Bowl Blitz: A couple of “firsts” for ULL and SDSU in New Orleans Bowl

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The nightcap of the first day of Bowl Season is the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl between San Diego State (Mountain West) and Louisiana Lafayette (Sun Belt). Although this is only the third of 35 and takes place nearly a full month before the BCS Championship, the New Orleans Bowl holds a lot of meaning for both squads as it represents a “first” for each team.

For San Diego State, under first-year head coach Rocky Long, a trip to New Orleans is special in that it’s the first time in school history that the Aztecs have made back-to-back bowl games – at least in the schools 43-year D-I history. Prior to moving up to play with the big boys, the Aztecs made consecutive small college bowl games in 1966 and 1967. Last year’s victory in the Poinsettia Bowl was SDSU’s first D-I bowl victory. In fact, after posting 8-4 regular seasons last year and this year, it’s the first time since 1995 and 1996 that the Aztecs have consecutive winning seasons.

As SDSU enters tonight game with at least some bowl experience, the Ragin’ Cajuns of Louisiana Lafayette are playing their first D-I bowl game ever. The last time ULL played in the post-season was in the 1970 Grantland Rice bowl, one of Small College semifinals that preceded the FCS. Just as the Aztecs benefited from playing a home game last year in the Poinsettia Bowl, the Ragin’ Cajuns are essentially playing a home game of their own tonight. New Orleans is a short two-hour drive from Lafayette and Thursday night the French Quarter held a “Paint the Quarter Red” parade aimed at bringing fans together to support the ULL football team. Fans showed up in droves.

For betting enthusiasts, Bovada.lv (formerly Bodog.com) lists the Aztecs as five-point favorites with a 60-point over-under. With SDSU featuring two future NFL players in running back Ronnie Hillman and quarterback Ryan Lindley and ULL featuring a potent spread-passing atteck, we should be in for a high scoring affair.

Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns

Before first-year head coach Mark Hudspeth inherited a team that returned only 10 starters, ULL had not won more than six games since 1993. Assuming they played 12 games every year, that is 17 years without at least a winning record for those who aren’t the best at math. The Ragin’ Cajuns strength entering the season was at quarterback and they boast a spread-passing attack that ranks in the top half of NCAA in passing yards per game with 250. For a spread-passing team, ULL does do a decent job moving the ball on the ground as well, averaging 129 yards per game.

On offense, the Ragin’ Cajuns are led by junior quarterback Blaine Gautier who played in 10 games as a sophomore a year ago but only six at quarterback – he was ULL’s wildcat specialist. Gautier started the 2011 campaign under center, but a sup-par performance against Oklahoma State in the opener relegated him to backup duty. He was back under center two games later and helped ULL turn a two-game winning streak into a six-game winnig streak.

In the final seven games of the season, Gautier surpassed the 300-yard mark passing three times and ended the season as ULL’s second-leading rusher with 390 total yards. He finished with 2,500 yards passing while tossing 20 touchdowns to only five interceptions. ULL does a decent job spreading the ball around between a trio of receivers, Javone Lawson, Harry Peoples and Darrly Surgent, who totaled 712 yards and 6 tds, 592 yards and 1 td and 380 yards and 4 td’s respectively. In the redzone, look for 6’6″ tight end Ladarius Green to have a big impact as he’s caught 7 touchdowns this season.

Defensively, the Rajin’ Cajuns racked up 14 interceptions with cornerbacks Jermarlous Moten and Dwight Bentley, and linebacker Lance Kelley all picking off three passes. In total, ULL had five players with multiple interceptions and six that turned interceptions into touchdowns – Moten and Bentley each had two. Defensive end Bernard Smith is somebody Aztec quarterback Ryan Lindley will have to keep an eye on as Smith racked up 6.5 sacks, 13 tackles for loss, and registered five hits on quarterbacks.

San Diego State Aztecs

The Aztecs were on of the surprise teams in the Mountain West Conference a year ago with current Michigan head coach Brady Hoke led SDSU to a 9-4 record and the team’s first bowl victory in 42 years playing at the D-I level. Hoke was a coverted coaching prospect and was hired away by his alma mater. The Aztecs turned over the reigns of an improving program to defensive coordinator and former New Mexico head coach Rocky Long who, despite some disappointing outcomes this season, got the Aztecs back to a post-season bowl game.

The star of the Aztec offense is true sophomore running back Ronnie Hillman, who was the nation’s third leading rusher with 1,656 total yards – 138 per game – and 19 rushing touchdowns. While there isn’t much depth behind him, Adam Muema and Walter Kazee both showed promise, at times, when Hillman was out with an injury. One of the bigger disappointments this season has been the play of quarterback Ryan Lindley, who became the Mountain West and SDSU career-leader in touchdowns thrown earlier this season.

Lindley entered his senior year as one of the top NFL quarterback prospects but completed only 52.5 percent of his passes and averaged only 228 yards per game. He did toss 20 TD’s but also threw eight interceptions. What hurt Lindley the most was the loss of his top two seniors from a year ago to graduation. This year, Lindley has dealt with a young, inexperienced receiving core in Colin Lockett, Gavin Escobar and Dylan Denso.

Defensively, senior Miles Burris established himself as one of the top linebackers in the country as he totaled a team-high 72 tackles (45 solo) including 19 tackles for loss and eight sacks. Senior defensive end Jerome Long, who stands 6’5″ and weight 285 lbs. is the Aztecs second-best tackler, both in general and in the backfield with eight TFLs and five sacks. With the exception of Burris and Long, the two players to keep an eye on are the cornerbacks – Larry Parker and Leon McFadden.

Parker led the Aztecs with seven interceptions, broke up seven passes and defended 14. He also forced three fumbles while making 42 solo tackles (56 total). McFadden, on the other hand, didn’t put up the same interception or tackling numbers as Parker, only picking off two passes, but he did break up 12 and defend 14. With ULL prepared to pass the ball at least 30 times, expect Parker and McFadden to have big games