New Orleans, Louisiana
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The New Orleans Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played annually at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The game was sponsored by Wyndham Hotels & Resorts from 2002 to 2004 and was officially called the Wyndham New Orleans Bowl. It featured teams from the Sun Belt and Mountain West conferences, and now pits a representative from Conference USA against the champion from the Sun Belt Conference.
The New Orleans Bowl started in 2001, when the Sun Belt Conference agreed to a temporary contract to play a team from the Mountain West Conference in a new postseason game at the Louisiana Superdome. In December of that year, the Colorado State Rams came to New Orleans, and defeated North Texas, 45–20 in the inaugural New Orleans Bowl.
In 2002, the Sun Belt signed a multi-year contract with Conference USA, and the two conferences began their bowl rivalry, when North Texas played then - Conference USA member Cincinnati (and won).
Due to damage by Hurricane Katrina to the Superdome, where the game is usually played, the 2005 game was played at Cajun Field on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, when Southern Mississippi topped Arkansas State 31-19.
The game returned to the Superdome on December 22, 2006, with a new corporate sponsor in freight company R+L Carriers, renaming the game the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. Troy, co-champion of the Sun Belt that season, defeated Rice 41-17. One year later, Florida Atlantic earned its first-ever berth in a bowl game and triumphed over Memphis in the 2007 R + L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
The current champions of the New Orleans Bowl are the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns who beat San Diego State 32-30 in the 2011 game.
