Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery

LA Tech Head Coach Skip Holtz

Opening comments:

"I want to start by congratulating the young men down in that locker room. I am really proud of the leadership on this team. It has been 10 weeks since we have had an open date. That was right after a four week camp that we went through in August. It was really physical and really difficult. We made it really hard with what we put these players through. They come out and they know one way to play and that is to go out and play their tails off. They are blue collar. They put their head down and grind. I am just really proud of these players. I am really proud of the leaders on this team with what they were able to get done on the field tonight."

"I want to take a moment to say a little prayer for the young man that was hurt for North Texas. I have a lot of good friends on that staff. I have great respect for Mike Canales. I know he is a really good football coach. I know Chris Cosh, their defensive coordinator, and worked with him twice. Kevin Patrick and I were together at South Florida. I just have great respect for those guys and I know they are going through a very difficult time. What they are doing with that team right now, is impressive. They have been able to keep everyone's feet in the boat and all of the oars in the water. They have a very difficult task that they are being challenged with. They are being very professional with how they are handling it. I think they are a very talented team. They were very competitive against Marshall. Since the turnover, they have had to play Marshall, Western Kentucky and now Louisiana Tech. Three of their four have been really difficult games. The other one they won against UTSA. My thoughts go out to them, with what they are going through right now. Best of luck to them as they finish up this season."

"On to this team, I am really proud of the way they went out and competed. Obviously, we can go and look at some of the names: Kenneth Dixon, who is as healthy as he has been since his ankle injury. He looked it tonight. He was pretty impressive with the way he ran and broke tackles. I also commend the offensive line. The way the offensive line came off the ball was really important for us as a football team on a bad weather day. We started the game big trying to run the ball and it was not a game we were trying to come out here and light it up. In bad weather, we wanted to control the ball. I am really proud of what the offensive line and Kenneth was able to do."

"When we did throw it, I thought Jeff [Driskel] was spot on again. I thought he was really special. He is a tremendous talent and I know he has had a lot written about him lately. He has had a lot of publicity and a lot of positive things being written and said about him. He deserves every bit of it and I do not think there has been enough. I cannot say enough about him. He is four yards from being at 300. I asked if he wanted to go back in for a bubble screen and he said, 'Coach, I am good, let Ryan [Higgins] go play.' We have a very unselfish team. Kenneth scored six and they told me he was one touchdown away from the all-time record of seven for an FBS game. Kenneth said he was good. I cannot say enough positive things about that team with the attitude and unselfishness. I said earlier in the week that I think this is one of my favorite teams I have ever had the opportunity to coach. Not because we are winning and putting up numbers, but the feel-good stories and relationships going on down in that locker room are really impressive."

On six touchdowns by Dixon:

"KD [Kenneth Dixon] is special. He is a beast. It has all been put together through the year. The offensive line has been improving. With the passing game, we are not one dimensional. We saw a lot of teams early saying they were just going to stop Kenneth. In the last couple of games, we have thrown for over 300 yards. Now people have to play defense. You have Trent Taylor who is over 1,000 yards. People have to be aware of him and all of a sudden, there goes Kenneth. He got a lot of one-on-one opportunities. He is pretty hard to bring down one-on-one in the open field. That is what we were able to do, get him into the second level. When he gets to the second level, he does what he does and makes people miss. He runs with a passion and a mindset."

"There is a lot of hard work involved for Kenneth. People do not see him getting treatment four times a day. They do not see him over here at seven in the morning every morning to get treatment on his ankle. People do not see the work he puts in, in the weight room. People do not see the mindset he plays with or the seriousness as he gets ready for a game. I think Kenneth is a special talent. Kenneth has really been impressive with his mindset, attitude and work habit. I certainly do not take it for granted. I would love for him to come back for a fifth year next year. I do not want to have to learn what life without KD is like. I will have to talk to him about that later. I think the world of the young man. He is certainly deserving of all of the accolades he is getting right now. There are so many feel good stories on this team right now."

