ULM and Louisiana Tech announced the new Radiance Technologies I-20 Showdown Rivalry Series between the two schools just 30 minutes apart. As the Bulldogs enter the Sun Belt, Tech Athletic Director Ryan Ivey says the championship spotlights a historic, heated rivalry.
“Our fans know each other. They go to church with one another. They see each other in the grocery store. They’re probably even part of families, all these things; you can talk about ‘House Divided.’ So all this emotion, and the opportunity for people to be a part of it in a way that also creates an economic development, I think is just critical for us,” Ivey explained.
The series includes competitions across 12 sports, with points awarded for wins in head-to-head games and season series and conference standings for non-head-to-head sports. Ivey says each sport is weighted equally.
“It’s going to take all of us, and we all have a part to play within the series. And so making sure that, when we’re out in the outdoor track championship in May, that 200-meter sprinter understands that they’ve got to finish in front of the ULM sprinter. They have a role to play in this, because it’s going to help all of us; it’s going to take all of us to do that,” Armstrong said.
Ivey says giving athletes and fans official bragging rights and a trophy will make each game mean more. He says the universities are designing a trophy now, and fans should look out for their chance to weigh in.
“It’s going to be a fan vote. We’re going to put this out and make sure that our fans have the opportunity to vote on it. And then at the end of the year, whenever either team either gets to 6.5 points or gets to the point where it’s the end of the year and we have to use a tiebreaker scenario, then there will be a trophy that lives with that winning department for all the next year,” Armstrong noted.
The tiebreaker goes to whichever school won that year’s football game.