2005 New Orleans Bowl

The 2005 New Orleans Bowl, dubbed the New Orleans Bowl at Lafayette featured the Arkansas State Indians (now the Red Wolves) and the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. Due to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina, the game was played at Cajun Field in Lafayette, Louisiana, instead of at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.

2005 New Orleans Bowl
at Lafayette
Southern Miss Golden Eagles Arkansas State Indians (6–5) (6–5) C-USA Sun Belt 31 19 Head coach:  Jeff Bower Head coach:  Steve Roberts
1 2 3 4 Total Southern Miss 0 10 14 7 31 Arkansas State 0 10 9 0 19
Date	December 20, 2005
Season	2005
Stadium	Cajun Field
Location	Lafayette, Louisiana
MVP	Southern Miss TE Shawn Nelson
Referee	John Smith (Big East) [1]
Attendance	18,338[2]
Payout	US$750,000 per team[3]
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN[4]
New Orleans Bowl  < 2004  2006 >

For Arkansas State, the game represented the Indians' first bowl game since the 1970 Pecan Bowl. The team had won the Sun Belt Conference with a 6–5 record. Meanwhile, the Southern Miss Golden Eagles (representing Conference USA) also came in with a 6–5 record.

Game summary

Darren McCaleb got Southern Miss on the board first with a 31-yard field goal to give USM an early 3–0 lead. Arkansas State's Eric Neihouse answered with a 44-yard field goal to tie the game at 3–3. With 2:05 left in the first quarter, running back Cole Mason scored on a 5-yard touchdown run to give Southern Miss a 10–3 lead. Nick Noce answered with a 4-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 10 at halftime.

Cody Hull scored on a 1-yard touchdown run in the 3rd quarter, to give Southern Miss a 17–10 lead. Quarterback Nick Noce found wide receiver Manuel Burton in the end zone for a touchdown to tie the game at 17–17. USM quarterback Dustin Almond connected with wide receiver Shawn Nelson for a 29-yard touchdown pass and a 24–17 lead. Arkansas State scored on a safety to get within 24–19. Dustin Almond threw a second touchdown pass to Shawn Nelson to make the final margin 31–19.

References

1. "Box Score – ASU-USMBox" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 22, 2011. Retrieved January 16, 2008.
2. "NewOrleansBowl.com – History". Archived from the original on January 16, 2008. Retrieved January 16, 2008.
3. "NCAA.com – The Official Website of NCAA Championships | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com.
4. "New Orleans Bowl Checklist – Sports". Archived from the original on October 15, 2007. Retrieved January 16, 2008.

External links

• USA Today Game Summary
• Box Score Archived 2011-05-22 at the Wayback Machine