The 46th edition of the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl will feature Houston of the American Athletic Conference versus Louisiana-Lafayette of the Sun Belt Conference, bowl officials announced Sunday.
Slated for Dec. 23, the contest was supposed to feature Army against a team from the AAC. The Black Knights failed to qualify, however, forcing the bowl to go to backup affiliations with Conference USA and the Sun Belt. C-USA didn’t have enough qualifiers to fulfill its bowl obligations, so the I-Bowl went to the Sun Belt.
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Houston (7-5) and Louisiana (6-6) will be competing in the I-Bowl for the first time.
“That’s as unusual as it gets,” I-Bowl chairman Rob Rubel said. “Not only is the first time for both these teams to be in our bowl, it’s at least the first time in a long time to have two teams that can drive in from a fan base perspective.”
The game will be Houston’s final contest in the AAC before moving into the Big 12 in 2023.
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“Wildly excited is a term I stole from (both athletic directors),” Rubel said. “Both ADs were very excited, so that’s a good sign.
Houston, in its fourth season under coach Dana Holgorsen, won five of its final seven games. Led by first-team All-Conference quarterback Clayton Tune, the Cougars were among the nation’s premier offenses, scoring 30-plus points in 11 of their 12 games. The Cougars are competing in their 15th bowl game in the last 18 seasons – the most in the state of Texas in that span – and 30th in the history of the program.
“We’re looking forward to the opportunity to compete one more time as a football team and end this season with a win,” Holgorsen said in a school release. “The Independence Bowl has a great tradition going back several decades. This game means a lot. I know our guys will be ready to play and we look forward to the challenge of facing another good football team.”
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The Ragin Cajuns (6-6) qualified by winning their season finale, 41-13, over Texas State, making them bowl eligible for a school record fifth consecutive season. They were the only FBS program in the state that has never competed in an I-Bowl. LSU, Louisiana Tech, Tulane and Louisiana-Monroe have been selected in the past.
It will be their 10th time for the teams to face off against each other. The Ragin’ Cajuns won the last matchup in 2006, but Houston holds the series lead with six wins compared to Louisiana’s three. Louisiana’s appearance will be the second time the Sun Belt has been represented in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl (UL Monroe in 2012), while this will be the third appearance in the Independence Bowl for the AAC (Temple in 2018 and Tulsa in 2015).
Established in 1976, the I-Bowl is the country’s 11th oldest bowl game, and the latest edition will be played at 2 p.m. In the 2021 contest, nationally ranked BYU was defeated 31-28 by the UAB Blazers. The announced attendance in 50,000-seat Independence Stadium was 26,276.
I-Bowl officials have signed agreements to be televised on an ESPN network through 2025 and Radiance Technologies will be the title sponsor at least until 2025.
The bowl has a current rotation of Army and BYU against a rotation of Pac-12, AAC and C-USA teams when available.
Jimmy Watson covers Shreveport-Bossier area sports. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @JimmyWatson6.
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