Coming off a strong defensive performance against No. 3 LSU, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs open Conference USA play Saturday against New Mexico State.
Kickoff is 6:30 p.m. at Origin Field at Joe Aillet Stadium.
Louisiana Tech (1-1) defeated FCS team Southeastern 24-0 in its opener at home. The Bulldogs lost to LSU 23-7 on the road last Saturday.
New Mexico State (2-0) defeated FCS team Bryant 19-3 in its opener at home. The Aggies defeated Tulsa 21-14 last Saturday at home.
New Mexico State will equal its win total all of last season with a victory Saturday.
The Aggies went 3-9 including a 33-30 home victory over Tech in two overtimes.
“You’re playing an opponent that we know really well,” Louisiana Tech Head Coach Sonny Cumbie said at his Tuesday press conference. “They know us really well. In Conference USA a lot of the teams are evenly matched.”
Cumbie said the key to success for his team is “protecting the football, creating takeaways, being great on first downs whether it’s offense or defense, get off the field, sustain drives. And when you get in the red zone you’ve got to score touchdowns.”
Last season’s loss was one of three in overtime. The Bulldogs lost six games by 10 points or less.
Cumbie expects another close game but he believes his team will be up to the challenge this season.
“We’ve been through a lot of battles,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot of fires. This team is very mature. This team is very hardened. This team understands what it takes to win football games and we’re going to do that.
“And I think they understand preparation. And they understand when you get into close games in Conference USA which we will have it just comes down to prep. It just comes down to doing what your coaches do. Our coaches are going to put them in great positions to be successful. To trust that. And they’re really awful good football players on our side of the ball.”
Junior Trey Kukuk has started both games at quarterback for the Bulldogs. Redshirt sophomore Blake Baker replaced him in the third quarter against LSU and threw a touchdown pass.
Redshirt sophomore Evan Bullock, who started 10 games last season, has not played. He completed 21-of-40 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions last year against New Mexico State.
Cumbie did not say who will start Saturday.
“We’re going to rotate the guys and see how it looks,” he said. “The number one thing they’ve done a really good job of is taking care of the football. It gives you a chance when you have zero turnovers through the first two games. But we have to have more production at that position and we’ll find the guy that will be productive.”
Cumbie said how the game progresses will determine how much playing time each gets.
“Whoever is playing the best and really riding the hot hand from that standpoint,” he said.
Regardless of who is at quarterback, Cumbie wants to see more from his offense.
“I think that offensively we’ve got to sustain drives,” he said. We’ve got to find rhythm on offense. And I think you have some moving pieces there and it may take a little bit of time.
“But I’ve seen our offense do that throughout the course of fall camp and they will find it. And I think that’s the biggest thing there is getting into rhythm, getting first downs, sustaining drives and getting explosive plays. And all of those things. And really in (Monday) night’s practice our guys took a step in that direction last night.”
The Tech defense, which has been outstanding the first two games, will get a test, especially the secondary.
New Mexico State has a new starter at quarterback, Logan Fife. He completed 28-of-45 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions against Tulsa.
The Aggies didn’t do much on the ground, gaining just 58 yards with Fife accounting for 38 of that.
New Mexico State gave up 157 yards rushing and 234 passing.
Overall, Cumbie is pleased with the effort he’s getting from his players. The Bulldogs defense frustrated the LSU offense and kept the pressure on quarterback Garrett Nussmeier.
“I don’t think you can ever stop commending our kids especially from a coaching staff standpoint in terms of how hard our kids played, how physical our kids played,” he said. “And really the attitude and mentality they take on a daily basis and really it’s shown on Saturday in terms of how they play and the physicality and speed which they play with.
“But it’s a lot of fun as a coach to see on a daily basis every day in practice. These kids love football. They love to play. They’re not going to back down from anyone. There’s not a moment that’s going to be too big for them. And so I was really proud of our team from that standpoint.”