Bulldogs Ride Stifling Defense Past Miners - latechsports.com

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Louisiana Tech used a dominant defensive effort and two interception returns for touchdowns to defeat UTEP 30-11 on Saturday night at the Sun Bowl.

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Discuss it here.

[HogDawg]

Make no mistake about it, LA Tech is 4-1 right now,only by the grace of God and the very best defensive play that I've seen from a Tech defense since a 1992 early season matchup between #7 ranked Alabama and our Dog's, at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.

On that gray sky day in Birmingham, the LA Tech DEFENSE held the Crimson Tide to only 13 total points and 167 yds of total offense. The only TD Bama earned that day came courtesy of Alabama All American RB & punt returner David Palmer. With Bama clinging to a 6-0 lead early in the 4th quarter, Palmer returned a Tech punt 63 yds to pay dirt. You could almost hear a huge sigh of relief coming from the Bama crowd. They knew a 13-0 lead was a safe lead. They had watched the LA Tech offense struggle to gain only 117 yds of total offense that day.

They knew it was game over.

Alabama finished the 1992 season undefeated, with a 13-0 record, and won the national championship. Tech finished 5-6.

Why the history lesson? Well, so far, this year's Tech football team bares a remarkable resemblance to that 1992 Tech team; FANTASTIC Defense, but terrible offense. But in 2025, it's NOT too late for Tony Franklin and Sonny Cumby to right the ship. I want Tech to finish 11-1 this year, not 5-6, or 5-7 or 6-6. You CAN DO BETTER!

[HogDawg]

Offensive Recomendations:

1) You don't have to run the same "handoff play" on 1st Down, 90% of the time, out of the same single back spread formation. You're not fooling anyone, and you're only making it harder for your offense to come back and convert 2nd down and long, and 3rd down and long. DON'T CONTINUALLY DIG YOURSELF INTO A HOLE! Get some yds on 1st down.

2) Throw to your TE. He caught 6 passes for 155 yds last week against a much better team (USM). Yet you've now gone 6 straight quarters without targeting him at all? Seriously, WTF?

3) And DON'T EVER THROW ANOTHER FADE PASS AGAIN in the end zone! It's a remarkably low percentage pass play, and yet you just seem hell bent. PLEASE STOP IT!

4) On the other hand, a "quick slant" pass has a very high percentage of working, and made Jerry Rice and many other players Hall of Famers. Trust me, it will work for LA Tech too. Oh......did I mention that it's "High Percentage"?

5) Run some bootleg RPO's, some misdirections, some screens, some shovel passes, etc... The lack of creativity on your part for this offense has been truly astounding.

6) When the opposing Defense puts 10 "in the box", don't just run a dive play straight into them. They are expecting it. Call an audible and throw a "quick slant" pass.....and I emphasize the word "quick". Drop back one step and FIRE the ball! Blake doesn't have time to do his now patented 5-step drop, drink a cup of coffee and THEN throw. THIS has got to be fast! Oh.....Did I mention that it's a "High Percentage" pass play?

7) And yes, per D80's instructions, run some damn crossing routes over the MIDDLE! I'm truly amazed how many times the middle part of the defense is wide open, and Tech just ignores it. If Blake can't make those throws to the middle, then put Bullock in. Don't believe me? Go look at Bullock's pass over ther middle against NCSU last year. He can do it.

[HogDawg]

Recommendations for the LA Tech Defense:



None.

[dawg80]

Offensive Recomendations:

1) You don't have to run the same "handoff play" on 1st Down, 90% of the time, out of the same single back spread formation. You're not fooling anyone, and you're only making it harder for your offense to come back and convert 2nd down and long, and 3rd down and long. DON'T CONTINUALLY DIG YOURSELF INTO A HOLE! Get some yds on 1st down.

2) Throw to your TE. He caught 6 passes for 155 yds last week against a much better team (USM). Yet you've now gone 6 straight quarters without targeting him at all? Seriously, WTF?

