My freshman year, 1973. Lost the opening game to Eastern Michigan on the road 21 - 19. Went undefeated the rest of they year. Ended the regular season at home beating NLU 40 - 0 and won the fight at the end of the game too. In the regular season, other than Eastern Michigan, no one scored over 7 points on the Dogs...so we had a hell of a defense! Went on to win the first Division II National Championship. In the playoffs beat Western Illinois at home, 18 - 13, Boise at the Pioneer Bowl, 38 - 34 and Western Kentucky in the Championship, 34 - 0.
1999
Yeah, spending multiple weeks in the top 25 was huge and we had the opportunity to finish the season in the top 25 if we had just taken care of business. Instead we flopped at the end, stayed home during the bowls, and waved goodbye to our coach. It still cemented our reputation as a dangerous team outside of the power conferences. It's a bittersweet season to say the least.
Correct.
In 1999, LA Tech cracked the FBS level Top 25 for the very first time, only to lose 45-19 at Southern Cal the following week and exit quickly from the polls. We clearly demonstrated that we weren't ready for Prime Time back in 1999. Win that game at SC, and LA Tech could have likely climbed into the Top 15 to 20.
That was LA Tech's first chance to earn some seriously needed FBS street cred on a national stage against a legitimate traditional powerhouse program while already being ranked nationally.
Yes. And as I noted above we were actually favored. I remember our receivers just dropping pass after pass.
That was the only time I saw a kickoff actually turn 90 degrees toward the sideline. The crosswind was incredible.
I have a Ryan Moats signed piece of the goal post. Man, that was a great game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNk9agH3Ya8
In 40 years of watching Tech football, for me its the 1990 season. There was so much to it. The last half of the 1989 season went incredibly well. It was our first season in I-A. Winning with a team recruited for I-AA football. There was a buzz about the team in the fanbase and media throughout the offseason going into 1990.
Then Eric Shaw shows up and begins practicing. And nobody could stop him. We got off to a little bit of a slow start and then picked up steam. The coverage of the team was incredible, especially since the Shreveport Journal was still around. There were days when the sports section was wall to wall Tech. The storylines were everywhere.
These were the brawling Dawgs. The Nasty Boys. Yet off the field they were a great group to be around. The USL game where the coaching staff wore Jerry Glanville black. The NLU "zipper" game where Scott Beder and Jeff Duncan of the News-Star nearly lost their jobs over their coverage of Coach Peace's weekly press conference.
Tony Taglavore getting on the air in Shreveport during his sportscast the Monday following Homecoming against SFA to announce that there were rumors flying around that the Independence Bowl was looking at Tech and that he had reliable sources that indicated they just weren't true. "The Independence Bowl is not considering Tech. Let me repeat that. The Independence Bowl is not considering Tech." Classic Taglavore.
Then there was the Colorado State game. The win. The weeks leading up to the Bowl game. Eric Shaw's suspension over the gun incident. The Indy Bowl game where we settled for a tie with Eric watching from the stands. Yet, there was a feeling Tech had really come out on top under the circumstances.
To see how far the program had come in 24 months was incredible.