The Jacksonville State Gamecocks and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns will play in the 2023 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, according to a report by Brett McMurphy of The Action Network on Friday.
Jacksonville State and Louisiana will square off on Saturday, December 16, 2023 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La. The game, the 23rd edition of the bowl, will kickoff at 2:15pm ET / 1:15pm CT and it will be televised nationally by ESPN.
In their first and only meeting on the gridiron, Jacksonville State defeated Louisiana 28-14 on Nov. 11, 2000 in Lafayette, La.
Jacksonville State, who just completed its first season at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level as a member of Conference USA, will be making its first-ever post-season bowl appearance. The Gamecocks finished the regular-season 8-4 overall and 6-2 in CUSA action.
Louisiana will be participating in a bowl game for the 11th time in its history and the contest will mark its seventh appearance in the New Orleans Bowl. The Ragin’ Cajuns fell to the Houston Cougars last season in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, 23-16.
Louisiana heads into the New Orleans Bowl with a 6-6 overall record and a 3-5 record in Sun Belt Conference play.
On Thursday, the EasyPost Hawai’i Bowl officially announced its matchup for 2023. The Coastal Carolina Chanticleers will face the San Jose State Spartans in that contest in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Saturday, Dec. 23 (10:30pm ET, ESPN).
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I’d like to hear from fans of teams such as Jax State and James Madison if they prefer playing in a bowl game like this or playing in the 1AA/FCS playoffs this time of year.
I can’t speak for JMU fans, but we prefer bowl games
FCS playoff games carry the burden of production costs for host teams and doesn’t always provide a return on investment. FCS fanbases range from G5 tier to near non-existent depending on where you go and not many fans travel.
It is probably better to play in a neutral bowl on ESPN against an established program like Louisiana (or in JMU’s case, Air Force) and get a check for playing the bowl compared to playing Idaho in the Kibbie Dome on ESPN+
I’m confused. James Madison is ineligible to play in any post-season (conference championship or bowl game) because they are in their second and final year of transition to FBS and those transition rules prohibit during that period. So how can Jacksonville State, who is only in their first season of transition, be eligible to play in a post-season bowl game?
JSU and JMU are both eligible to play because there are not enough eligible teams (i.e. teams that finished 6-6 or better).
If there are not enough bowl eligible teams, transitioning teams get first chance if they are 6-6 or better, then 5-7 teams based on APR.
Thank you for that. And I’m sure the NCAA knew there wouldn’t be enough 6-win schools for bowl games when James Madison made their late-season appeal for exemption, yet still gave the school the middle finger for the conference championship game. The NCAA is as bad as Congress when it comes to screwing the very people they should be representing.