Football: Sea of Red + Kids visit UL Football Practice Photo Gallery 12/17/12

Football: Sea of Red � Kids visit UL Football Practice Photo Gallery 12/17/12

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, December 17, 2012

A year ago tonight, he took the field at the Superdome for the 2011 New Orleans Bowl game between UL and San Diego State, and saw one predominant color.

The mind of Mark Hudspeth, then at the tail end of his first year as head coach to the Ragin’ Cajuns, drifted to the day he was introduced to the Acadiana area.

"I went straight back to the press conference when I was hired," Hudspeth said. "If you go back and watch it, I said, ‘When we get to the New Orleans Bowl, it’s gonna mean an awful lot to our fans.’ That was the last thing I said."Then I walked out of the tunnel, and you saw the sea of red — it was amazing. And when we took the field, it was so loud.

"It was that way the entire way," Hudspeth added. "Our fans were into it. They’re very passionate."A New Orleans Bowl-record crowd of 42,841 — 12,000-plus more than the previous mark — was on hand at the Superdome, and it’s probably not a stretch to suggest close to 40,000 of them were pulling for the Cajuns.

On the strength of Blaine Gautier’s 470 passing yards and Brett Baer’s 50-yard field as time expired, UL beat San Diego State 32-30 that December night.Now, all indications are that the audience could be even larger when Hudspeth’s club makes a return visit to the ‘Dome to face East Carolina in Saturday morning’s ESPN-televised New Orleans Bowl.

That has certain Cajuns rather jacked."It’s going to be an amazing atmosphere," Gautier said. "We know the fans will travel "» because we have some of the best fans in this country. It’s going to be an amazing night for us.""I don’t think there is anything they didn’t do last year," added linebacker Justin Anderson, UL’s leading tackler in 2012. "The fans were awesome. Best fans in the world last year. Homefield advantage, needless to say."Anderson readily concurred with Hudspeth’s assessment of how the 2011 New Orleans Bowl impacted the ears.

"It was just loud," he said. "And for us, getting the crowd behind us is a lot of help. It helps me a lot personally. I love getting the crowd into a game, getting the crowd hyped up for the game. I love that. And it’s not going to change (this year)."

UL of the Sun Belt Conference and East Carolina of Conference USA both won their season openers over Football Championship Subdivision teams — Lamar and Appalachian State, respectively.

Both go into Saturday’s game having won three straight games to end their 2012 regular seasons.But also have identical 8-4 records.

Two of UL’s losses were non-conference ones at Oklahoma State and Florida; three of East Carolina’s came out of conference at South Carolina, at North Carolina and at home to Navy.But while UL has two wins over bowl-bound teams _ UL Monroe (Independence Bowl) and Western Kentucky (Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl) _ East Carolina has zero.

That’s right, none of the Pirates’ eight victories — over FCS Appalachian State, winless Southern Mississippi, 3-9 UTEP, 4-8 Memphis, 3-9 Alabama-Birmingham, 5-7 Houston, 2-10 Tulane and 5-7 Marshall — came against a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) team with a winning record.But Hudspeth is even higher on another perceived advantage for the Cajuns.

"You can’t imagine how many fans have come up," he said, "and said to me, ‘Coach, I wasn’t able to make it last year; we will not miss it this year.’"

Athletic Network Footnote: Click here for the Kids Vist UL Football Practice Photo Gallery.