NEW ORLEANS, La. (12/19/15) – The Arkansas State football team battled through injuries to offensive starters Michael Gordon, J.D. McKissic, and Colton Jackson and went into halftime tied 17-17 with Louisiana Tech, but the Red Wolves were outscored 30-11 in the second half of a 47-28 loss at the 2015 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl in front of the fifth-largest crowd in the bowl's history of 32,847.
Dixon, named the MVP of the game, led the Bulldogs' offense with 215 total yards and scored four touchdowns, three in the second half, as Louisiana Tech (9-4) racked up a New Orleans Bowl record 687 yards of total offense. A-State (9-4) accumulated 323 yards of total offense to go over 300 yards for the 69th time in 77 games, but couldn't compensate for the losses of Gordon, McKissic, and Jackson.
“It's not really the way we wanted to finish obviously, but I'm proud of the guys,” A-State head football coach Blake Anderson said. “I felt like we would play a little better, but we didn't execute. Turnovers and penalties were the two things that stood out. Unfortunately, we've had the injury bug that hit us the last couple of weeks of the season, and had guys that had to play more snaps than normal.”
Warren Wand was the team's leading rusher with 66 yards on 12 carries, while Fredi Knighten was 14-of-28 for 137 yards through the air. Tres Houston led the team with 47 yards receiving on three catches, while Sterling Stowers added 27 on two catches. Rocky Hayes and Cody Brown led A-State with eight tackles each and Jake Swalley registered the team's only sack of the game.
Blaise Taylor had 214 return yards, including the first New Orleans Bowl kickoff return for a touchdown with a 98-yarder in the fourth quarter, and he also had a 41-yard punt return to set up another score earlier in the contest. Taylor's 174 kickoff return yards set a New Orleans Bowl record, while his 214 all-purpose yards were the second most in the bowl's history.
“Louisiana Tech did a good job,” added Anderson. “They're a quality football team and they played well. Their quarterback Jeff Driskel played as well as you can possibly play and Dixon was a handful. We had too many miscues, were way too many times behind the chain. The kids kept playing for 60 minutes. We played hard, but we just didn't play well.
Louisiana Tech opened the scoring after receiving the opening kickoff with a seven-play, 88-yard drive, capped with a nine-yard touchdown reception by Dixon from Jeff Driskel. However, A-State struck back on its opening possession with a 35-yard field goal from J.D. Houston to finish a 14-play, 56-yard drive to make the score 7-3 with 6:38 to in the first quarter. Louisiana Tech added a 50-yard field goal from Jonathan Barnes to earn a 10-3 advantage at the end of the opening frame.
The Bulldogs opened the second quarter with a five-play, 63-yard drive that ended in a touchdown to make the score 17-3. Trent Taylor caught a 45-yard pass from Driskel on the drive before registering the score on a 13-yard reception. A-State responded with a 13-play, 91-yard drive that ended with a one-yard touchdown rush by Wand to make the score 17-10 midway through the second quarter.
A-State forced a Louisiana Tech punt with 1:32 remaining until halftime and Taylor ran the punt back 41 yards to give the Red Wolves the ball at the Bulldogs' 25-yard line. Four plays later Knighten found pay dirt from one yard out to tie the contest 17-17 with 18 second left until halftime. Louisiana Tech completed a 71-yard pass right before intermission, but Chris Humes made a shoestring tackle to preserve the tie as both teams headed to the locker room.
Both teams traded field goals to begin the second half to make the score 20-20, but Louisiana Tech took a 27-20 advantage on its next drive when Dixon housed a Driskel pass from 59 yards out. A-State only got one first down on its next drive and the Bulldogs made A-State pay with an eight-play, 90-yard drive that ended with a Dixon touchdown plunge from eight yards out for a 34-20 edge at the end of the third quarter.
Louisiana Tech added a 28-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter for a 37-20 advantage and took a 44-20 lead on a Dixon touchdown run with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game. Taylor took the ensuing kickoff back 98 yards for a touchdown and a Knighten pass to Darion Griswold on the two-point conversion attempt set the score at 44-28.
However, the Bulldogs embarked on a 16-play, 70-yard drive that ate up a little over nine minutes of the clock and ended with another field goal to make the score 47-28. The Red Wolves got the ball back with 1:26 left, but a Knighten interception ended the drive and the Bulldogs ran out the clock to earn the victory.
Penalties played a big factor in the game as both teams combined for 24 penalties for 263 yards, while A-State had three turnovers and didn't force a single one after coming into the game as the nation's leader in turnovers forced.
Arkansas State, which made its fifth straight bowl appearance, finished the season 9-4, with the nine victories the third most in school history as a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).
