Watch: Video of the Year it Snowed at the Independence Bowl

Late last week it was announced that Marshall University had declined their invitation to the 2024 Independence Bowl on December 28 at 8:15 pm in Shreveport.

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To the delight of Louisiana football fans, that news was immediately followed with the announcement that the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs would fill that void.

With so much publicity on this year's Indy Bowl, our memory of what could be called the most infamous Independence Bowl of all time began to surface.

If you are old enough to remember New Year's Eve 2000, you probably remember the event that occurred that put Shreveport in the national spotlight.

Texas A&M and Mississippi State University were in town for the annual Independence Bowl which would soon become known all over the country as the "Snow Bowl."

It was about thirty minutes prior to kickoff when snow blew into Shreveport and by the second quarter, all the turf was covered, forcing plows to be used during timeouts to make all the goal lines, yardage lines and hash marks visible.

At certain times, the snow came down so hard that television viewers said it was much like watching television static and half of the nearly 37,000 fans called it quits by half time and left the stands to finish the game from the comforts of an indoor television.

Just check out this video to jog your memory.

Mississippi State won the game in overtime 43-41 and Coach Jackie Sherrill said his team won through their sheer will, "There might have been a different football game under normal conditions, but our team just never gave up." Sherrill continued, "I was surprised both teams scored as many points as we did in the snow."

Could The Same Thing Happen For This Year's Indy Bowl?

It's highly unlikely we could see a repeat this year.  In fact, looking at the 10-Day forecast from The Weather Channel, the weather for game day is looking relatively nice with a partly cloudy sky and a high of 70.

Of course, we are still nine days from then and considering the way our weather changes around here, we could have anything from a tropical heat wave to a blizzard.

So, for those planning to visit Shreveport for this year's game, if you pack everything from a parka to shorts and flip flops, you should be good to go.