RUSTON, La. – Louisiana Tech will honor 50 years of great moments at Joe Aillet Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 9 as the Bulldogs welcome in-state foe Southern to town for the 2018 home opener.
 
Kickoff is set for 6:05 p.m. CT on Saturday at Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ for subscribers, while fans can 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.
 
"I look forward to a great venue and a great setting for the first game of the season here in Joe Aillet Stadium," head coach Skip Holtz said. "We have a lot of things that we have to correct in this game. We know it is going to be a great challenge and we are looking forward to having the opportunity to play our first game at home. It is also a weekend of the 50th anniversary of Joe Aillet Stadium, which is an exciting time to be a part of this. Not every team has a chance to be part of an anniversary year. They have selected the 50 best players that have played in the stadium to honor those players and we are going to get an opportunity to spend time with them on Saturday."
 
Holtz and the Bulldogs are 1-0 on the season coming off a 30-26 road victory over South Alabama last weekend as LA Tech was just one of 12 FBS programs in the nation to win on the road on opening weekend of college football.
 
Southern enters the contest with an 0-1 record after the first week of the 2018 season following a 55-7 loss on the road against the nationally-ranked TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth. The Jaguars are led by seventh-year head coach Dawson Odums, who has led Southern to six or more wins in five seasons at the helm of the program.
 
When LA Tech hosts Southern on Saturday, it will mark just the second meeting all-time between the two schools with the first contest dating back to the 2015 football season. Three years ago, the Bulldogs hosted Southern in the season-opener and came away with a decisive 62-15 victory over the Jaguars for a 1-0 series lead.
 
 
PREGAME NOTES
 

• During the Football Bulldogs' home opener against Southern on Saturday, Louisiana Tech Athletics will celebrate the first 50 years of football at Joe Aillet Stadium when the University honors the top 50 Bulldogs to ever play at the stadium. Joe Aillet Stadium opened in 1968 and the 2017 season marked the 50th played in the facility that has seen more than $40 million in new construction and renovations during the past four years.

 

• The Bulldogs enter the home-opener with a four-game winning streak on the line dating back to the 2017 season. LA Tech closed out last season by winning its final two regular season games over UTEP and UTSA before going on to defeat No. 25 SMU in the DXL Frisco Bowl. The Bulldogs extended their winning streak to four games last weekend in its 30-26 road win over South Alabama to kick off the campaign.

 

• Since Joe Aillet Stadium opened in 1968, Louisiana Tech has won 41 home openers at "The Joe" with a record of 41-8-1 over that span. If you go back to 1988 when the Bulldogs made the transition to Division I, LA Tech has dominated when playing on its home turf with a record of 26-4 in home openers at The Joe since the 1988 season.

 

• Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz, who is currently enjoying his longest head coaching tenure of his career in his sixth season with the Bulldogs, is quickly moving up the record books when it comes to total wins. Holtz is currently ranked fifth in program history for most wins as a head coach with 39 victories under his belt. Following a road win over South Alabama to open the 2018 season, Holtz is just one win shy of tying Joe Raymond Peace (40) for fourth place all-time in Louisiana Tech coaching history.

 
 
GAME DAY CENTRAL
 
Promotions: Legends Day (Free Top 50 commemorative poster to first 1,500 fans), Faith and Family Day, Loyal Blue Out, Postgame Fireworks
 
Tickets: Season and single-game tickets for Bulldog football are still on sale and 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 12 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. Fans can download the iShuttle Corporate app and utilize the password ruston to track the trolley in route.
 
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 Judge & Jury serving as the featured artist for Friday, Sept. 7. 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.
 
Starting with tomorrow's season-opener at South Alabama, 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.
 
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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.