Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery

Louisiana Tech Head Coach Skip Holtz

You know, it's always great to win the home opener, and I've got to keep telling myself that we won the game. You know, I've got to keep telling myself that I won the game, we won the game.

So many times as a coach, you have a tendency to look at the mistakes you make as a football team. You get frustrated and you understand how far we have to go. But when you came into this one, when we came into this game, we talked about our youth. We talked about our inexperience.

I was really worried, I was really worried about a lot of guys that had never played before. But I thought some guys stepped up and did some really good things, and I think there were some things that we definitely need to make a lot of improvements from week one to week two.

I applaud Northwestern State, the effort they played with. I thought their players were physical. I thought they had a very good scheme. I thought they played extremely hard. I thought they did a really nice job but as I said from the beginning, this game was about us. I was -- we had no film to watch. We had no idea what scheme we were going to get: Four-down, three-down, coverage-wise, we just had to adjust. We had no idea what they were going to do with their offense with the new coordinator. So we had to come in here and adjust. And I thought -- to find a way to win the game, I was really pleased with.

I am fuming over the three turnovers. We talked about how important the turnovers are, and we got in this game three years ago and we turned the ball over five times and we found a way to lose. We certainly came out, you know, the first half, I thought offensively we were average, at best. I think we scored three points in the first half. We were off.

I did not think J'Mar was very consistent. Again, I've got a sophomore quarterback and I expect him to play like the last three seniors that have been here. It's the first game that he's really played where he had the offense and we were in spread sets and putting the ball in his hand and letting him make decisions. I think we've got a long way to go. I think we have a long way to go.

I think we're going to have to find other ways to win than just scoring 50 points a game. We're going to have to find other ways to win because I don't think we're going to be able to do that on a consistent basis as we get into the course of the season.

But overall, like I said, I'm pleased with the win. I thought some guys, I thought they competed. I thought they played hard. I thought they played together. They never hung their head.

We went in at half-time, we're up two scores, and we came out and we gave them away first 15 seconds, and then the very next possession, we give it away again, and all of a sudden we're in a close football game again. All of a sudden, you're in a football game where there's a lot of pressure on people to go out there and make plays and you're in a one-play game. Very fortunate that we had a couple people make some plays.

It was great to see some of the receivers step up. I think Teddy Veal has a chance to really be special, and I think he showed that tonight.

But I was probably most pleased with the way guys like Rhashid Bonnette stepped up as a receiver. I thought Woodard played a really good game and did some good things. I thought Marlon Watts played a solid football game.

I thought our receivers played decent. I think our two running backs are the staples where we need to hang this thing, and then I thought our offensive line was very average. I thought we were very inconsistent up front. We've still got a long way to go at quarterback on the offensive line.

Defensively, pleased with the effort. Defensively, very pleased with the effort. We gave up two big plays, really, that were two touchdown drives. We gave up the big play at the beginning of the game where we were there. The safety misjudged the ball, they made a great play on it, and there was seven points.

And then we gave up another big play on a corner fire just a little bit later when they were coming down to this building that led to their touchdown and we spotted them ten points by putting their defense in bad field position or 14 points in bad field position.

Overall, not very excited to win but not very pleased with the performance. Still got a lot of things that we can improve on, but you know what, 50 percent of the teams in the country lost this week. Half of them lost this week. Half of them start 0-1 and half start 1-0. Right now I'm grateful to be on the positive end, finding a way to win the game and really proud of the way the team went out and competed.

On the emotional story is Jaqwis Dancy. For him to get a touchdown tonight, to know what that young man has been through, to know what he has battled, fighting Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer. And when Boston Scott's helmet came off and we were in a two-back, it gave him his opportunity, and I thought he out ran and ran the ball two plays, ran extremely hard and did a great job.

I know for me, I'm sure for his mother, I haven't had a chance to talk to her, but I know it was an emotional moment because you realize everything that he has been through and what he has fought through to get here, and all we talked about was watching him carry the ball in that stadium one day when he was diagnosed and watching him walk across the stage to get his degree.

So one of those things has been accomplished. Now I'm excited for the second one when he gets a chance to walk across that stage. Obviously very emotional day for Jaqwis and his family, but for a lot of the players on this team to see the excitement, joy and jubilation, knowing what he's been through to get to where he is.

Louisiana Tech Running Back Jarred Craft

Q: On the game as a whole -

Jarred Craft: It was good. It was a great team win. Obviously in the first half, we made some mistakes. It felt like we started off a little bit slow, but in the second half we started to pick everything up and started to execute.

Q: On extending the lead in the fourth -
Jarred Craft: Yeah, like I said, in the second half, we kind of started to slow everything down, started to get in the groove. Started to really execute the game plan.

Q: On playing against his former teammate Jay Young -
Jarred Craft: It was good. I told everybody we was going to be in for a long one because I know where he comes from. He's a competitor, and I know he wasn't going to give up easy. Like I said, I just knew he was going to come out here and compete.

Q: On getting the momentum back in the second half -
Jarred Craft: We just started to execute. We just started paying attention on the little things and that's all we had to do. We really just had to slow everything down and just focus on the little things, like I just said, man. Just keep focusing.

Q: On quarterback J'Mar Smith's performance -
Jarred Craft: He did great. Obviously he knew what to do and it worked out for us today a lot of times where he was a little shifty out there. A lot of times he could have slid, but he did a good job.

