2005 New Orleans Bowl
| 2005 New Orleans Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| at Lafayette | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 20, 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Cajun Field | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Lafayette, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Southern Miss TE Shawn Nelson | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | John Smith (Big East) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 18,338 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$750,000 per team | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Mark Jones, Chris Spielman, Rob Stone | ||||||||||||||||||
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.
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.