Who’s playing: East Carolina vs. University of Louisiana-Lafayette
Who’s favoured: UL Lafayette by 4.5 points (up to date odds available at Pinnacle Sports)
What’s the total: 65 points
When and where to watch: Sat. Dec. 22, 12 p.m. ET on TSN 2

About East Carolina (8-4 W/L, 6-6 ATS, 6-5 O/U)

• East Carolina has won three straight games
• East Carolina returns to bowl game this year after five-year streak was snapped in 2011. “All bowl games are exciting to me. Not going to one last year really makes you even more excited,” said coach Ruffin McNeill.
• East Carolina has lost last three bowl game appearances and is 5-7 all-time in bowl games
• East Carolina QB Shane Carden threw for 300-plus yards in four of last six games, including school-record 439 in regular-season finale Nov. 23 vs. Marshall

About UL Lafayette (8-4 W/L, 7-5 ATS, 5-5-1 O/U)

• UL Lafayette won New Orleans Bowl last year, defeating San Diego State 32-30 on last-second field goal
• Game will be played in New Orleans, home state of UL Lafayette
• Sophomore Terrance Broadway has taken starting QB job away from Blaine Gautier, who was MVP in last year’s New Orleans Bowl
• Broadway is 258 total yards short of Gautier’s single-season record despite not becoming starter until Sept. 29
• UL Lafayette’s only loss in last five games was to Florida, when Cajuns led game with less than two minutes remaining but lost on blocked punt touchdown in final seconds

Head to head history:

• UL Lafayette is 6-4 lifetime against East Carolina, but teams have not played since East Carolina beat then-Southwestern Louisiana 20-10 in 1990