Do you remember where you were when Brett Baer kicked that game-winning 50-yard field goal in 2011?
What about when Corey Trim had an 83-yard pick-six against Tulane two years later?
As the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns prepare to play in the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl against Jacksonville State this Saturday, the memories of the first bowl win in over 40 years as well as being one of just two teams in NCAA history to win the same bowl game four years in a row come rushing back to Cajun Nation.
“I remember how crazy this town (Lafayette) was for the first one,” Jay Walker, the longtime Voice of the Cajuns said. “TV3 (KATC) did “Good Morning Acadiana” from the parking lot at Cajun Field and it was a zoo when tickets went on sale that morning.”
That mass of people would then file into New Orleans to “Paint The Quarter Red” as 42,841 people made their way into the Superdome to watch a battle between the Cajuns and the San Diego State Aztecs. Of that nearly 43,000 people, I would guess 25k were from Acadiana.
At halftime in that first bowl game, the Cajuns held a 13-3 advantage over the Aztecs, a team from the Mountain West that was a six-point favorite over the Cajuns. Then Louisiana scored less than a minute into the second half to make it 19-3, but SDSU came roaring back with 14 straight points to make it a game. Late in the fourth quarter, the Cajuns held a five-point lead when the Aztecs found the endzone to go up by one. SDSU converted on a two-point conversion but the try was reversed when one of their receivers was called for illegal touching. Then, with 30 seconds left in the game, Blaine Gauthier led the drive of a lifetime to set up Brett Baer with a golden opportunity.
“Then (Sun Belt Conference) Commissioner Wright Waters was sitting in the booth next to me, by himself,” Walker said. “He’d fist pump when things were going well, but SDSU scored with a half minute left and he hung his head. Then when we hit the field goal to win it, he jumped out of his seat.”
“I happened to see the TV feed just before the kick. Coach Hud said to whoever was next to him, ‘he’s gonna make it.'”
That win was monumental for the Louisiana program and many feel that night in December propelled the program into the success they’ve had in the 2010s and early 2020s. In 2012, the Cajuns once again went 9-4 and won the New Orleans Bowl with a 43-34 victory over East Carolina.
Following that, 2013 brought the in-state battle between the Cajuns, loaded with future legends in the program like Terrance Broadway, Alonzo Harris, Elijah McGuire, and more, and the Tulane Green Wave with Joe Montana’s son at quarterback and one of the best kickers in the country in Cairo Santos.
Louisiana jumped out to a 21-0 lead before Tulane got it all back to tie the game late in the third quarter. Hunter Stover hit a big field goal for the Cajuns in the fourth to give them the three-point lead, but the story was Santos missing a 48-yarder with 10 seconds left as the Cajuns survived and captured their third straight New Orleans Bowl.
Fast forward a few years and you get to the 2021 New Orleans Bowl, a game that capped off a magical season for the Ragin Cajuns and started the Michael Desormeaux head-coaching era at Louisiana. Levi Lewis along with a stellar defense controlled a Marshall team led by their star freshman running back and was able to win 36-21 and win a fifth New Orleans Bowl title for the Cajuns. Now going for their sixth in 12 years, the memories make this event special for everyone, not just the players between the lines.
“It was a great experience to play in the New Orleans Bowl,” Jake Molbert, a linebacker for the Cajuns from 2011-2014, said. “It had been a long time since UL had gone to a bowl game and to be part of the team to go back for the first time was pretty cool. It’s always a great feeling when you can represent your family, community, and school when you’re playing at a high level like that. It’s something that myself and my teammates didn’t take for granted.”
The 2023 matchup will feature Louisiana and Jacksonville State from Conference USA. The Gamecocks come into their first-ever bowl after finishing with an 8-4 record under Rich Rodriguez, who got his name in college football for his offensive mind while coaching the Michigan Wolverines from 2008-2010.
“Jax State is really good,” Walker said. “They make a living running the football and they do it well. Rich Rodriguez has won a lot of games and was one game away from playing for a national championship at West Virginia. They’re going to play really fast and the defense is going to have to be ready within 20 seconds after the tackle is made. They’re very aggressive defensively and they’ll get after the quarterback. They’ve also made it difficult to run against them as well. It’s a solid football team, regardless of how well-known they are.”
Louisiana and Jacksonville State will play in the 2023 R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl this Saturday with kickoff set for 1:15 p.m. on ESPN.