College football game
The2015 New Orleans Bowl was a postseason Americancollege football bowl game played on December 19, 2015 at theMercedes-Benz Superdome inNew Orleans ,Louisiana . The 15th edition of theNew Orleans Bowl featured theLouisiana Tech Bulldogs fromConference USA against theArkansas State Red Wolves of theSun Belt Conference . It began at 8:00 p.m.CST and air onESPN . It was one of the2015–16 bowl games that concludes the2015 FBS football season . Sponsored by freight shipping companyR+L Carriers , it was officially known as the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.[ 4]
The game featured theLouisiana Tech Bulldogs against theArkansas State Red Wolves . It was the 38th overall meeting between the schools, with Louisiana Tech leading the series 25–12 before this game (both had previously been in-conference foes in theSouthland Conference andBig West Conference before Louisiana Tech joined theWestern Athletic Conference and laterConference USA and Arkansas State joined theSun Belt ). The last meeting between these two teams was in 1998, when the Bulldogs beat the Indians 69–21 in Jonesboro.[ 5]
Arkansas State Red Wolves [ edit ] Sources toldESPN reporter Brett McMurphy that the Red Wolves had officially been invited to the game and accepted.[ 6]
This was the Red Wolves' second trip to the New Orleans Bowl;they (at the time known as the Indians) had previously played in the2005 game , losing to theSouthern Miss Golden Eagles by a score of 31–19. Notably, that game was played atCajun Field in nearbyLafayette because of damage to the Superdome done byHurricane Katrina .
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs [ edit ] This was the Bulldogs' second straight bowl appearance under third-year head coachSkip Holtz , following a 35–18 victory overIllinois in the2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl . Holtz had a 3–3 career record in bowl games as head coach at Louisiana Tech,South Florida andEast Carolina . The Louisiana Tech program entered 3–3–1 all-time in FBS bowl games.
Scoring summary Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP ARST La. Tech 1 12:00 7 88 3:00 La. Tech Kenneth Dixon 9-yard touchdown reception fromJeff Driskel , Jonathan Barnes kick good0 7 1 6:38 15 56 5:22 ARST 35-yard field goal by JD Houston 3 7 1 1:55 5 18 1:52 La. Tech 50-yard field goal by Jonathan Barnes 3 10 2 12:06 5 63 2:53 La. Tech Trent Taylor 13-yard touchdown reception from Jeff Driskel, Jonathan Barnes kick good3 17 2 7:22 13 91 4:44 ARST Warren Wand 1-yard touchdown run, JD Houston kick good 10 17 2 0:18 4 25 1:14 ARST Fredi Knighten 1-yard touchdown run, JD Houston kick good 17 17 3 10:00 9 57 3:02 La. Tech 20-yard field goal by Jonathan Barnes 17 20 3 8:17 7 55 1:43 ARST 37-yard field goal by JD Houston 20 20 3 5:09 5 84 3:08 La. Tech Kenneth Dixon 59-yard touchdown reception from Jeff Driskel, Jonathan Barnes kick good 20 27 3 0:18 8 90 3:08 La. Tech Kenneth Dixon 8-yard touchdown run, Jonathan Barnes kick good 20 34 4 13:45 5 16 1:15 La. Tech 28-yard field goal by Jonathan Barnes 20 37 4 10:52 4 88 2:02 La. Tech Kenneth Dixon 4-yard touchdown run, Jonathan Barnes kick good 20 44 4 10:38 0 0 0:14 ARST Blaise Taylor 98-yard kick return, 2-point pass good 28 44 4 1:31 16 70 9:07 La. Tech 22-yard field goal by Jonathan Barnes 28 47 "TOP" =time of possession . For other American football terms, seeGlossary of American football . 28 47
Source: [ 3]
1 2 3 4 Total Red Wolves 3 14 3 8 28 Bulldogs 10 7 17 13 47
Statistics ARST La. Tech First downs 23 26 Plays–yards 68–323 74–687 Rushes–yards 39–177 36–229 Passing yards 146 458 Passing: Comp–Att–Int 15–29–2 26–38–0 Time of possession 25:13 34:47
Team Category Player Statistics ARST Passing Fredi Knighten 14/28, 137 yds, 2 INT Rushing Warren Wand 12 car, 66 yds, 1 TD Receiving Tres Houston 3 rec, 47 yds La. Tech Passing Jeff Driskel 26/38, 458 yds, 3 TD Rushing Boston Scott 4 car, 106 yds Receiving Trent Taylor 10 rec, 149 yds, 1 TD
^ Smith, Guerry (December 20, 2015)."Kenneth Dixon's record night lifts Louisiana Tech to 47-28 victory over Arkansas State in New Orleans Bowl" .theadvocate.com . Capital City Press, LLC. RetrievedDecember 24, 2015 . ^ Odds,Los Angeles Times , December 19, 2015 ^a b c Stats ^ "Home" .neworleansbowl.org .^ "Winsipedia - Arkansas State Red Wolves vs. Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football series history" .^ McMurphy, Brett (December 2, 2015)."Arkansas State, Ga. Southern, App. State accept bowl bids" .ESPN.Go.com .ESPN . RetrievedDecember 2, 2015 .
