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Football: UL Ragin’ Cajuns hang on for third straight New Orleans Bowl win + video of tailgatingMegan Wyatt, Daily Advertiser, Dec. 23, 2013 Athletic Network Footnote: Click here for video of New Orleans Bowl Tailgate Party. With just seconds left on the clock Saturday, Ragin’ Cajuns fans shook the Mercedes-Benz Superdome’s stands as Tulane missed a last-minute field goal. And just like that, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette earned its third-straight New Orleans “It was a nail-biter at times,” said fan LeQuentin Bruno with a broad smile. “But at the end, we pushed out the inevitable of us winning again.” UL alumna Lacey Blanchard said she couldn’t shake the stressed feeling even after the Ragin’ Cajuns won. “The best part is this right here, hearing Coach Hud give his speech on the field,” Blanchard said. For the third-straight year, the bowl game Ragin’ Cajun red spilled into all areas of the Superdome, with Tulane’s Green Wave fans filling far fewer sections. With each Cajun touchdown or interception, cheers exploded from a sea of red and echoed throughout the Dome. Even louder than the cheers of excitement were the roars of frustration as Tulane took away the Cajuns’ lead, tying the game in the third quarter. Cajuns fans continued to stress through the fourth quarter as the game kept at 21-21 and eventually fell in the Cajuns’ favor with Hunter Stover’s first field goal attempt of the season from 27 yards to give the Cajuns a 24-21 lead. “I’m just proud of every one of these guys here tonight,” UL head coach Mark Hudspeth said after the game. “When they lost the momentum, they just found a way to get it back.” A Morgan City family “It’s Lafayette versus New Orleans,” Vickie Robicheaux said. “We’re halfway between the two cities.” Robicheaux and her husband sported Green Wave apparel, while their daughter, Brooke Serpas, her husband and child
Hundreds of UL Lafayette and Tulane University fans enjoy a performance by the Chee-Weez during a tailgate party at Rouses Supermarket in New Orleans, La., Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013. The two schools’ football teams will face each other in the R?L Carriers New Orleans Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Saturday. By Paul Kieu, The Advertiser Dec. 21, 2013
“It’s fun. It makes it more fun,” Robicheaux said. “We can tease each other, and one of us will go home Although Tulane University is located in New Orleans, the Ragin’ Cajuns splashed over the Green Wave’s turf all weekend long. Early Saturday morning, those wearing red walked through the Quarter in spurts. As the 8 p.m. New Orleans Bowl game grew closer, however, red took over crosswalks, bars and tailgate parties. “It’s good for the school Saturday, Boudreaux wore a Cajuns-themed firefighter hat and pants with a rope slung over his neck — a tribute to Hudspeth’s popular catchphrase “Don’t let go of the rope.” Boudreaux serves as a Lafayette firefighter, and his station is located on Johnston Street beside the UL campus. “Football is kind of like firefighting,” Boudreaux said. “Both of them you wear helmets. Both involve a lot of working out. Both depend on teamwork, brotherhood.” Boudreaux and his godchild, Cody Prejean, attended the Rouses’ Louisiana Tailgate Saturday afternoon. Although the parking lot party was meant for fans of both Louisiana schools, it attracted thousands of Cajuns fans but only a handful of Tulane fans. For Ragin’ Cajuns fan Dalisha Hebert, the excitement has been a bit overwhelming. Hebert, a freshman music education major at UL, decided to bring her Saturday’s bowl game was Hebert’s first football game ever. “I’m an inside, in-my-dorm kind of person,” Hebert said. “But when I heard this game was at home, I said, ‘Yeah, let’s go.’” UL alumnae Rachel Menard and Monique Villien of Lafayette agreed last year to wear tutus if the Cajuns made it to the Bowl three years in a row. Saturday, the two sported red-and-black tulle and sequined, feather headbands.
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