Sept. 30, 2016 RUSTON, La. - After a pair of tough losses on the road, Louisiana Tech looks to right the ship Saturday when the Bulldogs host Conference USA foe UTEP at 6 p.m. Saturday at Joe Aillet Stadium in the team's annual "RED OUT" game.
The C-USA matchup between LA Tech and UTEP will be broadcast by American Sports Network with Dave Armstrong (play-by-play) and Richard Balding (analyst) calling the action from Ruston.
"I think everyone is excited to have a chance to come back home and play in front of our home crowd, families and friends," head coach Skip Holtz said. "We don't have to travel and return at two in the morning. We have another conference game coming up. The thing about football is that you play again this week. We do not have a lot of time to sit around and lick your wounds. We have UTEP this week and Sean Kugler has done a really good job there. They are a physical football team, one of the more physical football teams that we have played."
Saturday's game will mark the 13th meeting all-time between the Bulldogs and Miners with the first meeting dating back to the 1933 season. LA Tech leads the all-time series over UTEP, 9-2-1, with the Bulldogs having won three straight entering this week's contest and have outscored the Miners, 110-53, in those meetings. LA Tech is 4-1 against UTEP all-time in games played in Ruston, while the Bulldogs have won seven of the last eight meetings over the Miners dating back to the 1991 campaign.
Louisiana Tech's offense continues to thrive heading into the fifth game of the season with the Bulldogs ranking fifth in the nation in passing offense (386.3 YPG) and seventh in total offense (553.0 YPG). LA Tech enters the game with a 1-3 record and is coming off a heartbreaking 38-34 loss last week on the road at Middle Tennessee. The Bulldogs have surpassed 500 yards of total offense in each of the last three games.
UTEP enters Saturday's game with an identical 1-3 overall record and 0-1 mark in Conference USA play after the Miners fell to Southern Miss, 34-7, last weekend in El Paso. The Miners are led by running back Aaron Jones, who is ranked second in the country with 566 rushing yards on 76 attempts with five touchdowns on the season.
PREGAME NOTES
• Louisiana Tech will hold the program's eighth annual "RED OUT" game Saturday against UTEP when the team wears their red uniforms at home instead of blue. Since instituting the "RED OUT" game promotion in 2009, LA Tech has gone 4-3 in those games, including a 55-3 victory over UTEP in 2014.
• Louisiana Tech's average of 553.0 yards per game registered through the first four games of the 2016 season is the best offensive start in school history since the program made the move to Division I in 1975, beating out the prolific offensive numbers put up by the 1998 Bulldog team that featured Troy Edwards and Tim Rattay (550.5 YPG).
• LA Tech quarterback Ryan Higgins enters this week averaging 408.0 passing yards per game, a mark that ranks third in the nation and more than any other quarterback in the ACC, SEC or Big Ten. In the last nine quarters, Higgins is 66-of-108 passing (61 pct.) with 970 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions.
• Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz enters Saturday's contest against UTEP with a perfect 6-0 mark all-time against the Miners, including a 3-0 record with the Bulldogs. Holtz notched two wins over UTEP when he was at East Carolina, while the fourth-year head coach also recorded a win over the Miners while at South Florida.
• Senior wide receiver Trent Taylor has more touchdown receptions (7) in 2016 than 66 FBS teams, including 13 teams ranked in the AP Top 25, five SEC schools and five Conference USA teams. Taylor comes into Saturday's game against UTEP having caught a pass in 31 consecutive games dating back to the 2014 season, a mark that is tied for 10th in the nation.
TUNE IN
Louisiana Tech fans can tune into the LA Tech Sports Network this fall for all live game broadcasts for the Bulldogs' 12-game schedule as well as 12 editions of Inside Bulldog Football with Skip Holtz.
The LA Tech Sports Network will team up with KXKZ-FM (107.5) Ruston as the flagship station for Tech Athletics.
In addition to KXKZ, all 12 broadcasts of Bulldog football this year can be heard on WUBR-AM 910 (Baton Rouge), KRMD 1340 AM (Shreveport), KRMD 100.7 FM (Shreveport), KVCL-FM 92.1 (Winnfield), KJVC-FM 92.7 (Mansfield), KDBS-AM 1410 (Alexandria) and KTKC-FM 92.9 (Springhill).
The LA Tech Sports Network team will host a 90-minute pregame show prior to each kickoff and a 30-minute post-game show. Tech Game Day, a 90-minute pre-pregame show, will also air prior to each home contest at Joe Aillet Stadium live from Tailgate Alley.
A one-hour postgame call-in show will also air on KXKZ 107.5 FM following every game this year that will air immediately following the conclusion of the broadcast's postgame show.
Fans may access audio-only for football for free this year through the LA Tech Mobile X app or the Red Peach Media app.
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