No. 16 Louisiana Set to Face Marshall in the 2021 New Orleans Bowl

LAFAYETTE – After claiming the first outright Sun Belt title in program history with a 24-16 victory over App State, No. 16 Louisiana football will transition into a new era at 8:15 p.m. Saturday when it faces Marshall in the New Orleans Bowl at the Caesars Superdome. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

The game will mark the fourth straight bowl appearance for Louisiana and the 11th all-time. The Ragin Cajuns are 5-3 in previous matchups and have prevailed in their last two contests.

Following its Week 1 loss, Louisiana won 12 straight games setting a new program record and joining Cincinnati, Alabama, Georgia, Michigan and UTSA as the only programs in the nation with 12 or more wins this season.

After claiming the conference title, Michael Desormeaux was introduced as the 28th head coach of the program Nov. 5, 2021. Desormeaux played quarterback for Louisiana from 2005-08 and has been on staff in various offensive roles since 2016. Prior to the season, he was elevated to the title of co-offensive coordinator. Saturday will mark his first official game at the helm.

Saturday will also mark the Ragin' Cajuns' sixth appearance in the New Orleans Bowl. Louisiana holds a 4-1 record when participating in the in-state bowl. The Ragin' Cajuns' only defeat came in their last appearance in 2016, when they suffered a narrow seven-point loss to Southern Miss.

Marshall enters postseason play at 7-5 and finished the season ranked second in Conference USA.

The two programs shared one common opponent in the regular season with the Thundering Herd narrowly losing 31-30 to App State on August 23. Louisiana defeated the Mountaineers twice, including the most recent victory in the conference championship.

Who: No. 16 Louisiana (12-1, 8-0 Sun Belt) vs. Marshall (7-5, 5-3 C-USA)
Where: Caesars Superdome – New Orleans, La.
When: Saturday, Dec. 18 at 8:15 p.m. (CST)
Watch: ESPN
On the Call: Amish Schroff (play-by-play), Mike Golic, Jr. (analyst), Taylor McGregor (Sideline)
Listen: ESPN1420
On the Call: Jay Walker (play-by-play), Gerald Broussard (analyst), Cody Junot (sideline), Cody Junot (Sideline)
All-Time Series: First Meeting

Game Notes:

Award SZN
Louisiana picked up 16 All-Conference selections, the most in program history. Billy Napier was named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year and Montrell Johnson was named the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year, while Max Mitchell (OL), O'Cyrus Torrence (OL), Rhys Byrns (P) and Chris Smith (AP) earned First Team honors.

Stacking Ws
• Louisiana extended its winning streak to 12 games, furthering the program record for consecutive wins. The previous record was eight-straight victories during the 1976 season.

A String of Perfection
• With its victory over ULM, Louisiana completed a perfect regular season in Sun Belt Conference play (8-0). The Ragin' Cajuns have been perfect in league play just one time in their history, posting a 5-0 mark in Gulf States Conference play during the 1970 season.

No. 1 in Record Books
• With three touchdown passes against Texas State on Oct. 30, Levi Lewis set the program record for career passing scores with 65. The previous record of 64 was held by Ragin' Cajun legend Jake Delhomme.
• Against Arkansas State, Lewis passed Terrance Broadway to move into second place on Louisiana's career passing yards leaderboard. He currently sits just 295 yards behind Broadway.

Shut it Down
• The Cajun defense ranks 11th nationally in scoring defense, holding opponents to 18.3 points per game.

Turnover Tally
• Over its last four games, Louisiana is +12 in the turnover margin. Since 2018, the team is 20-2 when forcing two or more takeaways in a game.

Clutch Gene
• The Ragin' Cajuns own a 16-3 record in one-possession games since the start of the 2018 season.

Light up the Scoreboard
• Louisiana is 40-5 in the last four seasons when scoring more than 20 points. After scoring 45 points against Texas State in Week 9, the team is 15-0 when scoring more than 40 points since 2018.

No. 16 Louisiana Set to Face Marshall in the 2021 New Orleans Bowl

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Players Mentioned

Rhys Byrns

Montrell Johnson

Levi Lewis

Max Mitchell

Chris Smith

O'Cyrus Torrence

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