Carrying On

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

Southern Mississippi vs. Troy


Sunday, 8:15 p.m. ET (ESPN)


Louisiana Superdome New Orleans, LA

Why to Watch: Who
doesn’t love the annual Conference USA versus Sun Belt showdown in “The Big
Easy”? Nothing gets the heart racing and the adrenaline flowing like the smash
mouth football that occurs in the famed New Orleans Bowl. Alright, I think it
would be safe to say that ESPN’s Incredible Dog Challenge probably has more
appeal to the common sports fan, but it’s the only bowl game of the night, so
why not hype it up a little bit? But in terms of quality of play, the game
falls on the lower end of the spectrum. Even Todd McShay was struggling to
gives his proper pre-game analysis. A player to keep an eye on though is Southern
Miss receiver DeAndre Brown. The kid averages more yards per game (92.33) than
any other freshman receiver in the country.

Why not to Watch: Could
it be more obvious. Aside from the quality of the teams playing in the game,
the R+L Carriers New Orleans bowl games themselves never turn out to be entertaining. The closest game was
back in 2002 when North Texas beat Cincinnati 24-19. Aside from that, each
winning team has won by wide double-digit margins. And besides, what football
fan won’t be watching the Panthers and Giants battle it out on Sunday Night
Football. If I were a Troy alumnus, I’m pretty sure I’d still tune into the
Football Night in America coverage, with maybe an occasional channel switch
whenever John Madden has been talking for more than 20 seconds.

Randomness: Southern
Miss has a case to be the #2 team in the country. How, you wonder? Follow
along: Southern Miss beat ECU, who beat Virginia Tech, who beat Georgia Tech,
who beat Georgia, who beat South Carolina, who beat Ole Miss, who beat Florida.
If I were Larry Fedora, I’d be outraged to be delegated to the lowly New
Orleans Bowl. Protest, Larry, protest!

Pick: Troy 30,
Southern Miss 28