Boxscore

Louisiana Tech used its ground game to grind out a 41-6 win over SMU Saturday before a crowd of 14,872 at Joe Aillet Stadium.

The Bulldogs moved to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the Western Athletic Conference while SMU fell to 0-10 and 0-7.

Tech totaled 192 yards on the ground while adding 209 through the air.

Running back Ryan Moats tied a Tech school record with his fifth straight 100-yard rushing game as the sophomore totaled an even 100 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries to lead the Bulldogs. With his performance Moats became the seventh running back in Tech history to cross the 1,000-yard mark and now has 1,043 yards on the season.

?I?m really proud of Ryan,? Tech coach Jack Bicknell said. ?He?s a fantastic player and did a great job. To be able to go over 1,000 yards after not playing that much earlier in the season is just unbelievable.?

Tech didn?t waste any time taking over as the Bulldogs opened scoring with a 63-yard touchdown pass from Luke McCown to Shawn Piper 3:04 into the contest before freshman Jonathan Holland picked up his first career touchdown on a seven-yard run at the 9:31 mark of the first quarter to give Tech an early 14-0 advantage.

The Tech scoring parade didn?t slow in the first half with Josh Scobee nailing a 51-yard field goal with 22 seconds left in the opening quarter to push the Tech lead to 17-0 before Moats found paydirt early in the second period on a 5-yard scamper to give the Bulldogs a 24-point lead.

McCown and Piper connected for their second scoring pass on a 33-yarder at the 2:39 mark of the second quarter before SMU finally lit up the scoreboard on a 32-yard field goal from Craig McMurtray with four seconds remaining before intermission to cut Tech?s halftime lead to 31-3.

?I feel like it?s been 25 years since we?ve had this kind of win,? Bicknell said. ?This was the kind of game where you can just relax and enjoy it, at least in the fourth quarter. I?m proud of the team because they came and fought hard and we got a great win.?

McCown hit on 8-of-19 passes for 202 yards and the two scoring tosses with one interception before giving way to backup Maxie Causey at the end of the third quarter.

?We needed one of these games where were able to control every aspect of the game,? McCown said. ?The defense played a great game and had a huge goal line stand. They got the ball back for us a few times. The defense scoring early in the third quarter was huge for us.?

That score came just 1:40 into the second half as Jerron Wishom picked up a deflected Chris Phillips pass before racing 33 yards for his first career touchdown to push the Tech lead to 38-3.

McMurtray added a 34-yard field goal for the Mustangs with 3:20 left in third stanza before Scobee adding a 33-yard field goal for the Bulldogs with 11:14 remaining in the contest.

SMU running back Keylon Kincade came into the game leading the WAC with 116 yards per game but found the going tougher against the Bulldogs as the senior was held to 93 yards on 25 carries.

?We have a good defense, and they have the leading rusher in the conference,? Bicknell said. ?I don?t how many yards he had, but I know we did a good job against him. I?m very proud of our defense ? they played very hard and it was just a great effort.?

The Bulldogs held SMU to 242 total yards, 162 on the ground and 82 through the air, while picking up 401 yards themselves.

Moats wasn?t the only Bulldog with bite on the ground as Danny Wilson totaled a career-high 68 yards on 13 carries while Josh Odums made the most of his first appearance as a Tech running back with two carries for 13 yards.

Tech returns to the road next week as the Bulldogs play a 2 p.m. WAC contest at Tulsa next Saturday.