2024 New Orleans Bowl
The 2024 New Orleans Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 19, 2024, at the Caesars Superdome located in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 24th annual New Orleans Bowl featured Georgia Southern and Sam Houston. The game began at approximately 6:00 p.m. CST and aired on ESPN2. The New Orleans Bowl was one of the 2024–25 bowl games concluding the 2024 FBS football season. Sponsored by freight shipping company R+L Carriers, the game was officially known as the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
Teams
Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game featured the [2024 Sam Houston Bearkats football|Sam Houston Bearkats football team|Sam Houston Bearkats] from Conference USA and the [2024 Georgia Southern Eagles football|Georgia Southern Eagles football team|Georgia Southern Eagles] from the Sun Belt Conference.
This was the first time that the Eagles and Bearkats ever played each other.
Sam Houston Bearkats
Sam Houston compiled an overall record of 9–3 during the regular season. Their losses were to UCF, Western Kentucky, and Jacksonville State. The Bearkats did not face any ranked opponents. Brad Cornelsen was named interim head coach for the New Orleans Bowl, after K. C. Keeler departed in early December for Temple. This was Sam Houston's first bowl game as a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision. Their most recent prior bowl win, which occurred when they competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, was in the 1956 Refrigerator Bowl.
Georgia Southern Eagles
Georgia Southern finished their season with an 8–4 record. Their four losses were to Boise State, [2024 2024 Ole Miss Rebels football team|Ole Miss Rebels football team|Ole Miss], Old Dominion, and Troy. Ole Miss was the only ranked team the Eagles faced. This was Georgia Southern's third consecutive season with a bowl appearance; they previously appeared in one New Orleans Bowl, winning the 2020 edition.