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
1 2 3 4 Total Arkansas State 3 14 3 8 28 Louisiana Tech 10 7 17 13 47
Date	December 19, 2015
Season	2015
Stadium	Mercedes-Benz Superdome
Location	New Orleans, Louisiana
MVP	Louisiana Tech RB Kenneth Dixon[1]
Favorite	La. Tech by 2[2]
Referee	Adam Savoie (American)[3]
Attendance	32,487[3]
Payout	US$TBD
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN/ESPN Radio
Announcers	Adam 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

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

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

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

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.