RUSTON, La. (Sept. 10, 2019) – Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz spoke with the media Tuesday in advance of Tech's Saturday road contest at Bowling Green.
 
Head Coach Skip Holtz
 
"On last week's game vs. Grambling State
"It's always great to win. To come out of the first home game of the season with a win is always a nice feeling. It was an awkward game. It was a tale of two halves. I thought we came out really focused and dialed in early on. It was 20-0 at halftime. We had outgained them by nearly 130 yards, and it was a game where we felt good about where we were at. I thought the offense played well and the defense had given up nine first downs and no points through the first half."
 
"I thought our special teams were strong all day. I loved the way Bailey Hale and Brady Farlow kicked the ball. It was nice to see Bailey come back after his performance at Texas and go 2-for-2 on field goals. I thought Brady Farlow got great height on his punts and limited returns. Guys like Ezekiel Barnett Darryl Lewis really stepped up on the special teams coverage unit or the "dirty dozen" as we call them. It was nice to see Smoke Harris get involved in special teams and get him moving along as a redshirt freshman. Michael Sam also did some good things returning punts for the first time here at Louisiana Tech. There were some definite positives from the special teams units."
 
"We drove down the field to begin the second half and drove all the way down and failed to convert on a 4^th down. Then they (Grambling) took the ball 96 yards and went and put it in the end zone. I thought Grambling came out with a renewed sense of urgency in the second half. That's a proud program and I thought they played really well in the second half. Their quarterback made some great decisions, as advertised. He was very hard to tackle. I thought he took what the defense gave him, and threw the ball very accurately. I thought he played an excellent football game."
 
"In the second half, I went into more of a run mode to burn the clock with the heat and to get out of there. Probably in hindsight, we should've left things wide open. We threw the ball six times in the second half and it turned into a very competitive game. I give Grambling an awful lot of credit for that. Coach (Broderick) Fobbs has done an excellent job over there. It was a Lincoln Parish battle and I'm just excited we came out with the win. Anytime you can correct your mistakes, it's a positive thing. We have plenty of things to learn and grow from. We're still learning a lot about our football team after that game."
 
On Grambling safety Danquarian Fields' knee injury
"I do want to take a second and send our thoughts and prayers out to Dan Fields and his family. We're thinking about him after the injury he suffered on our sideline and the surgery he went through on Sunday night. We're all thinking about him. There's a lot of mutual respect between our two programs and our thoughts and prayers are certainly with him for a speedy recovery with everything he's going through. He's a great player. You hate to see anybody get hurt, but especially the ugliness of that one right along our sideline."
 
On the positives after week two
"I don't think we could write a better script to be sitting here at 1-1. Against Texas we made a lot of mistakes, turned the ball over and did a lot of things that get you beat. It was nice to see the progress we made from week on to week two. We came out last week and did not have a turnover. We kept the ball in front of us and didn't give up the big plays for scores. We held them (Grambling) to 1-of-4 in the red zone defensively. I thought we played a lot smarter in this game than we did in week one. I don't think our guys were overly jubilant or excited in the locker room and right now I think we're just ready to get to work and compete against Bowling Green this week. They know it's going to take better effort with the schedule that we play to be the team that we want to be."
 
On Bowling Green:
"This week we have some pretty significant challenges ahead of us. Bowling Green has a brand new coaching staff. On offense they pride themselves on tempo. They're trying to run a hundred plays a game. They also play with very big personnel. It's going to be very different from anything we've seen this year. They're going to play with two to three tight ends. They make your DB's and safeties play linebacker and edge control. They want to run the ball for 400 yards and control the tempo. It's a lot like playing a military school with the wishbone. Their running backs are big and physical and they like run downhill at you. They play a physical brand of football."
 
"It's hard to tell how either team is going to be. We both have won against I-AA opponents and we both got beat by Power 5 schools. We're still learning a lot about our teams and I'm just excited to get up there and play the game."
 
"Defensively, they're physical. We haven't seen how they defend against spread sets very much. I don't really know what to expect defensively – we just have to worry about our team and how well we execute our brand of football on the offensive side of things. For us to win this game, it will definitely take a better and more physical effort than we game last week. I'm excited to get back out on the practice field for another week where we have another chance to get better and hopefully settle into what we're going to become as both an offense and defense."
 
Video highlights and footage will be available through Conference USA Box for media outlets to download and use.
 
To access video of today's LA Tech press conference, go to: https://conferenceusa.box.com/v/2019-20Video
Password: 2019-20Video
 
Click on Conference USA File Share > Video > Football > then the week of highlights you are seeking > then the school you are seeking.
 
Audio from today's press conference can be accessed on SoundCloud by clicking on the links below.
 
HC Skip Holtz audio: https://soundcloud.com/latechathletics/skip-holtz-week-3
 
K Bailey Hale audio: https://soundcloud.com/latechathletics/bailey-hale-week-3
 
CB Amik Robertson audio: https://soundcloud.com/latechathletics/amik-robertson-week-3