RUSTON, La. – After spending the majority of September on the road, Louisiana Tech is eager to return to its home turf on Saturday night as the Bulldogs play hosts to Conference USA foe UAB.
Kickoff is set for 6:06 p.m. CT on Saturday at Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston. The game will be streamed live on Facebook through Stadium, while fans can also tune in to the radio broadcast on the LA Tech Sports Network on KXKZ-FM (107.5). Fans can also access audio from LA Tech's radio broadcast for free through the LA Tech Mobile X app or the Red Peach Media app.
"UAB is a very talented team and it will be a great challenge for us as a football program this week," head coach
Skip Holtz said. "We have had two very emotional games the last two weeks with LSU and North Texas, but to have the caliber of team coming in right now and two teams that are in first place as early as it is in the conference, it is nice to have the opportunity to play at home. We had to play three of the last four on the road, so I know our players are really excited to come back home. We are very appreciative of how supportive our travel has been with the support we have received on the road, but we are really looking forward to coming back to a home environment with a great stadium and a great atmosphere here in what is turning out to be a huge conference game in the West Division."
Holtz and the Bulldogs ended the opening month of the season with an overall record of 3-1 and a 1-0 mark in Conference USA following last week's road win over North Texas. In that game, LA Tech's
Amik Robertson came through for the Bulldogs with a blocked field goal in the final minutes to clinch a 29-27 win over the Mean Green last weekend in Denton.
UAB enters the weekend with an identical 3-1 overall record and a 1-0 mark in league play after the Blazers downed Charlotte, 28-7, last weekend in Birmingham. This is just the second road game of the campaign for UAB after the Blazers suffered their only loss of the season on Sept. 8 at Coastal Carolina (L, 24-47).
The matchup between the Bulldogs and Blazers on Saturday will mark the seventh meeting all-time between the two programs with LA Tech leading the series, 5-1. UAB has never won in Ruston with LA Tech holding a 2-0 advantage at Joe Aillet Stadium. Last season, the Bulldogs traveled to Birmingham and suffered a tough 23-22 loss at Legion Field after UAB blocked a potential game-winning 29-yard field goal as time expired.
PREGAME NOTES
- The Bulldogs enter Saturday with a three-game Conference USA winning streak after LA Tech went on the road last week and defeated West Division favorite North Texas. LA Tech's three-game conference streak dates back to the final two regular season games last season when the Bulldogs defeated UTEP and UTSA to become bowl eligible. The three-game C-USA winning streak is the third-longest among league schools with UAB leading the way with a five-game winning streak, followed by Southern Miss with four straight wins.
- Quarterback J'Mar is 429 yards shy of cracking the top 10 in LA Tech history for career passing yards in just his second season as the starter, while he is four touchdown passes away from tying for 10th all-time in program history for passing touchdowns (currently has 4,535 passing yards and 27 touchdown passes).
- Jaylon Ferguson is not only inching closer to breaking the LA Tech record for career sacks (needs 4.5 sacks to tie), but the senior defensive end is just four sacks shy of tying the Conference USA record with eight games left in the regular season. The record for career sacks in C-USA is held by Louisville's Dewayne White, who had 37.5 sacks from 2000-02.
- Louisiana Tech is one of only 12 FBS teams in the nation to put up perfect numbers in the red zone through the first five weeks of the season. The Bulldogs enter Saturday's C-USA home game versus UAB a perfect 17-for-17 inside the 20-yard line. In four games, LA Tech has 11 touchdowns (4 rushing, 7 passing) and six field goals for a total of 94 points put on the board in the red zone this season.
GAME DAY CENTRAL
Promotions: Ag & Forestry Day, Youth Sports Day, Spirit Clinic (includes halftime performance with the LA Tech Cheerleaders and Band of Pride)
Tickets: Season and single-game tickets for Bulldog football can be purchased through the Louisiana Tech Ticket Office located in the Thomas Assembly Center. Fans can call 318-257-3631, email TechTickets@latech.edu or stop by during business hours Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Fans can also buy tickets 24/7 by logging onto LATechSports.com/Tickets.
The ticket booths on both the east and west sides of Joe Aillet Stadium will open Saturday at 2 p.m. Gates to the stadium will open at 4:30 p.m.
Tech Trolley: The City of Ruston will once again offer the "Tech Trolley" service for all five of the Bulldogs home games at Joe Aillet Stadium. Using iShuttle Transportation Service, the "Tech Trolley" will run continuously from the Trolley Stop in Railroad Park on Vienna Street in downtown Ruston to the Davison Athletics Complex. Signage showing the pickup and drop-off locations will be available on game days. The "Tech Trolley" will begin running five hours prior to kickoff and will run up to one hour after the game ends.
The "Tech Trolley" is a quick easy way to avoid the game day hassle of parking and will take priority over all other traffic in route to Joe Aillet Stadium.
The "Tech Trolley" will begin running at 1 p.m. this Saturday and will run up to one hour after the game ends. Fans can download the iShuttle Corporate app and utilize the password
ruston to track the trolley in route.
Pregame Activities: One of the centerpieces of Loyal Blue Weekend is the Rock the Railroad series on Friday nights of home football weekends. This event will be held at Railroad Park in downtown Ruston and will start at 6 p.m. with live music followed by a LA Tech Family pep rally featuring the cheerleaders and Champ at 6:30 p.m.
Live music will start each Friday night at 7 p.m. (until 9 p.m.) with Shotgun Wedding serving as the featured artist for Friday, Oct. 5. A Late Night Pep Rally will conclude the evening at 9 p.m. featuring the Tech Band of Pride, Regal Blues, Tech Cheer, Tech XXII and Champ.
For more information on this event go to Facebook.com/RocktheRailroadRuston and for other Loyal Blue Weekend events go to Facebook.com/ExperienceRuston.
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.
All 12 Bulldog football games can be heard on KXKZ 107.5 FM (Ruston/Monroe) as well as KDBS 1410 AM (Alexandria), KQID 93.1 HD3 (Alexandria), WUBR 910 AM (Baton Rouge), KFNV 107.1 FM (Ferriday), KJVC 92.7 FM (Mansfield), KRMD 1340 AM (Shreveport/Bossier City), KRMD 100.7 FM (Shreveport/Bossier City), KNCB 1320 AM (Vivian) and KVCL 92.1 FM (Winnfield).
The LA Tech Sports Network team will host a 90-minute pregame show prior to kickoff and a 30-minute postgame show. Tech Gameday, a 90-minute pre-pregame show hosted by Ed Hebert and Joel Sharpton, will also air prior to each home game live from Tailgate Alley on KXKZ 107.5 FM.
Bulldog fans can access free audio of every LA Tech game and radio show through the Louisiana Tech X mobile app which is available for download on the iTunes App Store or Google Play.
For complete coverage of Bulldog Football, please follow Louisiana Tech on social media at @LATechFB (Twitter), /LATechFootball (Facebook) and @LATechFB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Louisiana Tech Athletics at LATechSports.com.
