New Orleans Bowl
Superdome - New Orleans, LA
Kickoff: Saturday, 11:00 a.m. ET
Line: Nevada -1, Total: 61

UL-Lafayette looks to run its New Orleans Bowl winning streak to four when it takes on Nevada on Saturday morning.

The Wolf Pack's season was better than it looked on paper, as they were within just one score in four of their five losses. They also played very well against some top competition, as they took a narrow 35-28 loss as 20-point underdogs when they visited Arizona, and then lost by the slim margin of 51-46 as 3.5-point 'dogs against a tough Boise State program. Besides that, they won two contests as underdogs (Washington State, BYU) and are on their way to a ninth consecutive bowl game. Unfortunately, Nevada has not performed too well in those bowls, going a mere 2-6 SU, but was close last year against Arizona in the New Mexico Bowl as it suffered a 49-48 defeat as an 8.5-point underdog. The Ragin’ Cajuns had a rough start to the 2014 campaign as they went 1-3 (SU and ATS), but turned things around to go 7-1 SU (5-2-1 ATS) since Oct. 1. They had a mere three turnovers in those final eight contests of the year, as they defeated their opponents by an average of 15.1 PPG. This will be the fourth season in a row that Louisiana-Lafayette is playing in the New Orleans Bowl, and so far the school is a perfect 3-0 (SU and ATS) with an average score of 33 to 28. While this is a virtual home game for the Ragin’ Cajuns, the Wolf Pack enter this matchup as a solid road team that has gone 4-2 SU (5-1 ATS) away from home this year where it has outscored hosts 34 to 17 on average. Both schools also played a common opponent in Boise State during the regular season, but as previously mentioned, Nevada had a close five-point loss to the Broncos, while UL-Lafayette was trounced 34-9. Some trends to keep an eye on include that the Wolf Pack are 10-3 ATS (77%) after gaining 125 or less passing yards in their previous game while ULL is 8-1 ATS (89%) in road games after playing two straight conference games over the past three seasons. Neither school has any significant injuries which should affect the outcome of this game.

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Nevada’s offense was led this year by its stout rushing attack that gained 215.2 YPG (32nd in nation) while it passed for 197.8 YPG and scored 31.3 PPG. QB Cody Fajardo (2,374 pass yards, 18 TD, 11 INT) is the leader under center, as he took every snap at his position for the team this year while having six games over 270 passing yards. His biggest threat comes from his ability to run, as he has 100+ yards on the ground in four of his past five games and has totaled 997 yards (6.1 YPC) with 13 touchdowns on the year. HB Don Jackson (932 rush yards, 7 TD) joins him in the backfield and has gone for 4.5 YPC while eclipsing 100 rushing yards five times. He’s coming off a monster game, as he went for a season-high 132 yards (6.0 YPC) against UNLV in the final regular-season contest. The duo of WRs Jerico Richardson (626 rec yards, 3 TD) and Richy Turner (541 rec yards, 4 TD) provides Fajardo with some nice targets in the passing game, but does not go for many big plays, as it has combined to average a mere 10.5 yards per catch. This program tends to struggle on the defensive side of things, as it has allowed 28.2 PPG while giving up 271.0 passing YPG (14th-worst in FBS). LB Jonathan McNeal (95 tackles, 5.5 TFL, 1 INT) and DL Ian Seau (7 sacks, 37 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD) have been bright spots for this poor defense and will need to step it up even more to grab a win this Saturday.

ULL plays a similar style offense as its opponent in this one, rushing for 228.4 YPG (26th in nation), but providing minimal production from the passing game (188.9 YPG) as the team is scoring 30.6 PPG. QB Terrance Broadway (2,073 pass yards, 12 TD, 9 INT) has started for this program since the 2012 campaign, but has had his worst season where he's connected on 61.1% of his passes for just 6.7 YPA and failed to surpass 250 passing yards in any game. He also does plenty of work with his legs and has 634 rushing yards (4.8 YPC) with 3 TD on the year while having double-digit attempts seven different times. HB Elijah McGuire (1,165 rush yards, 14 TD) has been a beast for this offense while gaining a solid 7.8 YPC and going over 110 yards four times. He’s had a rushing score in each of the past nine games while also adding to the air attack with 414 yards on 40 catches (10.4 avg) and two touchdowns. HB Alonzo Harris (737 rush yards, 12 TD) has also been an important piece of the offense, but is more of a workhorse, as he is gaining just 4.6 YPC. While McGuire has the most receptions on the team, WR James Butler (471 rec yards) leads them in yards, while WR Jamal Robinson (260 rec yards, 4 TD) has been the biggest red-zone threat. The defense has been very poor throughout the 2014 season, as it is giving up 27.9 PPG and allowing 275.3 passing YPG (9th-worst in FBS). DL Christian Ringo (10.5 sacks, 42 tackles) has been one of the few bright spots on this side of the ball, and will need to continue putting pressure on the opposing quarterback in order to help his team to a victory.