The early history of the football series (between LA Tech & Northeast Louisiana) was dominated by Louisiana Tech, as the Bulldogs won 20 of the first 25 meetings between the two schools. Following the end of the 1978 season, long-time Louisiana Tech head coach
Maxie Lambright resigned, and Tech decided to hire
Arkansas assistant coach
Larry Beightol as their new head coach,
instead of promoting long-time Lambright assistant coach (and Louisiana Tech alum), Pat Collins.[5][6] Collins was subsequently hired as an assistant coach at Northeast Louisiana, before being promoted to head coach following
John David Crow's resignation at the end of the 1980 season.
[5][6] Prior to Collins' first game against Tech as a head coach, he drew the ire of Tech fans by using insider information gleaned during his time as a Tech assistant to complain to Southland Conference officials and have the Bulldogs' star linebacker, Ed Jackson, declared ineligible to play.
[5] The game, dubbed the "Ed Jackson Bowl,"[5] quickly turned into a rout, as Northeast Louisiana dominated the Bulldogs en route to a 35–0 victory in front of 23,500 fans at Tech's Joe Aillet Stadium.[5] Collins spent eight seasons as coach at Northeast Louisiana, and went 6–2 all time against his alma mater.[5] Following Collins' tenure, however, Louisiana Tech once again began to dominate the matchup, winning 7 of the last 8 meetings, with a 1989 game that the Bulldogs initially won on the field, but later forfeited the victory, as the only blemish.