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Louisiana Tech - 55, UTEP - 3
Oct. 4, 2014
Joe Aillet Stadium

POST-GAME NOTES

- LA Tech captains were Houston Bates, Kenneth Dixon, Tony Johnson and Hunter Lee.

- Tonight's attendance - 18,157.

- With the 55-3 win, LA Tech now leads the series over UTEP, 8-2-1. In Ruston, the Bulldogs are 3-1 versus the Miners.

- With the victory, LA Tech is now 3-3 in Red Out games, a game promotion started in 2009 with a 27-6 win over Hawai'i.

- In the 10 meetings between the two schools, 55 points was the most scored by LA Tech. The previous high was 53 on Nov. 10, 2001 in El Paso.

- The 52-point margin of victory by LA Tech is the largest in the series and the most since Aug. 26, 2000 when the Bulldogs defeated Mississippi Valley State, 63-10, to open the season.

- The 52-point margin of victory by LA Tech was the largest in a conference game since Sept. 26, 1953 when they defeated ULM 61-6 as a member of the Gulf States Conference.

- With the win, LA Tech is now the only undefeated team remaining in the west division of Conference USA. It is also the fourth time since 2001 that the Bulldogs have started conference play 2-0 and the first since 2012.

- Skip Holtz is now a perfect 5-0 against UTEP in his head coaching career. He went 2-0 against the Miners while head coach at East Carolina, 1-0 while at South Florida and is now 2-0 while at LA Tech.

- UTEP won the coin toss and elected to receive to start the first half.

OFFENSE

- LA Tech scored on 4-of-5 attempts inside the red zone, pushing its season total to 18-of-19.

- Cody Sokol snapped his five-game streak of consecutive games of at least 20 completed passes. He only had six on the night, but half of those went for touchdowns.

- Cody Sokol registered a career-high 60 yards rushing on five attempts.

- With a game-high 86 rushing yards, Kenneth Dixon moved into eighth place all-time for career rushing yards. The junior now has 2,630.

- With one touchdown run on the night, Kenneth Dixon moved up two spots to seventh all-time for career scoring with 258 points. He passed Danny Horwedel and Chris Boniol.

- With just two catches on the night, Carlos Henderson recorded 100 yards receiving. It marked the first 100-yard receiving Bulldog of the season and the first since Andrew Guillot had 123 versus Army on Sept. 28, 2013 at the Cotton Bowl.

- Kenneth Dixon capped the opening drive for the Bulldogs with a 4-yard rushing touchdown, the 39th of his career, with 9:59 left in the first quarter.

- Carlos Henderson took a sweep handoff for a gain of 27 yards in the first quarter, the longest rush of his career.

- Cody Sokol faked a handoff to Kenneth Dixon and went untouched for a 32-yard rushing touchdown with 13:42 left in the second quarter, putting the Bulldogs up 14-0. It was the first career rushing touchdown of his career and the longest rush of his career.

- Having just thrown three attempts five minutes into the second quarter, Cody Sokol connected with Carlos Henderson for a 69-yard touchdown pass with 9:39 to go in the second quarter to put LA Tech up 21-0. It marked Henderson's first career touchdown and the longest reception of his career.

- After recovering a fumble, Cody Sokol took advantage by hitting Hunter Lee for a 20-yard touchdown strike with 8:47 to go in the third quarter. It was Lee's fifth career touchdown reception.

- The prettiest catch of the night was by Marcus Gaines who reeled in a one-handed touchdown grab of 18 yards with 1:28 left in the third quarter putting LA Tech up 48-3. It was the true freshman's first career catch.

- Jarred Craft went up the middle for an 18-yard touchdown run with 3:20 left in the game, giving LA Tech a 55-3 advantage. It was Craft's second career touchdown, the previous one being at Louisiana-Lafayette earlier this year.

- Quarterbacks Taylor Burch and Ryan Higgins saw action in the fourth quarter. Burch recorded a 10-yard rush and Higgins completed a 14-yard pass.

DEFENSE

- The LA Tech defense recorded five turnovers on the night, the most since Sept. 22, 2012 when they forced six at Illinois.

- The Bulldog defense held UTEP to no touchdowns, a first since Nov. 26, 2011 when they shutout New Mexico State, 44-0.

- The defense totaled 11 tackles-for-loss tonight in holding UTEP to just 81 yards rushing. The Miners came into the game averaging 250 rushing yards per game.

- Adairius Barnes led the Bulldogs with six tackles.

- Defensive tackle Aaron Brown recorded a solo sack on the second play of the game. It marked his first career solo sack. He previously had an assisted sack earlier this season versus Northwestern State.

- Kentrell Brice deflected a pass which was then intercepted by Xavier Woods with 14:17 to go in the second quarter. It is Woods' third interception of the season.

- Xavier Woods later came up with his fourth career interception with 10:09 left in the second quarter. It marked the first Bulldog with multiple passes intercepted in a game since Adairius Barnes last season against Southern Miss (11/9/13). UTEP's Showers came into the game having thrown just one interception this season.

- Tony Johnson forced a fumble in the third quarter that was recovered by Houston Bates.

- On another UTEP possession in the third quarter, the LA Tech defense came up with another strip of the ball, this one by Kentrell Brice, and recovered by Tyler Porter.

- Safety Secdrick Cooper recorded his first career sack.

- Deldrick Canty registered a solo sack in the fourth quarter, marking his second career sack. His other one came earlier this season at North Texas.

- On the last play of the game, Colby Brown came up with his first interception of his career picking off UTEP's Showers in the end zone.

SPECIAL TEAMS

- Jonathan Barnes was a perfect 7-of-7 on extra point attempts bringing his season total to 19-of-20.

- Lloyd Grogan came up the middle and blocked a field goal attempt by UTEP. The ball was then picked up by Adairius Barnes and then lateraled to Le'Vander Liggins who scored the touchdown. It marked the first blocked field goal for LA Tech since Oct. 1, 2011 when Adrien Cole blocked one against Hawai'i. It also marked the first blocked field goal for a touchdown since Weldon Brown did it on Sept. 20, 2008 against Southeastern Louisiana.

- On the opening drive of the second half, Jonathan Barnes connected on a 45-yard field goal with 9:07 left in the third quarter to put LA Tech up 31-3. The 45-yarder is the longest of his career, the previous long being a 44-yarder against Northwestern State (9/20/14).

- With 5:37 remaining in the third quarter, Jonathan Barnes hit on a 39-yard field goal, giving LA Tech a 41-3 lead.

- Barnes had a chance to make it three made field goals, but missed wide left from 41 yards out with 10:10 to go in the fourth quarter.