New Orleans Bowl point spread: Picking Jacksonville State Gamecocks vs. Louisiana Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns
Bowl season gets underway this weekend with several games, including Jacksonville State vs. Louisiana Lafayette in the New Orleans Bowl on Saturday.
The Gamecocks enter the game with an 8-4 record under head coach Rich Rodriguez. Jacksonville State has had a great season, despite only being in Year 2 as an FBS program.
Lafayette is 6-6 on the year and has dropped three of its past four games. However, the Ragin’ Cajuns did win their most recent contest against against UL Monroe. Jacksonville State is currently a 3.5-point favorite for the game, according to FanDuel.
How to watch Jacksonville State vs. Louisiana Lafayette
Time: 2:15 p.m. ET
Channel: ESPN, FuboTV (streaming)
Location: Caesars Superdome — New Orleans, La.
On3’s Andy Staples was recently joined by The Athletic’s Chris Vannini to preview the New Orleans Bowl and pick between Jacksonville State and Louisiana Lafayette.
Vannini has been impressed by what he has seen from Jacksonville State and Rich Rodriguez this season.
“They had a real solid year. Zion Webb is their starting quarterback. He kind of does everything for them,” Vannini said. “They run the ball a lot. A couple of weeks ago against Louisiana Tech they rushed for 522 yards, seven touchdowns. And then Louisiana Tech fired their entire defensive staff. … That’s a team that likes to run the ball. Big fan of what they’ve done at Jacksonville State.”
Vannini expects Louisiana Lafayette to have some success, particularly on offense. But he likes Jacksonville State to win the game.
“Jacksonville State does not have a good pass defense, so I expect Louisiana to be able to move the ball in the air. Neither team, it looks like, has any major portal guys, so they should be mostly full strength, I think. I think I’m going to take Jacksonville State here,” he said. “I like what Rich Rod’s done. I think they can run the ball and move it quite a bit.”
Staples feels that the experience Rodriguez has in bowl games gives the Gamecocks an edge.
This is the first bowl game Jacksonville State has ever played in, but Rodriguez has taken part in several bowl games over the years.
“Louisiana Lafeyette had been one of the better teams in the Sun Belt. This was not their year. But this is a way to end it well. But I think this is a situation … this will be a very big deal for everyone associated with the Gamecocks. This might be a good little feisty crowd, too, because these folks have never been to a bowl game before and it’s a pretty easy drive,” Staples said.
“I think the hardest part with all of these games is finding motivation, and this one’s easy. We know where their motivation’s coming from. It’s their first bowl game. They’re clearly very excited. And they also have a coach who understands how bowl games work, has been in a bunch of them, isn’t going to be, ‘Well how do I handle the practice? What do I do about this?’ … So yea, I think Jacksonville State’s going to cover this one, just because you’ve got the Rich Rod factor. He knows what he’s doing here. Louisiana Lafayette, this is same old same old to them. But the Gamecocks – very exciting, very new.”
It remains to be seen who will come out on top, but it’s clear that Staples and Vannini feel that Jacksonville State has the edge. It will be fun to see how the New Orleans Bowl unfolds this weekend.