| Game Name: | New Orleans Bowl |
| Subheader: | 15th New Orleans Bowl |
| Title Sponsor: | R+L Carriers |
| Date Game Played: | December 19 |
| Year Game Played: | 2015 |
| Football Season: | 2015 |
| Stadium: | Mercedes-Benz Superdome |
| City: | New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Visitor School: | Arkansas State University |
| Visitor Name Short: | Arkansas State |
| Visitor Nickname: | Red Wolves |
| Visitor Record: | 9–3 |
| Visitor Conference: | Sun Belt |
| Visitor Coach: | Blake Anderson |
| Visitor 1Q: | 3 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 14 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 3 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 8 |
| Home School: | Louisiana Tech University |
| Home Name Short: | Louisiana Tech |
| Home Nickname: | Bulldogs |
| Home Record: | 8–4 |
| Home Conference: | C-USA |
| Home Coach: | Skip Holtz |
| Home 1Q: | 10 |
| Home 2Q: | 7 |
| Home 3Q: | 17 |
| Home 4Q: | 13 |
| Odds: | La. Tech by 2[1] |
| Mvp: | Louisiana Tech RB Kenneth Dixon[2] |
| Referee: | Adam Savoie (American) |
| Attendance: | 32,487 |
| Payout: | TBD |
| Us Network: | ESPN/ESPN Radio |
| Us Announcers: | Adam Amin, Kelly Stouffer & Dr. Jerry Punch (ESPN) Bill Rosinski, David Norrie, & Joe Schad (ESPN Radio) |
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.[3]
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.[4]
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.[5]
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.
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.
Source:[6]
| 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 | 26/38, 458 yds, 3 TD | |
| Rushing | 4 car, 106 yds | ||
| Receiving | 10 rec, 149 yds, 1 TD |