Traditionally, the New Orleans Bowl pits a team from the Sun Belt against a team from Conference USA. In the inaugural New Orleans Bowl in 2001, the Mountain West Conference sent Colorado State to face Sun Belt champ North Texas, the first team in NCAA history to make a bowl game after starting the season 0-5.

The game has been played at the New Orleans Superdome each year except 2005, when the game was played at Cajun Field in Lafayette, La. That season, it was renamed the "New Orleans Bowl at Lafayette."

Memorable moments

• In 2008, Southern Miss was supposed to be the away team against Troy. However, the Golden Eagles played in their home yellow jerseys. Southern Miss was penalized one timeout in the first half for the mistake. It mattered little, as Southern Miss won the game in overtime after Michael McGhee blocked Troy kicker Sam Glusman's field-goal attempt that would have tied the game.

• Louisiana-Lafayette's Blaine Gautier had 470 passing yards in the 2011 game against San Diego State. The Cajun's needed every bit of it, too; they won 32-30 on a 50-yard field goal with four seconds left.