On defense:

"I thought we did some really good things tonight. I thought we were really focused and played tough. There are a lot of plays that we did not make and they just had a hard time executing with the rain. They had a number of drops on their side. There was nothing on the board when we started taking our starters out to get those young guys in there and get them playing experience. They got them to fourth down and one of their touchdowns was on fourth down. We have to keep getting better. We have to keep improving. We are certainly not where we need to be. I have used the terms a work in progress. I used it a lot early in the year. I think we are getting better. I still think we have a long way to go. We have had some injuries. All of a sudden, Nick Thomason is out. Russell Farris went in and did a really good job. He played really well. He did a nice job. It was not about asking Russell to play like Nick. It was asking 10 other guys to pick up their game. I really thought we played well as a team defense. There are definitely some things we have to clean up. They threw a deep ball down the sidelines on third and long, we have to be able to make a play on that ball. We never even turned and looked. We are certainly excited about where we are right now. We are 5-0 at home. At the same point, we are not where we need to be. We have to keep getting better. We still have games on the schedule. This open date is badly needed. We are going to need some of these young guys this week. You do not know what is going to happen when you go down the road. We are guaranteed three games left. Seven guarantees you a bowl, six makes you eligible. We have guaranteed ourselves a bowl. We just have to keep improving and keep getting better. I am proud of this senior class. Their leadership has been awesome."

On playing at home:

"It is the environment and the family friends. I know the rain kept a lot of people away. I go back to those two night games with great environments and it is unfortunate we cannot recreate more of those with the rain. TV dictates that a little bit and it is a shame because it takes away from the environment we have in this stadium. We do have some people that have to travel from distances. I know the last two games have been rain games and it is hard when you can sit on your couch at home and be dry to watch the same football game. The band again has been awesome. I think they had more fun than anyone in the stadium tonight. I want to thank the people that came out and sat in their ponchos because I do not think the rain was nearly as bad as the cold. I know it bothered me a lot more than the rain did. To the people that braved it, we appreciate it. It is a comfort level, playing at home. The players dress in this building every day, they lift in that weight room every day. They are on that field every day. They are very comfortable with their environment. We have a routine as we go through everything. I just think they are very comfortable playing at home."

On Blake Martin:

"Blake Martin is a great example of the unselfish attitude of this team. He has been one of the ring leaders. He has played behind Kenneth Dixon during his time here, which is a pretty tough duty. Yet, he has made his home on special teams. He is going to be one of the special teams players of the year. He is in our dirty dozen. He is running down on every kickoff. He is on punt, punt return, kickoff and kickoff return. It was great to see him score a touchdown late.

Same with Boston Scott, I thought he stepped up and did some really good things. It is great to see some of these seniors get in and play. I think he could have had a different story line had he had a different situation and not playing behind a guy as successful as Kenneth Dixon."

RB Kenneth Dixon

Opening comments:

"First off, I want to give all honors to God. I wouldn't be able to play this game without His glory and everything. I thought the offensive line came out and was just on the line of scrimmage and you know we moved the ball up and down the field. Jeff [Driskel] threw some great passes and everything. I just think our offensive line did a great job. That is who I tip my hat to today, the offensive line."

On the offensive line's performance:

"It is just coming together. It started at the beginning of the season and we had two returning O-lineman and three O-lineman that had never played a down in college football. We were just coming together and getting that confidence back up under us. By Week 10, it is just muscle memory. It is just going and doing it. It is all about that."

"I do feel like we are starting to understand not just doing holes but doing blitz pick-up with Jeff and keeping him protected on all pass plays and everything. I feel the offensive line has progressed a lot. Again, I just want to thank them."

On getting back to 100 percent after missing time the past few weeks:

"I think we did. It goes back to when we got to watch the film. I really don't know, but I feel we came out and played a complete game today."

On if he is fully recovered from his injury:

"Definitely. The bye week will help me get back a lot more, but yeah, I feel a little healthier now."

On getting banged up in the first half and going to the locker room:

"I actually fell on a private part and it hurt pretty bad, but you get back out there.

