Boxscore

LAFAYETTE - Louisiana Tech did much of its damage in the first half as the Bulldogs roared to a 34-3 win over Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday before a crowd of 24,211 at Cajun Field.

The Bulldogs moved to 1-1 on the season with the win while the Cajuns fell to 0-2.

Tech had career days from a pair of seniors as running back Ralph Davis picked up 96 rushing yards and scored on runs of one and 35 yards on 16 carries while receiver Shawn Piper hauled in five receptions for 66 yards.

The Bulldogs' balanced offensive attack totaled 183 yards on the ground and 266 through the air as Tech moved out to a 10-0 advantage after one quarter of play on a 24-yard field from Josh Scobee at the 10:05 mark of the period before Davis broke six tackles on his way to paydirt on a 35-yard scoring scamper with 3:45 remaining in the quarter.

Louisiana-Lafayette's lone score came on a 22-yard field goal by Sean Comiskey before Scobee hit on his second field goal from 26 yards out. Davis added a one-yard scoring run with 6:41 left in the half while Luke McCown hit Chris Norwood on a 34-yard scoring strike with 1:22 left before intermission to help the Bulldogs build the 24-point lead at halftime.

Louisiana Tech picked up 449 yards of total offense while holding the Cajuns to 292 yards of offense and forcing three turnovers.

"The game was never really in doubt because of our defense," Tech coach Jack Bicknell said. "That's huge because (ULL) just couldn't move the ball on us and I'm very proud of our defense for that."

Tech's scoring parade slowed in the second half, but the Bulldogs did add the game's final score as McCown lofted a four-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Curry in the left corner of the end zone.

While the Bulldogs only scored once in the second half, they controlled time of possession for 21:31 in the final 30 minutes while holding UL-Lafayette to 8:29. Tech led total time of possession for 35:11 compared to UL-Lafayette's 24:49.

The last time Tech totaled more than 35 minutes of possession was a 42-18 home win over Middle Tennessee State in 1999 when the Bulldogs held the ball for 36:20.

McCown connected on 19-of-33 passes on the night for 261 yards and two touchdowns while backup Maxie Causey was 2-of-2 for 26 yards in relief.

"It feels good to get in the end zone and it feels good to score points," McCown said. "Obviously getting the win was big and it was even sweeter on the road."

Piper led Tech receivers while Ryan Moats, Norwood and Tramissian Davis each added three receptions. Moats totaled 38 receiving yards along with 42 rushing yards while Norwood picked up 46 yards through the air while Tramissian Davis added 36 receiving yards.

The game marked the first time since a 20-0 season-opening win over Middle Tennessee State in 1996 that the Bulldogs held an opponent to three or fewer points in a game and snapped Tech's eight-game losing streak on the road dating back to the regular-season-ending victory at Tulsa in 2001.

"It's going to be a good bus ride home," Tech safety Michael Johnson said. "It was good to get a road win, it was good to get any win."

The Bulldogs remain on the road next week to take on Michigan State in an 11 a.m. next Saturday in East Lansing, Mich.