Louisiana Tech Athletic Communications
RUSTON — Ahead by as many as 13 points in the first half, Louisiana Tech ended up suffering its third straight loss of the season, falling to New Mexico State 27-24 Tuesday night at Joe Aillet Stadium.
LA Tech (3-6, 2-3 CUSA) was in control for much of the first 30 minutes, outgaining NM State (6-3, 4-1 CUSA), 269-122, but could only muster a slim 16-10 lead. That lead was erased by the Aggies in the second half, outscoring Tech, 17-8, while getting two stops late in the fourth quarter to end their six-game losing streak to the Bulldogs.
Jacob Barnes provided the first points of the contest, nailing a 42-yarder for the ‘Dogs seven minutes into the game. After the LA Tech defense forced its second straight 3-and-out, LA Tech made it 9-0 after Hank Bachmeier, getting his first start at QB since Sept. 16, capped off a 12-play, 72-yard drive with a tush-push touchdown at the 1-yard line (extra-point attempt was blocked).
NM State got its own field goal to crack the scoreboard, a 47-yarder, with 11:41 to go in the second quarter. However, another 12-play drive by the Bulldog offense resulted in another 1-yard rushing TD by Bachmeier to make it 16-3 in favor of LA Tech.
The Aggies made it a one-possession game though just before halftime at 16-10 (Barnes missed a 46-yard field goal at the end of the stanza). The visitors then got the ball first in the second half, and used up almost nine minutes of clock, going 75 yards with a fade route on 3rd-and-goal giving them their first lead of the contest.
LA Tech had its worst offensive drive right after – false start, rush for a loss of four yards, then a strip sack. The Aggies recovered the fumble at the Bulldogs 7-yard line and needed just two running plays to find the end zone again to go up by eight.
The ‘Dogs tied it up though with 13 seconds left in the third quarter, getting a big 4th-down conversion (plus 15 yards due to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Aggies). Bachmeier’s shovel pass to John Locke for the 3-yard TD pass and a successful 2-point conversion made it 24-all.
NM State would retake the lead with 5:16 left in the game. Despite getting pinned back on their own 5-yard line, the Aggies marched down inside the red zone and connected on a 31-yard field goal.
LA Tech had two chances late to tie or take the lead. After driving down to the NM State 34-yard line, the Aggies got to Bachmeier on a blitz that forced a fumble which they recovered. The Bulldog defense stood tall though, allowing just 20 seconds to run off the clock after surrendering just two yards.
The offense managed to convert one 4th-and-1 by the nose of the football, but another 4th-and-1 close to midfield was not successful as Bachmeier’s pass was broken up (had converted their first four fourth downs). It was only his seventh incompletion of the game, going 20-of-27 for 238 yards and accounting for all three touchdowns (opened the game with 10 straight completions).
QUOTABLES
Head coach Sonny Cumbie
Opening Statement…
“Like I told our football team, we are all disappointed in the outcome of this football game. We are disappointed, our job on offense is to score one more and defensively to hold them to one more and special teams to try to impact the game. There is nobody who puts more into this than our players and coaches. What I told our team is there is a lot of times this season where things haven’t gone our way. It is a great opportunity for us as coaches to lead and how to continue to pour everything you have into this.”
On the performance of QB Hank Bachmeier…
“I was very proud of how he played and how he competed. He is extremely accurate. He is a tough player and makes plays with his feet. He was extremely accurate on his deep balls he threw down the field. He handled everything we asked him to do really well.”
On being in so many close games…
“We make one mistake here or there that doesn’t allow us to win it. The biggest thing is the belief that we are going to make these plays and finish these games on offense and defense. We had opportunities early in the second half to move the ball. Give credit to New Mexico State in the third quarter. The first half we were dictating the tempo of the game and in the third quarter they did that. The football team that we have is going to continue to work and finish these games at the end.”
Hank Bachmeier
On execution on plays for four quarters…
“I think we are right there but right there doesn’t win football games. We fight really hard but comes down to execution. I think those couple few plays every single game have been difference makers. We just have to get over the hump and finish those and not make crucial mistakes sometimes.”
On the late fourth quarter fumble…
“It was an RPO the field pressure there was one on one on Cyrus Allen on the backside. It kind of got locked in and we trying to push out to and I could have maybe adjusted the protection on there. You can’t fumble the ball twice or you lose football games doing that.”
On running tempo offense in the first half…
“It was really fun doing that. We started fast and we got to finish better which we have been kind of the opposite. You just have to play all four quarters and execute those plays and not make crucial mistakes. We keep saying we’re right there but we have to finish.”
Myles Heard
On their offensive game plan…
“They are a good system they run what they do and they do it well. They went in at half and kind of fix some things and seen what we were doing. We did same but it is all about just finishing we can’t just let up. We can’t just let them do what they want to do.”
On getting the ball back late in the game…
“It was good you know, we didn’t hang our heads down. We always have their backs (offense) and they always got our backs so we just came in with that mentality and stuck to what we knew and stopped them so it was good to get the ball back in the offense hands.”
NOTABLES
- With the loss, LA Tech now leads the all-time series with New Mexico State, 8-5. The Bulldogs had their six-game winning streak over the Aggies come to an end. It was also their first home loss to NM State (was 5-0).
- LA Tech converted four fourth downs for the second time this season.
- Hank Bachmeier completed 20 passes, the third time this season he has completed 20+ (in five starts).
- Hank Bachmeier rushed for two touchdowns, becoming the first Bulldog quarterback to do so in a single game since J’Mar Smith in 2017.
- Keldric Moody rushed for a team-high and season-high 55 yards.
- Kyle Maxwell had a game-high and season-high 68 receiving yards.
- Smoke Harris extended his streak of games with at least one reception to 41.
UP NEXT
LA Tech travels to Lynchburg, Virginia to take on the undefeated Liberty Flames on Saturday, Nov. 4. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. CT and will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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