3) And DON'T EVER THROW ANOTHER FADE PASS AGAIN in the end zone! It's a remarkably low percentage pass play, and yet you just seem hell bent. PLEASE STOP IT!

4) On the other hand, a "quick slant" pass has a very high percentage of working, and made Jerry Rice and many other players Hall of Famers. Trust me, it will work for LA Tech too. Oh......did I mention that it's "High Percentage"?

4) Run some bootleg RPO's, some misdirections, some screens, some shovel passes, etc... The lack of creativity on your part for this offense has been truly astounding.

5) When the opposing Defense puts 10 "in the box", don't just run a dive play straight into them. They are expecting it. Call an audible and throw a "quick slant" pass......Did I mention that it's a "High Percentage" pass play?

6) And yes, run some damn crossing routes over the MIDDLE! I'm truly amazed how many times the middle part of the defense is wide open, and Tech just doesn't seek to take advantage of it. If Blake can't make those throws, then put Bullock in. He can do it.

Good stuff HD! I particularly like #3 and #6. Damn fade passes have killed Tech's chances for decades (like the epic loss to aTm in 2012...). And I have been screaming CROSSING PATTERNS since I was in diapers (no old man jokes now...).

[arkansasbob]

re: crossing routes, i'm really disappointed in marlion jackson. he has shown some promise in the downfield game, but he suddenly turned into a t-rex when baker threw to him over the middle, almost resulting in an interception. after that kind of cowardice, he should not see the field again this season.

re: the quick slant, it looked like that's what we were going for on that ridiculous 4th-and-1 play that resulted in a fumble. it would have been open, too, if utep hadn't been holding. still no excuse not to just line up and do the tush-push in that situation.

[Blue Dawg]

Offensive Recomendations:

1) You don't have to run the same "handoff play" on 1st Down, 90% of the time, out of the same single back spread formation. You're not fooling anyone, and you're only making it harder for your offense to come back and convert 2nd down and long, and 3rd down and long. DON'T CONTINUALLY DIG YOURSELF INTO A HOLE! Get some yds on 1st down.

2) Throw to your TE. He caught 6 passes for 155 yds last week against a much better team (USM). Yet you've now gone 6 straight quarters without targeting him at all? Seriously, WTF?

3) And DON'T EVER THROW ANOTHER FADE PASS AGAIN in the end zone! It's a remarkably low percentage pass play, and yet you just seem hell bent. PLEASE STOP IT!

4) On the other hand, a "quick slant" pass has a very high percentage of working, and made Jerry Rice and many other players Hall of Famers. Trust me, it will work for LA Tech too. Oh......did I mention that it's "High Percentage"?

5) Run some bootleg RPO's, some misdirections, some screens, some shovel passes, etc... The lack of creativity on your part for this offense has been truly astounding.

6) When the opposing Defense puts 10 "in the box", don't just run a dive play straight into them. They are expecting it. Call an audible and throw a "quick slant" pass.....and I emphasize the word "quick". Drop back one step and FIRE the ball! Blake doesn't have time to do his now patented 5-step drop, drink a cup of coffee and THEN throw. THIS has got to be fast! Oh.....Did I mention that it's a "High Percentage" pass play?

7) And yes, per D80's instructions, run some damn crossing routes over the MIDDLE! I'm truly amazed how many times the middle part of the defense is wide open, and Tech just ignores it. If Blake can't make those throws to the middle, then put Bullock in. Don't believe me? Go look at Bullock's pass over ther middle against NCSU last year. He can do it.

I agree with all but #5. We do not need to be trying anything fancy until your other items are solid.

[LEEDAWG]

Recommendations for the LA Tech Defense:



None.

Lost a couple of key defenders in the second half. Next man up! Guys came in ready to play and fill those vacancies.

Has there been an official status of Kolbe Fields injury reported? I expect I missed something on it.

I never saw the Mason targeting play either, but he didn't appear to have any objections to the call and result. What good would that do anyway.