The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs play their second straight Power 4 conference team Saturday when they take on the Baylor Bears of the Big 12 at McClane Stadium in Waco, Texas.
Kickoff is 3 p.m. (ESPNU).
Louisiana Tech (1-1) is coming off a 45-14 loss to LSU in Baton Rouge. Baylor defeated SWAC team Prairie View A&M 44-3 at home last week. The Bears fell to Auburn 17-16 in Atlanta in their season opener.
Baylor quarterback DJ Lagway, a Florida transfer, has been listed as doubtful for the game. He suffered an ankle injury in the opener and did not play last week. He completed 27-of-54 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns against Auburn.
If Lagway can’t play, junior Nate Bennett is expected to start again. He completed 23-of-35 passes for 301 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions last week.
During his weekly press conference, Louisiana Tech Head Coach Sonny Cumbie said the Bulldogs are preparing as if Lagway is playing. But he was impressed with Bennett.
“Nate Bennett did a really nice job making his first career start for them and has been in the program a long time,” he said.
Cumbie said slowing Bears running back Dawson Pendergrass will be a challenge.
Pendergrass rushed for 88 yards against Auburn and 69 against Prairie View A&M.
Baylor gave up 389 total yards against Auburn (130 rushing, 259 passing).
“They’re very aggressive, very fast,” Cumbie said of the defense. “They have some linebackers that fly around.”
Louisiana Tech trailed LSU just 10-7 at the half after forcing four turnovers, including three interceptions in the second quarter.
“I think those guys played extremely physical and extremely hard and gave us a chance for two-and-half quarters,” Cumbie said. “Defensively, our guys have a lot of confidence in themselves. They really believe in the system and what we do. And they believe in each other. I think you have a chance every week when you line up. We created takeaways, the tackles for loss, the sacks.”
The Bulldogs did little on offense against a talented LSU defense after rolling up 583 yards in an 80-6 victory over Northwestern State in their season opener.
“They’ve got some weapons,”Baylor Head Coach Dave Aranda said. “We’re going to have to control the game at the line of scrimmage on offense and defense to do our thing.”
Aranda was impressed with the Tech defense.
“I think they have a really good defensive line,” he said. “I think their defensive end is particularly talented. They’ve got a good linebacker corps. They fly around and they create takeaways. Their takeaway numbers are the opposite of ours. … We’re going to have to clean up our turnover issue because this is a team that lives to get takeaways.”
Aranda, a former LSU defensive coordinator, and Cumbie know each other well.
When Aranda was a graduate assistant at Texas Tech from 2000-02, Cumbie was the scout team quarterback for three years.
Aranda said he roots for Cumbie every week except this one.
“I wish college football had more guys like Sonny Cumbie,” he said.