opportunity to make a statement about who we are. Lafayette should be the ideal college town that would better support UL football and a bowl game. But, this town just doesn't get it.

[Sanchez]

It looked brighter than I remember, did they add new lights to Cajun Field ?

[NewsCopy]

The hotel situation was bad. The Hilton Garden Inn had been accepting reservations and was sold-out. Then they failed to pass their inspection by Hilton and found out on Thursday that they could not open throwing all those fans and bowl officials into an already bad situation. Adding to the misery one hotel over-booked by 40 rooms. Lafayette did a good job based on the time frame, but there were some very simple things bowl cities do that I just did not see done. Not hating on Lafayette at all because I loved the entire visit, but there are some cheap simple things that could have been done that weren't. The Holiday Inn Express was one of the few hotels I've stayed in that did not have a local nightlife and restaurants guide in the room. I got stuck in an Econo Lodge in Bentonville, Arkansas one night and they had a local entertainment guide. When we stayed in Memphis during the Liberty Bowl we got a flyer with "bowl activities" on it at check-in in addition to the local nightlife stuff in the room. The flyer had coupons and ads for places with "bowl specials". The Holiday Inn did not have word one about ASU or the New Orleans Bowl on its sign when we arrived on Monday. ____ the Holiday Inn's I've seen will welcome anyone having a wedding reception. ASU had its team and officials there for five nights. The sign at their registration desk welcoming ASU fans appeared to be one our booster club made and brought. Driving around Cajun Field on Monday, I saw no evidence that a game was going to be played other than spotting some satellite trucks. No signs, no banners. The electronic sign on Johnston never rotated any message about the game when I was near it. In Memphis, Orlando and Shreveport during bowl season signs welcoming fans are fairly common. In fact I saw "Welcome Missouri and South Carolina Fans" in Shreveport on the way back, nine days before the game. Wearing ASU stuff every moment outside the hotel exactly four people mentioned the game. Two the day of the game. One thought the game was Thursday and the other asked who was playing. I said Southern Miss. He asked who they were playing. Well I'm wearing a t-shirt that says "2005 New Orleans Bowl Arkansas State University" you need another hint, but I went ahead and was nice and told him. The other was a guy from Ohio I met at Avery Island on Wednesday who had watched the game and the other a waitress in Opelousa on Wednesday who asked if we were in town for a game. My wife spent some serious money at Brothers in Lafayette and when they asked for our phone number they asked where "501" was, we said Arkansas and got an "Oh" response. Friendly folks but not dialed in to what was going on. Of the numerous people who extracted money from us in the area, only that one waitress acknowledged the game. In Orlando wearing a "stAte" shirt waiters and waitresses asked if we were there for the Tangerine Bowl (actually it was NC State). In Memphis "Ya'll here for the bowl" was generally the first question asked by servers. Buying gas in Shreveport on the way down, the clerk wished us luck in Lafayette. In Memphis most establishments on Beale were promoting "bowl specials". I doubt they sold many of the blue drinks to BYU fans but they were selling the ____ out of the green drinks to Tulane fans. Again I didn't see any of that in Lafayette but I skirted past most of the nightlife. You've got a great city. The people were friendly and helpful, the food was outstanding, and the shortcomings in creating a bowl environment are cheap and simple to fix. I hope you get a second chance because you could easily knock peoples socks off with a small effort.