RUSTON – Louisiana Tech put together an 11-play, 97-yard drive late in the fourth quarter that led to the game-winning touchdown, giving the Bulldogs a 14-10 victory over UTEP on Tuesday night inside Joe Aillet Stadium.
 
LA Tech (3-4, 2-2 CUSA) had great field position all night against UTEP (1-7, 1-4 CUSA), including four drives that started in its opponent's territory.  None of those four drives resulted in points though.
 
The two teams traded touchdowns in the first half with the Miners claiming the first one, going 94 yards on eight plays that was capped off by a 47-yard touchdown pass on their second drive of the game.
 
After totaling just 42 yards of offense on their first five drives, the Bulldogs finally broke through on a long touchdown pass of their own.  Evan Bullock found Solo Lewis, who beat his man in one-on-one coverage, for a 48-yard score with 1:58 remaining in the second quarter.
 
The first red zone appearance by either team came in the third quarter when LA Tech's Colton Deckard blocked a punt by the Miners, giving the Bulldogs the ball just eight yards from the goal line.  However, a false start and a sack was followed by a missed 36-yard field goal, which kept the score tied at 7-7.
 
UTEP, which had missed a field goal of its own earlier on the contest, retook the lead on a 44-yard field goal with 3:43 to go in the third quarter.
 
Down three points, LA Tech found itself with its worst field position of the game, backed up on its own 3-yard line with only 11:55 to go in the game.  It then became the Evan Bullock-to-Jimmy Holiday show.
 
The drive opened with Bullock finding Holiday for a 32-yard gain over the middle to get LA Tech out of its own end zone.  Then on a 3rd-and-10, Holiday reeled in a 17-yard grab to move the chains.  The two connected again, this time on a 3rd-and-13, to get exactly 13 yards for a first down.
 
On back-to-back plays, Bullock hooked up with Amani Givens and Tru Edwards for gains of 19 and 12 yards, respectively, to put the Bulldogs on the 1-yard line.  One play later, Givens rushed the ball up the middle to give LA Tech its first lead of the game, going up 14-10 with 6:28 to play.
 
The defense stood tall like it did all night.  After allowing only one third down conversion the entire game, the Bulldogs had to also come up with two fourth down conversions to hold the lead.  That they did.
 
Mekhi Mason and David Blay stuffed the Miners on a 4th-and-1 rush up the middle and Jakari Foster came up with a tackle that kept UTEP 1-yard shy of keeping its drive alive. 
 
Bullock was 22-of-30 for 248 yards and one touchdown.  He completed five of his six attempts on the game-winning drive in the fourth quarter. Holiday led the Bulldogs in rushing and receiving, carrying the ball six times for 18 yards while hauling in six receptions for 93 yards.
 
QUOTABLES
Head coach Sonny Cumbie
On the victory…
"We talked this week to our football team and really the things that we wanted to accomplish, holistically as a football team is we wanted to attack victory. I felt like at times in previous games that we've weighed on our heels, whether it be on offense, defense, or special teams, and just hoped that something good was going to happen. And I think our guys tonight, in particular on defense, and then offensively on a 97-yard drive when we needed it the most, attacked victory. I think we are able to do that. I think that we were the aggressor, in particular on defense and special teams. I think our team played very physical."
 
"I think that there's some area of improvement, obviously offensively from that standpoint, in terms of our goal. We wanted to embrace the moments. I think that there were in moments this game where our kids did that. And in particular on defense, the last drive an incredible stop on fourth down. I'm very thankful that they got the call right with review. I don't know, we would have probably some people that would have been flagged or thrown in jail maybe if that would have not gone our way."
 
"But it was a great win. Proud of our team. There's a lot of things on offense that we'd like to have done better."
 
"I think part of the credit goes to J.J., the defensive coordinator. I think he had a great game plan, did things for multiplicity in terms of fronts. They implicitly covered zero just enough to keep you honest. And they got us a couple times. But we were able to get that 97-yard drive with our zero plan. Our kids were prepared for it."
 
"It was so hard to see in terms of when they were going to do it. I think a huge credit goes to Coach J.J. and our defensive staff, our defensive players continually answered the call. They were one for 14 on third downs."
 
Defensive back Jacob Fields
On what it took to get the win…
"Really on the defensive side, we just put our head down and grinded. Anybody can say whatever they wanted to on the internet, on social media, whatever it was, but at the end of the day, offense came to practice ready to go to push the defense, defense came to practice ready to push the offense. So, we just needed to keep our head down and just keep working."
 
On holding UTEP to 1/14 on third down…
"It's just a week-to-week basis. We have a really good offense that comes to practice just to push us, and we just know that at the end of the day, it's on us. If the other team scores 97 points, then we can win the game. But if they score zero, then we win because we trust our offense and we trust in the coaching we got."
 
Wide receiver Jimmy Holiday
On taking the momentum going forward…
I think the main thing is not letting the highs get too high and just like flushing it. We're on to next week. Enjoy this for the night, and tomorrow, flush it. Watch the film, study the mistakes, get ready for the next one."
 
NOTABLES

• With the win, LA Tech now leads the all-time series versus UTEP, 17-3-1. 
• The Bulldogs improved to 11-1 versus the Miners as CUSA opponents.
• LA Tech has now won six straight games over UTEP in Ruston.
• LA Tech only had seven yards rushing, marking the first time since 1999 the Bulldogs won a game with less than 10 yards on the ground.
• The LA Tech defense allowed just one third down conversion in 14 tries by UTEP.  It marked the first time since 2018 that the Bulldogs allowed just one third down conversion in a single game.
• The Bulldogs blocked their first punt since November of 2022.
• Evan Bullock continued his streak of not throwing an interception.  He has 138 passing attempts this season, having thrown nine touchdowns and no picks.
• Jimmy Holiday had season highs in both receptions (six) and receiving yards (93).  He came into the contest with 109 total receiving yards through the first six contests.
• Jimmy Holiday became the first Bulldog since Marcus Williams Jr. in 2021 to lead LA Tech in rushing and receiving yards in the same game. 
• Tru Edwards registered six receptions, giving him 5+ in each of hist last five games.
• Amani Givens scored his first career touchdown as a Bulldog.
• Kolbe Fields had a game-high 11 tackles, giving him double-digit tackles for the third time this season.  Tying him was Jakari Foster who had a career-high 11 tackles (his first tackles of the season).
• Demarcus Griffin-Taylor recorded a season-long 58-yard kickoff return, the longest by any Bulldog this season.

UP NEXT
LA Tech plays its final midweek game of the season on Tuesday, Oct. 29 when the Bulldogs travel to Huntsville, Texas to take on Sam Houston.  Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. CT and will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
 
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