2016 New Orleans Bowl, Southern Miss vs. Louisiana Lafayette: Date, time, location, and everything to know

Also, head over here for the fully updated bowl season calendar as it fills in, from the New Orleans Bowl through the Rose Bowl. We’ll also add picks, scores, and more to that calendar over time.

The Big Easy’s college football bowl game happens for a 16th time this month. The Superdome hosts another edition of the New Orleans Bowl, which has figured out a way to be kind of cool despite not being one of the sport’s marquee games.

The game is played in primetime, and it’s played in the Superdome. So it has a chance to take a bit of a spotlight, and there’s often been a local flavor. (There definitely was last year, when Kenneth Dixon and Louisiana Tech dropped 47 points and 687 yards of offense on Arkansas State, in front of a bunch of home-state fans.)

This year’s game caps the busiest bowl day of the season. It’s the sixth game of six on Dec. 17, and you can watch it or stream it on ESPN. The winner isn’t the biggest deal in the world, but it’s got a good chance to be a good time. Here’s everything you’ve got to know about it:

Date and time: Dec. 17, 9 p.m. ET

TV channel: ESPN

Location: New Orleans

Stadium: Mercedes-Benz Superdome

Last year’s score: Louisiana Tech 47, Arkansas State 28

Last year’s attendance: 32,487

Louisiana-Lafayette, Southern Miss and North Texas, 4

Team with the most all-time wins: Louisiana-Lafayette, 4

Southern Miss (6-6, 4-4 in Conference USA)

In Jay Hopson’s first year on the job, the Golden Eagles fell off a bit from last year’s 9-5 mark under Todd Monken, who left to coordinate the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense. But they stayed well above where they were in Monken’s first few years, and they’re back in a bowl game. This is a program that’s only a few years removed from going 4-32 between 2012-14, after Larry Fedora went 12-2 and left to take over at North Carolina.

This year hasn’t been amazing, but it’s been enough. Southern Miss was a lot better in the first half of the year, when it started 4-1 after beating Kentucky on the road in the season opener. The Eagles limped to a 2-5 finish afterward, though, and put together some particularly bad performances on defense. They beat Louisiana Tech in their last regular season game to salvage bowl eligibility, so now they’re here.

Southern Miss often lists senior Nick Mullens and freshman Keon Howard as co-starters at quarterback, but Mullens is generally the guy. (Howard’s much more of a runner than Mullens, and the Eagles often use him in that capacity when he’s on the field.) The running game as a whole is pretty bad, so Mullens needs to thrive in the passing game. His top target is junior Allenzae Staggers, who’ll enter the bowl game just 73 yards from 1,000 for the year.

Louisiana Lafayette (6-6, 5-3 in Sun Belt)

Louisiana Lafayette had an up-and-down season in 2016.

After opening the season with a 45-10 loss to Boise State, the Ragin’ Cajuns won their next two over McNeese State and South Alabama. Next, ULL earned three straight losses, including defeats at Tulane and New Mexico State that ended in quadruple and double overtime, respectively. They proceeded to win three out of the next five games, including victories over Texas State, Georgia Southern, and Arkansas State. They capped off 2016 with a 30-3 win over UL-Monroe, making it to bowl six wins and bowl eligibility on the season’s last day.

ULL’s offense is led by quarterback Anthony Jennings, who has thrown for more than 2,000 yards. His touchdown-to-interception ratio hasn’t been that great however, and he’s been inconsistent.