Recap | Final Stats | Quotes | Photo Gallery

Louisiana Tech-76, Rice-31
Nov. 29, 2014
Joe Aillet Stadium

POST-GAME NOTES

- With the 76-31 blowout win, LA Tech clinched the C-USA West Division Title and will now play Marshall in the C-USA Championship game on Saturday, Dec. 6.

- Today's attendance: 18,029. For the season, LA Tech averaged 20,054 fans in Joe Aillet Stadium marking the third time in the last four years the Bulldogs have averaged over 20,000 fans.

- The series against Rice is now tied, 4-4, after today's victory by LA Tech.

- LA Tech improved to 8-4 on the season and 7-1 in league play.

- LA Tech has now won four straight games at Joe Aillet Stadium, a first since 2012.

- LA Tech finished 4-1 at home this season, outscoring opponents by a combined total of 244-94.

- With today's win, Skip Holtz pick up win No. 100 in his career becoming the 22nd FBS head coach to reach the century mark. He is currently 100-83 in this being his 11th season as a head coach.

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

- Rice won the coin toss and deferred to the second half.

OFFENSE

- LA Tech scored a season-high 76 points, marking the third time this season the Bulldogs have scored at least 55 in a single game (UTEP and WKU).

- The 76 total points was the most points ever scored by LA Tech in a conference game. It was the most scored since Sept. 19, 1998 when the Bulldogs defeated Louisiana-Lafayette, 77-14.

- The 76 total points is the second most ever by a Conference USA team. The record total of 77 points has happened three times in the leagues history.

- With the 76-31 win, LA Tech has defeated three teams this season by at least 45 points. All three opponents were conference foes (Rice, WKU and UTEP).

- LA Tech scored over 28 points in each half, marking seven times this season they have scored at least 28 in a half.

- The 21 points scored by LA Tech in the first quarter was the most this season. The previous most was 14 at UAB on Nov. 8.

- LA Tech has outscored its opponents 152-44 (+108) in the third quarter this season after outscoring Rice 28-7 today in the third.

- LA Tech went 4-of-5 inside the redzone today bringing its season total to 45-of-51 for an 88 percent conversion rate.

- Cody Sokol recorded his third 300-yard passing performance of the season with 387 yards on the day. He needed just 20 completions to hit that mark. It took him just nine completions to hit 200.

- With four touchdown passes, Cody Sokol tied Luke McCown (2001) for sixth most in a single season with 29.

- Taylor Burch and Ryan Higgins split time in the fourth quarter at the quarterback spot. Each completed one pass while Burch also added a 7-yard rush for a score, the first of his career.

- LA Tech had three Bulldogs with over 100 receiving yards (Paul Turner, Trent Taylor and Carlos Henderson).

- Paul Turner recorded a career-high 122 yards receiving. The redshirt junior reached 100 yards in the first half alone, becoming the fourth Bulldog to have 100 yards receiving in a game this season (Kenneth Dixon, Trent Taylor and Carlos Henderson).

- Carlos Henderson posted a new career-high with 114 receiving yards, the second time in his career he has gone over 100. Most of that came from a new career-long of 72 yards on a touchdown reception, his fourth this season, which also was the fifth play this season by LA Tech of 70 yards or more.

- Trent Taylor ended up with 120 receiving yards on seven catches. It marked his second career 100-yard receiving game which also included a new career-long reception of 40 yards that came in the first quarter setting up LA Tech's first touchdown.

- Hunter Lee caught an eight-yard pass in the first quarter, the senior's first catch since he suffered an injury at Southern Miss on Oct. 25. He finished the day with four completions for 34 yards.

- Kenneth Dixon recorded his 16th career 100-yard rushing game with a game-high 137 yards on 17 carries. Today's performance also put the junior over 1,000 yards rushing on the season which made him just the third Bulldog in program history to record multiple 1,000-yard rushing seasons (Daniel Porter, Ryan Moats).

- Kenneth Dixon now has 3,191 career rushing yards, surpassing Ryan Moats (2002-04) for third place all-time.

