Boxscore

RUSTON ? Louisiana Tech jumped out to a 27-0 halftime lead and then coasted to a 40-14 homecoming victory over North Texas Saturday afternoon at Joe Aillet Stadium before 19,481 fans.

Senior quarterback Matt Kubik completed 23-of-30 passes for 283 yards and one score while Patrick Jackson added two rushing touchdowns and Mark Dillard one as Tech (3-3, 2-1 WAC) won its final non-conference game of the season.

?I?m happy with the win,? said Tech head coach Jack Bicknell. ?We could?ve come out here and messed around and not taken this game seriously but we didn?t. The guys played extremely hard. Now we have to get ready to play the remainder of our WAC schedule.?

Dillard started the scoring for the Bulldogs with 4:53 remaining in the first quarter on a three-yard scamper, capping an eight-play, 56 yard scoring drive and giving Tech a 7-0 lead.

Tech upped the advantage to 14-0 when Kubik tossed a 17-yard scoring pass to senior tight end Anthony James at the 10:29 mark of the second quarter. James, caught the pass at the North Texas 10-yard line, and then turned up field, running over three Mean Green defenders to the end zone for his first career score.

?We wanted to come out strong in the first half and set the tempo early,? Kubik said. ?We were able to do that and it took the air out of (North Texas). We needed this win to get some momentum going into the other WAC games. We still feel that we have a good opportunity of accomplishing our goal of winning the WAC.?

Jackson made the score 21-0 less than four minutes later with a one-yard burst up the middle, capping a four-play, 54 yard drive. The big play of the drive came on a 50-yard hookup for Kubik to wide receiver Johnathan Holland on the first play.

Danny Horwedel connected on 46- and 37-yard field goals in the final couple of minutes of the second quarter to give Tech its 27-0 halftime lead.

Tech?s defense stood tall during the opening 30 minutes of play, limiting North Texas to only four first downs and 68 total yards of offense.

A Horwedel 39-yard field goal opened the scoring in the second half. However, North Texas finally hit paydirt as quarterback Daniel Meager hit Brandon Jackson on a diving 15-yard touchdown in the back of the endzone to close the gap to 30-6 with 8:56 to play in the third quarter.

Four minutes later, the Mean Green scored again as running back Patrick Cobbs threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Quinn on a halfback pass and the two-point conversion made the score 30-14.

Tech?s defense forced three turnovers over the final 17 minutes of the game to keep North Texas at bay. Byron Santiago registered a fumble recovery late in the third and Tramon Williams and Anthony Moss recorded interceptions in the final stanza.

Tech added a Horwedel 29-yard field goal and a Jackson 6-yard touchdown run to cap the scoring in the win.

Barry Robertson led Tech with nine tackles, one sack and one pass break up while Jeremy Hamilton added seven tackles and two tackles for loss and Williams and Dez Abrams six tackles.

Defensively, the Bulldogs held North Texas to 287 total yards while Tech recorded 510 yards of offense.

Cobbs registered 108 yards while teammate Jamario Thomas added 64 yards on the ground.

?They?re a good running team,? Bicknell said. ?They run the ball a lot and they do a good job of it. I felt like we slowed them down and made it tough on them.?

Tech returns to action Saturday when it hosts San Jose State at 6 p.m. at Joe Aillet Stadium.