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

[SlickRick]

Don't play dumb, Levi knew he was lying.

It was brilliant for a competitor like Levi to leverage academics in order to get on the field right away.

I never saw it that way, but could be wrong, just don't see it from a true freshman.

[Scott Malkinson]

I was thinking more like 25ish, but the NO Bowl really dropped the ball, I never heard a radio ad or saw a tv ad all week in the New Orleans market usually they bring in a few thousand locals just off of the local ads

Was shocked how dead New Orleans is . I have not been since 2017 and the Quater and Magazine looked like Tuesday afternoon in June. For a Saturday evening around Christmas it was sad.

[SlickRick]

Was it my imagination or did Levi Lewis' fake handoffs look a little snappier last night?

They did!

[IberiaCajun]

13 stops and the train is still rolling down the track and picking up steam!

[IberiaCajun]

Congratulations to the Louisiana Ragin' Cajun's football team for a most memorable year!

[RaginScotsman]

…and we start the season with 3 winnable games. Southeastern, EMU and @Rice.

[Bandwagon King]

However, more than boca raton, cure, New Mexico, Bahamas, lending tree.

There was no where near that many in attendance. if you count all the security, vendors & ushers as well as both bands, you could maybe stretch it to 12,000 people, but I doubt there that many. I asked one of the ushers & he said they had a meeting at 5:00 PM before they opened the doors & were told to expect around 10,000. And that's what he said it looked like in there to him.

[CajunVic]

My dog ate the bird then came back and barked about 21,000, so that is that . . .

[Bandwagon King]

My dog ate the bird then came back and barked about 21,000, so that is that . . .

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.

[Bandwagon King]

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.