2022 New Orleans Bowl

The 2022 New Orleans Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 21, 2022, at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The 22nd annual New Orleans Bowl, the game featured Western Kentucky from Conference USA (C-USA) and South Alabama from the Sun Belt Conference. The game began at 8:06 p.m. CST^[4] and aired on ESPN.^[5] It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by freight shipping company R+L Carriers, the game was officially known as the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.

Western Kentucky were the dominant team for much of the game, and they started quickly on offense with passing touchdowns on both of their first two drives, giving them a 14-point lead less than eight minutes into the game. Their lead grew to 24 points, with three Austin Reed passing touchdowns and a field goal by placekicker Cory Munson, before South Alabama scored their first points with a field goal of their own, which came with 98 seconds remaining in the first half. The teams performed more similarly in the second half, with each team trading touchdowns on their first drives of the third quarter and a later Western Kentucky field goal being answered by a South Alabama touchdown on the next series. After a pair of punts, another Western Kentucky field goal followed by another South Alabama touchdown marked the end of the scoring and left three drives before the end of the game with Western Kentucky having defeated South Alabama, 44–23, to win the game.