2015 New Orleans Bowl

The 2015 New Orleans Bowl was a postseason American college football bowl game played on December 19, 2015 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 15th edition of the New Orleans Bowl featured the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs from Conference USA against the Arkansas State Red Wolves of the Sun Belt Conference. It began at 8:00 p.m. CST and air on ESPN. It was one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concludes the 2015 FBS football season. Sponsored by freight shipping company R+L Carriers, it was officially known as the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.[4]

2015 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
15th New Orleans Bowl
Arkansas State Red Wolves Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
(9–3) (8–4)
Sun Belt C-USA
28 47
Head coach: 
Blake Anderson		 Head coach: 
Skip Holtz
1234 Total
Arkansas State 31438 28
Louisiana Tech 1071713 47
DateDecember 19, 2015
Season2015
StadiumMercedes-Benz Superdome
LocationNew Orleans, Louisiana
MVPLouisiana Tech RB Kenneth Dixon[1]
FavoriteLa. Tech by 2[2]
RefereeAdam Savoie (American)[3]
Attendance32,487[3]
PayoutUS$TBD
United States TV coverage
NetworkESPN/ESPN Radio
AnnouncersAdam Amin, Kelly Stouffer & Dr. Jerry Punch (ESPN)
Bill Rosinski, David Norrie, & Joe Schad (ESPN Radio)

Teams

The game featured the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs against the Arkansas 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 the Southland Conference and Big West Conference before Louisiana Tech joined the Western Athletic Conference and later Conference USA and Arkansas State joined the Sun 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
See also: 2015 Arkansas State Red Wolves football team

Sources told ESPN 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 the 2005 game, losing to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles by a score of 31–19. Notably, that game was played at Cajun Field in nearby Lafayette because of damage to the Superdome done by Hurricane Katrina.

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
See also: 2015 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team

This was the Bulldogs' second straight bowl appearance under third-year head coach Skip Holtz, following a 35–18 victory over Illinois in the 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl. Holtz had a 3–3 career record in bowl games as head coach at Louisiana Tech, South Florida and East Carolina. The Louisiana Tech program entered 3–3–1 all-time in FBS bowl games.

Game summary

Scoring summary
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 from Jeff Driskel, Jonathan Barnes kick good 0 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 good 3 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, see Glossary of American football. 28 47

Source:[3]

Statistics
1 2 3 4 Total
Red Wolves 3 14 3 8 28
Bulldogs 10 7 17 13 47
StatisticsARSTLa. Tech
First downs2326
Plays–yards68–32374–687
Rushes–yards39–17736–229
Passing yards146458
Passing: Comp–Att–Int15–29–226–38–0
Time of possession25:1334:47
TeamCategoryPlayerStatistics
ARSTPassingFredi Knighten14/28, 137 yds, 2 INT
RushingWarren Wand12 car, 66 yds, 1 TD
ReceivingTres Houston3 rec, 47 yds
La. TechPassingJeff Driskel26/38, 458 yds, 3 TD
RushingBoston Scott4 car, 106 yds
ReceivingTrent Taylor10 rec, 149 yds, 1 TD

References
  1. 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. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
  2. Odds, Los Angeles Times, December 19, 2015
  3. Stats
  4. http://www.neworleansbowl.org/
  5. http://www.winsipedia.com/arkansas-state/vs/louisiana-tech
  6. McMurphy, Brett (December 2, 2015). "Arkansas State, Ga. Southern, App. State accept bowl bids". ESPN.Go.com. ESPN. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
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