- Kenneth Dixon recorded three rushing touchdowns, giving him 56 total for his career which is just one shy of tying Troy Edwards (1996-98) for the most in LA Tech history.

- Kenneth Dixon's 23 total touchdowns this season ranks fourth all-time in C-USA history, tied with Tulane's Matt Forte and Memphis' DeAngelo Williams.

- Jarred Craft added 88 rushing yards, a new career-high for the freshman. Over half of his rushing total came on one play with a 58-yard rushing touchdown, the second longest rush this season by a Bulldog.

SCORING PLAYS

- Kenneth Dixon had a one-yard touchdown rush with 6:12 left in the first quarter, giving LA Tech a 7-3 lead.

- Cody Sokol hit Carlos Henderson for a 72-yard bomb for a touchdown with 2:19 remaining in the first quarter, putting LA Tech up 14-3.

- After the Bulldog defense forced a three-and-out, Cody Sokol hit Paul Turner on the very first play for a 35-yard touchdown pass to give LA Tech a 21-3 advantage with three seconds to go in the first quarter.

- Kenneth Dixon rushed off tackle to the right for a 10-yard touchdown with 5:29 left in the first half, putting LA Tech up 28-17.

- Kenneth Dixon broke off a 31-yard touchdown run with 11:59 remaining in the third quarter, giving LA Tech a 35-24 lead.

- Jarred Craft received excellent blocking on the outside and rushed the ball 58 yards for the touchdown with 8:20 left in the third quarter, giving LA Tech a 42-24 lead.

- Carlos Henderson recovered a fumble in the end zone with 4:44 remaining in the third quarter, giving LA Tech a 49-24 lead. Kenneth Dixon fumbled it on a third down rush at the one-yard line.

- Cody Sokol hit Trent Taylor over the middle for a 35-yard touchdown reception, giving LA Tech a 56-24 lead with 1:49 left in the third quarter.

- Cody Sokol hit Trent Taylor again, this time Taylor had the acrobatic reception for 24 yards and the touchdown with 11:31 remaining in the fourth quarter giving LA Tech a 63-24 advantage.

- Xavier Woods stripped the ball and Beau Fitte recovered it, running it into the end zone for 19 yards and the touchdown, giving LA Tech a 69-24 lead with 9:31 left in the game.

- Taylor Burch recorded his first ever touchdown with a seven-yard quarterback keeper with 2:47 remaining in the game, giving LA Tech a commanding 76-31 lead.

DEFENSE

- The LA Tech defense had four turnovers in the game (three interceptions and one fumble recovery). The Bulldogs scored 20 points off the turnovers, adding to its nation-leading 150 points with an average of 12.5 points per game. Rice came into today's game having had just three turnovers in league play.

- With the three interceptions, LA Tech currently is second in the country with 24 this season. The 24 picks is also the second most in LA Tech history in a single season.

- LA Tech registered seven tackles-for-loss, bringing its season total to 96 TFLs.

- DeAngelo Brooks recorded a team-high seven tackles, tying his career-high.

- Adairius Barnes had three pass break-ups in the game.

- Le'Vander Liggins recorded a sack late in the first quarter which resulted in a loss of nine yards. It was the first career sack for the senior cornerback.

- Terrell Pinson picked off Driphus Jackson in the second quarter for his third career interception.

- Colby Brown picked off Driphus Jackson in the third quarter for his second career interception.

- Andre Taylor had a solo sack in the third quarter, his first career solo sack.

- Le'Vander Liggins picked off Driphus Jackson in the third quarter for his third interception of the season and the sixth of his career.

- Tony Johnson and Houston Bates combined for a sack in the fourth quarter.

SPECIAL TEAMS

- Kyle Fischer connected on four PATs. Fischer missed wide right on two field goal attempts, a 45-yarder and a 51-yarder

- Jonathan Barnes connected on six of seven PATs.

- LA Tech punted just once today. It went for 48 yards by Logan McPherson.

- Blake Martin had a 45-yard kickoff return midway through the second quarter. It was only his third ever kickoff return.