The game featured the
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs against the
Arkansas State Red Wolves. It was the 38th overall meeting between the schools, with Louisiana Tech leading the series 25–12 before this game (both had previously been in-conference foes in the
Southland Conference and
Big West Conference before Louisiana Tech joined the
Western Athletic Conference and later
Conference USA and Arkansas State joined the
Sun Belt). The last meeting between these two teams was in 1998, when the Bulldogs beat the Indians 69–21 in Jonesboro.
Arkansas State Red Wolves Sources told
ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy that the Red Wolves had officially been invited to the game and accepted. This was the Red Wolves' second trip to the New Orleans Bowl;
they (at the time known as the Indians) had previously played in the
2005 game, losing to the
Southern Miss Golden Eagles by a score of 31–19. Notably, that game was played at
Cajun Field in nearby
Lafayette because of damage to the Superdome done by
Hurricane Katrina.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs This was the Bulldogs' second straight bowl appearance under third-year head coach
Skip Holtz, following a 35–18 victory over
Illinois in the
2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl. Holtz had a 3–3 career record in bowl games as head coach at Louisiana Tech,
South Florida and
East Carolina. The Louisiana Tech program entered 3–3–1 all-time in FBS bowl games. ==Game summary==