On congratulating the offensive line before anyone else after each score:

"Yes, because it is bigger than me. Those five guys work their butt off even in practice and I get the glory of running the ball. But I could give the other guys some glory too by telling them thank you and just tell them how much they mean to me and being appreciative of everything they do for me."

On Boston Scott's playing time:

"It is always good to see other running backs shine, but it goes all the way back to how we practice. We always practice full speed so you know when one man goes down the other man is up so."

On if he is aware of the NCAA touchdown record:

"No sir, I didn't know, but somebody said I was two away."

On keeping a level head:

"It is always great to be remembered with the all-time greats, some of those guys that I used to sit at the computer and watch for countless amounts of hours. But I feel like our work here is not done so we got some more to go."

On putting an emphasis on the run game:

"We knew coming into the game that we would have to run the ball with the weather and everything. Just having to come in and own the line of scrimmage and just try and get all five offensive linemen going forward getting on their toes and then hit them with a pass or a play action over the top. It is just scheming and doing our game."

QB Jeff Driskel

On putting up the yards on offense:

"You can't let the weather get to you. You never know what you are going to get. You practice all week and check the radar and it looks like it is going to rain. [Last week] it was supposed to be 100 percent chance of rain and we didn't get much rain. We knew going in that we can't control the weather so there is no need to worry about it. Our game plan was to get into big sets regardless of the weather, run the ball a little bit, throw some play actions. When you can get under center, I think it can create some confusion for the defense. I thought we did a really good job of that tonight."

On Kenneth Dixon:

"Yeah, six is a lot. I have never heard of that for a running back. It really is unbelievable. Like Kenneth said, it goes back to a whole team effort. A lot of those runs he did not get touched. The offensive line did a really good job tonight. They stepped up to the plate and did really well. They knew that they were going to have to block well for us to do well tonight and they did. Hats off to the line in both run and pass blocking. I do not think I got hit once when we were in drop back pass. I think that was their most complete game as an offensive line and I am really proud of them."

On getting the running game going for the rest of the year:

"We go in to every game with our main objective to win the game. We knew that if we could run the ball tonight that we would be able to win the game tonight. That is what did. We do not look at how many touches a certain guy is going to get or how many times we throw it deep or anything like that. We go in and we all buy into the fact that we want to win the game. I think that there is no one selfish out there."

On his redemption:

"I have looked at it. It is all over the Internet. I already know what it is going to say because I told the reporter what to write (laughing). That is what they are writing on based off what I said. It has been pretty cool to get some recognition. The Manning Player of the Week; I know there were a lot of people voting for me. I would just like to say thanks to everyone at home for voting for me. Mrs. Holtz was on a tear trying to get people to vote for me. There is a lot of support and that has made the transition easier."

On the turnovers:

"Turnovers are the most important statistics besides the wins and losses in football. If you win the turnover battle most of the time, you will win the game. Defense did a really good job of causing turnovers and we did a really good job of punching it in when we got the ball on a short field."

On Bryson Abraham's fumble returned for a touchdown:

"He is in the end zone a lot. He is just a guy who has played great all year and is a great person. He has a great work ethic and I am happy to see all his hard work is paying off."

CB Bryson Abraham

On the fumble return for a TD:

"It was basically a rush from the left side and I was on the right side and I heard the crowd screaming and hollering. I looked back and saw the ball rolling on the ground. I ran back there and I saw Xavier [Woods] come down and tried to get the ball but hit the punter. He made a real smart play by hitting the punter and that turned into a touchdown, which should have just been a downed ball where the punter fell on it. He is a smart player to hit the punter and make the ball come out. Fortunately, I was able to be by the ball and pick it up. Then he made a good block for me too."

On his four touchdowns this season:

"It sounds good that I got the four touchdowns, but if you really think about every play that I have made, it comes down to everyone on that play did their job. Like Xavier hitting the fumble, that should have been a recovered fumble. It is not just one person. Somebody else is always opening the door for me or making a play so I can make a play. Aaron Brown in the ULL game was all in the quarterback's face and he had to throw it off his back foot. A lot of people just see the touchdown but there is a lot more to it than that. It is a lot of team effort."

