Oct. 30, 2014 RUSTON, La. - The last time Louisiana Tech and WKU met on the gridiron, the Bulldog defense shut down an effective Hilltopper offense to propel Tech to a 34-0 win in the 1973 NCAA Division II Championship game. LA Tech is looking for a repeat of that long past performance Saturday in hosting WKU in the program's 89th annual Homecoming game at Joe Aillet Stadium.
Saturday's game will kick off at 2 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on FSN with Brendan Burke (play-by-play), Ben Leber (analyst) and Christian Steckel (sidelines) calling the action.
But the 2014 edition will see a much more powerful WKU offense with a much greater task for the Manny Diaz-led defense.
While the Bulldogs will not be playing for a national championship Saturday, Louisiana Tech (5-3, 4-0 Conference USA) does sit atop the C-USA West Division standings and is hoping to keep its league record unblemished. Meanwhile WKU (3-4, 1-3) is wanting to prove it can play with the league's best.
"This is an important game to us," WKU head coach Jeff Brohm said of Saturday's contest. "We have to improve. We have to show that we can play against the top teams in the conference and not only play well but find a way to win."
LA Tech's defense, which has been stifling in recent action - especially against the run - will face one of the nation's best offenses in WKU. The Hilltoppers are ranked fifth in total offense, fourth in scoring offense, and second in passing offense among the nation's 126 FBS teams.
"Coach (Jeff) Brohm has done a great job with his football team," Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz said of the Hilltoppers. "They have a quarterback who has video game type numbers ... They are executing at a high level right now. A lot of people would think when you put on the film that it is four-wide and they just throw it every down. They play a tight end every down. They will motion and shift. They run the ball and mix in play action passing. They are operating at a high level."
Part of the reason for WKU's offensive prowess this season has been an efficient offense that limits mistakes and lost yardage plays.
"Their quarterback has 18 passing touchdowns with just four interceptions," Holtz said of WKU signal caller Brandon Doughty. "They have only given up 12 tackles for a loss, which is top five in the country. As many times as they throw, their quarterback has been sacked less than almost any other in the country. It will be a great challenge for our defense this week."
The Hilltoppers rank 24th in the nation for tackles for a loss allowed - allowing only an average of 4.57 per game - which will provide an interesting battle against Louisiana Tech's defensive unit that ranks 17th in the nation in tackles for a loss (7.5 per game) and has not recorded fewer than 8.0 tackles for a loss in the last five games.
Additionally, the Bulldogs limited Southern Miss to negative 31 yards rushing last week with the Golden Eagles attempting to run the ball on 26 occasions, averaging -1.2 yards per rush. Coincidentally the last time LA Tech faced Western Kentucky the Hilltoppers were held to negative 12 yards rushing on 27 attempts.
"You can tell they're going to give you a lot of different looks, more so than we've seen lately," Brohm said of the Louisiana Tech defense. "They're going to change things up a bit. They have some pretty good players that are athletic on the defense front. They're very active and they challenge you on the outside. So those are things we are going to have to get a good look at what they're doing. Brandon Doughty is going to have to be very smart and take care of the ball while doing it and we're going have to execute and find ways to move the ball in order to defeat the defense."
KXKZ 107.5 FM will serve as the flagship station for the LA Tech Sports Network for the 16th straight year as the 100,000 watt station will carry all of the Bulldog football games in 2014.
In addition to KXKZ, the LA Tech Sports Network will consist of KNBB-FM 97.7 (Ruston), KPCH-FM 99.3 (Ruston), KJVC-FM 92.7 (Mansfield), KTKC-FM 92.9 (Springhill), KBEF-FM 104.5 (Minden), KASO-AM 1240 (Minden), KVCL-FM 92.1 (Winnfield), WUBR-AM 910 (Baton Rouge/Zachary) and KRMDFM 100.7 (Shreveport) which also simulcasts on 1340 AM.
All Bulldog football games can also be accessed online (audio for all games) by purchasing a subscription to LA Tech All-Access on LATechSports.com. Cost of a subscription to LA Tech All-Access is only $9.95 per month or $79.95 for the entire year (which includes all live broadcasts for all of Tech's athletic teams).
Fans can also choose to purchase the C-USA Digital Network subscription for $14.95 per month or $119.95 per year which includes all of the above content as well as audio and video for all road C-USA games along with additional video content throughout the year.
This fall all of the Tech football broadcasts can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network as Dave Nitz, Teddy Allen, Malcolm Butler, Bennie Thornell and Mason Ellenberger comprise the broadcast team. Nitz - one of the longest-tenured broadcasters in college football - is entering his 40th year of broadcasting Bulldog Football games.
For complete coverage of Bulldog Football, please follow @LATechFB on Twitter or visit the official home of Louisiana Tech Athletics at LATechSports.com.