Q: On what the offense needs to clean up before next week against Mississippi State-
Jarred Craft: We need to clean up the run blocking, definitely. For with just the running backs, just focusing on moving the keys a little bit more. It's kind of hard to just slow everything down in your head but you have to be able to do those things while you're in the game so you don't get lackadaisical or anything like that.

Q: On how the offense performed -
Jarred Craft: I felt like we showed a lot out there as an offense. I felt like we could move the ball methodically down the field.

Louisiana Tech Running Back Jaqwis Dancy

Q: On his feelings during the opening kickoff and touching the ball for the first time in his return back from cancer -
Jaqwis Dancy: The very first kickoff, like it was just so surreal. I had a lot of emotions running through my mind, and like when I first touched the ball, like I just feel like I was back. Like it was a good feeling. The touchdown, that was very emotional. I really broke down a little bit and I thanked Jesus for like everything that He did and brought me through.

Q: On having his family at the game and what they've meant to him -
Jaqwis Dancy: Yeah, I tried to find her but I couldn't find her. But yeah, I was looking for her and I mean, just having my family there and also DeAngelo (Brown's) family, it showed me a lot that they really stayed by me. They have a lot of love for me and I have a lot of love for them, and it just made me feel even happier.

Q: On scoring his first touchdown in a Louisiana Tech uniform -
Jaqwis Dancy: I've thought about it a lot, but, the actual feeling was way better. It was just amazing, that's all I can say about it.

Q: On his teammates' reaction to his touchdown -
Jaqwis Dancy: Yeah, their reaction was just about as cheerful and happy as mine. Everybody here is just like a brotherhood. Everybody's close together, like just close-knit. It was just a great feeling.

Q: What would you say to those people that are going through the same fight that you did in the past year?
Jaqwis Dancy: I just want to tell everybody who is fighting cancer, to never give up and keep fighting. Because the light is all brighter at the end of the tunnel. God is good. Just keep praising Him and just keep living life. Don't let it get you down. Just keep moving.

Q. On how he can build upon his performance from this game -
Jaqwis Dancy: Tonight's game I knew that I had to run hard. But, I just keep working, and keep trusting the process that the coaches put us through and just keep listening and keep studying the film and improving.

Q. On facing Mississippi State next week -

Jaqwis Dancy: The coaches tell us to take one game at a time and we haven't talked about Mississippi State. We're improving on us and worrying about us and trying to get ourselves better.

Louisiana Tech Defensive End Deldrick Canty

Q. On the defense helping out the offense -
Deldrick Canty: I always talk about giving the ball back to the offense. We always want to set our offense up to make plays, so our defense, we stress it a lot to always try to do our best and make sure we get three-and-outs, or do our best to get a ball and make sure the offense don't score. It works pretty well both ways.

Q. When asked if the heat wore down the defense in defending the run game late -
Deldrick Canty: No, it wasn't the heat. They ran some trick plays. They tried to confuse us -- and tried to mix it up. They tried to run different things. As we saw, they do a lot of motioning in. In our coverage, we were stressing to get off the block and make the play - we stressed it the whole game. Even though they ran reverses and drove it back to the quarterback, after they had a big play -- our D-line coach, Coach (Rick) Petri, stressed to us to make sure we play our techniques and we'll be okay. Sometimes we get hesitant because we see the big plays going on and we try to do something different or try to make the big plays, but our coach is always telling us to trust our technique and stay calm about it. It doesn't make sense to stress and do something different and they still make a big play, so we just might as well play our technique.

Q. On improvements the defensive line can make in preparation for Mississippi State next week - Deldrick Canty: Not just the defensive line, but the whole defense. We have to work on everything. We've got to get better because this first game really showed us a lot. It's going to be on film. We have to work on different steps, different gaps. Make sure we're blitzing right. Mississippi State runs the zone read. They've got a good quarterback and they've got good runners on the outside. This is going to be a long week but we've got to stay focused.

Q. On how big the turnovers were for the defense -
Deldrick Canty: Coach started running more blitzes and more stuff to throw the quarterback off because they've got a good quarterback. We started running more fire (ph) zones against him and he couldn't handle the pressure. So defense, again we run fast. We like fast. We like fast and we strong and we like to get to the ball. So the more we run fast to the ball and the more we play technique, we're going to make plays. So coach always puts us in position to make great plays.

Q. On the mindset of the defense at halftime -
Deldrick Canty: Our mindset was, when we came through the doors during half-time, was that this game isn't over. We always get to the wall at half-time mark and we talk. It's always 0-0, even if they score on us or they're ahead of us or we're tied up. We always say 0-0 and we can't let up, because if we let up, it's going to be different. So during half-time, Coach Holtz is stressing to us and telling us, that we've got to finish the game. We're known for finishing. We're good players and we know how to do our things and do what we have to do but we have to finish every time. That's what coach always stresses to us. Every time we're in that locker room at half-time, it's a new quarter, it's a new half. Let's juice it up. Let's get after it.

Northwestern State Head Coach Jay Thomas

JAY THOMAS: I'd like to say that Louisiana Tech has a really good football team, and they have a lot of weapons. I'm proud of our guys coming into an environment like this on the road. It's the first game of the season and I thought we did some things pretty well. We need to go back, clean them up and get ready for next week.