On success at home:

"I think it is the environment. We love playing at home. Ruston is a football city and we have great fans and great alumni and great support. It is just coming out here and protecting our house. We call it the junkyard dogs. We get a lot of energy from the crowd and it is always a great feeling coming out here and playing at home."

"During the winter and summer workouts, this is where we grind it out and worked hard at. We take that field and take The Joe personal because this is our home. We do a great job of competing and playing here."

On Dixon scoring six touchdowns:

"I love it. That boy is the best player that I have ever seen up close and played with. He is a great guy in general and real fun to watch. Sometimes I just cannot sit down on the bench and listen to my coach because I am up trying to watch what he is doing."

S Xavier Woods

On the importance of turnovers:

"Turnovers are always key. Turnovers always change the game. You really have to focus on carrying the ball and we were fortunate enough to be in those situations."

On forcing two fumbles:

"I missed the tackle so immediately, I got up and was going to run after him and then my inside guys, D-Line and linebackers came rushing over and he tried to I guess rush the field and it was an effort play by everyone including me. Without them, he wouldn't have tried rushing the field."

On playing at home:

"We are going to protect this house. And we have the same attitude when we play away as well. We have lost away but playing here we want to protect this house, no matter what."

North Texas Head Coach Mike Canales

Opening comments:

"The turnovers were the most glaring thing, let's just be honest. Four turnovers in the first half; you just can't do that against a good football team. That is a good football team. They made us look like a very average football team. When you are a good football team; that is what happens. They have done a good job of developing their program. You can see it in the size and speed of their players. They are big and strong and fast. They are obviously one of the elites in this conference and we obviously have a long way to go in our program for us to get to where we want to be. We have to get bigger and stronger and faster so we can compete with teams like Western Kentucky, Marshall and Louisiana Tech right now, who seem to be the elite in this conference."

On carrying momentum into the game after a win last week over UTSA:

"I thought we had great practice and focus and preparation yesterday. The players came out to practice. I don't want to blame it on the weather because both teams have to come out to play. It is not easy to execute with weather like this and it is unfortunate we put the ball on the ground. When you put the ball on the ground, bad things are going to happen. You won't show me a team that puts the ball on the ground four times in the first half and win. It is not going to happen. Very seldom will you see that happen and it didn't happen."

On the slow start to the game:

"[It is] just lack of execution in critical situations like third down and a missed block here or a missed throw or catch here. That is something we have to continue to grow on. Obviously, DeMarcus [Smith] has to continue to develop as a quarterback. It is not schemes because we have seen it. We knew we were going to get a heavy blitz. We have to find a way to get a man free in man to man. We have to find a way to get the ball to the guys when they are open."

On not running the ball as much:

"They loaded the box defensively which is a lot like what Marshall did. They loaded the box and they were going to make it tough for you to run the ball. We all knew that. We had to spread them out and try to get a pass game early to open up some things for the run game. What we tried to do was use DeMarcus for the run game because that is how you balance out when they load the box is you have to run the quarterback. We missed some blocks and we just got to be better at it."

On the performance of the defense:

"That is a good football team. We are still trying to improve each and every week. It is not schemes because we have guys in position to make plays and we just don't make plays. When you are playing a good football team it shows."

On Kenneth Dixon:

"We just could not contain him. He is one of the premier backs in this conference. We all see it. You could see guys out there trying to make one-on-one tackles with him and he eludes them and makes them miss. He is a special back. He will be a Sunday back just to be honest. That is what he is going to be."

On the injury to TE Marcus Smith:

"He ran the side of his head and his shoulder into the wall. It was a tremendous effort trying to make a play. I cringed when I saw it because I saw it live. All I could think about was, 'Please move, please move,' and then I look down and I saw him definitely in the prone position. When we got over there he was moving his extremities like his hands and feet. He was able to bend his knees and I think he was just a little sore in his lower back and it was just precautionary to take him to the hospital."