If you think Louisiana Tech might be looking past Northwestern State to a Week 2 matchup against LSU, guess again.
The Bulldogs open their season against the Demons Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at Joe Aillet Stadium.
Northwestern State is coming off a 42-37 loss to NAIA team Louisiana Christian. The Demons have won just one game over the last three-plus seasons.
None of that matters to Tech Head Coach Sonny Cumbie.
“The first thing you’ve got to realize that we have three NAIA players that have started for us the last two years,” Cumbie said during his Monday press conference. “There’s a lot of good football players everywhere. Louisiana College did a great job in their gameplan.
“What I see on film is a powerful running back (Zay Davis) that’s going to be hard to tackle, a quarterback that’s played a lot of football, the deepest, strongest offensive line that Northwestern State has ever had.”
Cumbie pointed out the fact that the Demons rolled up 520 yards but were hurt by turnovers and penalties.
Another reason the Bulldogs aren’t thinking about next week’s trip to Baton Rouge is that this is the first game of the season.
Louisiana Tech is looking to build on last year’s 8-5 record, the first winning season in Cumbie’s four seasons as head coach.
“I think there is always a lot of enthusiasm for your first game, enthusiasm really for all games with this group because they love to play and they love to compete,” he said.
Cumbie said his team is ready to get the season started.
“We’re ready to go out and show how tough we can play from a mental and physical standpoint, to put out how tenacious we can play … to show what we can do, the work they put into it,” he said,
“And also show how we can play this game together from the standpoint of offense, defense, special teams, from a sideline standpoint, from how engaged we can be, how enthused we can be, how excited we can be as a football team, playing the game in a disciplined manner, and playing winning football.”