College football game
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]
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
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
^ 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 . ^ 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 . Retrieved December 2, 2015 .
