Most Cajuns aren’t Aztecs and vice versa, but a small group of UL alumni will have split allegiances this Saturday when UL’s football team takes on San Diego State in the RL Carries New Orleans Bowl.

"I will be wearing red even though San Diego State is an alma mater," said Jesse Armentor, a Baton Rouge CPA who graduated from both universities. "I feel much more closely akin to UL."

Armentor, who was born and raised in Lafayette, graduated from UL in 1969 with an accounting degree. He then went on active duty in the U.S. Navy and found himself stationed in San Diego from 1971 until 1975.

With some spare time while serving shore duty, Armentor enrolled at SDSU, and by 1975, he had earned a MBA.

"UL was my home, so to speak, and I grew up with it," Armentor said. "I felt that I was a part of UL, and when I went to San Diego State, I knew I was there temporarily."

Marcus Guidry, a Lafayette-based environmental consultant, also spent time at both UL and at SDSU. He graduated from UL in 1985 with a geology degree and took a job in San Diego the following year.

He enrolled in classes at SDSU to pursue a master’s degree in 1987, but by 1989, he moved back home to Lafayette without graduating from the university.

"I’ll be wearing red and black," Guidry said of his plans for Saturday’s game. "I’m UL through and through."

In the same way Armentor felt like he "was a part of UL," Guidry also felt more connected to UL than he did to SDSU.

"At UL, everybody seemed so close together," Guidry said.

Armentor and Guidry, however, aren’t the only UL graduates to also attend SDSU.

Holly Leger, assistant director of UL’s Alumni Association, said at least four UL graduates, including Armentor and Guidry, are dual alumni with SDSU.

While Armentor and Guidry both settled in Louisiana, their two dual-alumni peers settled in California.

According to the Leger, 1943 UL graduate Dr. Thelma Thompson now lives in La Mesa, Calif., and Janetta Carlstrom, a 1981 UL graduate, now lives in San Diego.

After graduating from SDSU and finishing his time in the Navy, Armentor looked for a job in Louisiana. Unable to find

employment in Lafayette, he wound up in Houston for a short period of time before moving to Baton Rouge, where he took courses at LSU and earned a master’s degree in business

administration.

"We should really have two prominent college football powers in the state," he said of UL’s and LSU’s impressive seasons this year while noting that states such as Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi and Alabama all have more than one powerhouse football school.

Both Armentor and Guidry attended UL and SDSU football games while students at each university, and the two men fondly recalled the differences between the two fan bases.

Armentor said he remembers a formal atmosphere at UL games, noting he wore a coat and tie to football games during his first year as a Cajun.

"We went to several football games while I was at San Diego State, but if there was any institution that was less successful in football than UL at the time it was San Diego."

Guidry said UL in the 1980s "was always a party and a great time." The fun-loving attitude to which he became accustomed while attending UL football games with his geology club friends far outpaced the revelers in San Diego.

"It was never the atmosphere you would have at a UL game with the party types having a great time at UL, and I think Lafayette has a lot to do with that," Guidry said. "San Diego was a great place to live, but the celebrations just didn’t have that looseness that Lafayette has."

Armentor credited UL’s head football coach Mark Hudspeth with bringing the Cajuns a winning season.

"In his first year, he’s had the winning combination, and I’m hoping he can keep that up," Armentor said. "It’s good for Lafayette, and it’s good for Louisiana."

As far as the bowl game’s score, both Armentor and Guidry are putting faith in the Cajuns.

"I would probably say UL by a touchdown," Armentor predicted. "Maybe 25 to 18 or something like that."

Armentor, who will be attending the game in New Orleans with a group of six family members and friends from Lafayette and Mobile, Ala., said SDSU fans are in for a surprise when soaking in all New Orleans and Louisiana culture has to offer.

"It will be a bit odd to them," Armentor said. "New Orleans is a unique city where you can walk up and down the French Quarter and pop into bars for a drink and then walk outside with your hurricane in hand. You can’t do that in San Diego."