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

[Crawfish]

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.

From where I sat (section 116), it looked closer to 21K than 12k, but I won't argue about it one way or another. I will say this, for those that did not attend missed an opportunity for a great experience but more importantly an opportunity to show support for perhaps the best football team in UL history. I know some people could not attend for legitimate reasons, but other I will say that one day you will regret you were not there. There were all kinds of crap posted on here about the mayor of New Orleans, covid restrictions, etc. Some dissed the opponent which somehow made it OK to not attend. I attended the game because I am a Cajun fan. I am not fond of the mayor of New Orleans but the covid restriction thing was way overstated. I have been vaccinated, but when I entered the Superdome I was asked to show my card and before I even got it out of my wallet, they said "you good." But I am not lecturing anyone because everyone had a right to choose. The only thing I will say is if you could have attended, but did not, you missed out on a great experience.

[Turbine]

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.

Awesome recap.

[mxpxfr690]

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

SLU will be the toughest of the 3…. Rice and EMU we SHOULD win with our rushing attack.

[Crowley Cajun]

Can't argue with those points. I can't wait to see, with a full staff and roster, what is in store for this team.

[CRAWFISH61]

The party at the ballroom was great. Nickel Beer did a great job. The fans were having a good time. I got to congratulate Dr. Savoie on Tier 1 and he congratulated me on being an alumni of a tier 1 school.

[RaginDave]

From where I sat (section 116), it looked closer to 21K than 12k, but I won't argue about it one way or another. I will say this, for those that did not attend missed an opportunity for a great experience but more importantly an opportunity to show support for perhaps the best football team in UL history. I know some people could not attend for legitimate reasons, but other I will say that one day you will regret you were not there. There were all kinds of crap posted on here about the mayor of New Orleans, covid restrictions, etc. Some dissed the opponent which somehow made it OK to not attend. I attended the game because I am a Cajun fan. I am not fond of the mayor of New Orleans but the covid restriction thing was way overstated. I have been vaccinated, but when I entered the Superdome I was asked to show my card and before I even got it out of my wallet, they said "you good." But I am not lecturing anyone because everyone had a right to choose. The only thing I will say is if you could have attended, but did not, you missed out on a great experience.

The reality is this game should be played at Tulane's stadium, not the superdome, 21-30K is a realistic size for this game. The SuperDome seats almost 80K, even at our best we got 40K in the New Orleans Bowl. I know that if we would have played someone like a Houston we might have exceeded the capacity of the 30K that Yulman Stadium holds, but having this game in the SuperDome is always going to look questionable, even if we would get 30+ at the game.

[RaginDave]

There was no question we missed Ferrod out there. Some of those running plays would have been lessened if FG were playing. But overall they did a great job on defense. I love Jordan Qibodeaux and he is a great story on this team, but side to side Ferrod is a disrupter and we missed him. Obviously we will have to replace FG next year but with the exception of how well they were able to run the ball early in the game, our defense did a great job. Grant Wells is a good QB and our DB's made him look bad.

[RedBug58]

It’s great being in the Superdome and not out in the weather. How many of us “and our wives” would not have gone if this game was outside? Weather is always questionable this time of year

[RaginDave]

EMU is a decent MAC football team, they beat Texas State handily, Texas State was missing a ton of players because of COVID. They also easily defeated a terrible UMASS team. I don't see them giving us much of a test, but again, they are a better than average MAC team, so they will have some talent.

Rice is better than they used to be, but still not good. It is highly likely that Luke McCaffery will be their starting QB, the starter they had this year was a well traveled Grad transfer who started at Boise State, then Ventura State, then Weber State and finally ended up at Rice. They struggled mightily to run the ball this year and turned the ball over a ton. I don't see them being much of a challenge, but I do love this being a game in Houston that we can travel to.

SLU was really good this year, but man o man, they lose their starting QB Cole Kelly, who will get a shot to play on Sunday's. (as a backup). He was also their leading rusher by a ton. So they will need to replace allot on offense from the QB position. The other thing was like most really good offensive teams, they were not very good on defense, so we should have a chance to take advantage of that.

I don't see us losing any of these 3 games, the reality is that they should not be close. But you never know, that is why you play the games.

[billbeck451]

I have to give it to Marshall, that running back was good and fast and he earned every yard he got