Season kickoff at the Joe

When Louisiana Tech takes the field Saturday against Florida International University (FIU), don’t expect to see the Bulldogs of last season.

Unfocused. Lost. Guessing. All words cast on the 3-9 season to begin the Sonny Cumbie era from players and coaches alike. For many, “ culture” was more of a buzzword than a felt standard.

But after more than 40 transfer additions and an offseason built on a turnaround, the Bulldogs kick off the 2023 season with more than faint optimism. They believe they’re going to respond after back- to- back 3- 9 seasons and contend for a Conference USA title.

“I think it’s been a long time since we’ve last played, and I think our football team is much improved,” Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie said. “Our guys have put a lot of work in over the course of the summer. A lot of the new transfers have done a great job and integrating themselves into what we’ve already established from last year and the foundation that we’ve built since we were here in January.”

Asking the man in charge is one thing, but what about sixth-year wide receiver Smoke Harris, someone who’s been in the program longer than just about anyone?

Harris saw firsthand last fall the makeup of Tech’s locker room and remembered how it felt to face a pair of threegame losing streaks, including a 42-34 double overtime loss to FIU last season.

In short, Harris is walking into Saturday with more confidence than ever in the guys beside him.

“I feel like now we have a lot of guys that have bought into the system and know the system now and we’re able to make decisions, not just guess,” Harris said Tuesday. “ We’re in a better space than where we were last year around this time. I feel like it’ll make us a lot better.”

The redshirt senior returns in the slot after 66 catches, 640 yards and 5 touchdowns last season, along with a dangerous special teams return skillset that ranked top-10 nationally.

He’s no stranger to going fast and told reporters Tuesday that’s the exact message coming from Cumbie and the coaching staff.

“We talk about it a lot,” Harris said. “Coach Cumbie said it today as practice started, ‘ We gotta start fast,’ and so we just gotta start off on the right foot and face a little adversity, keep going and get a (win).”

That hasn’t been a problem for the program over the decades, as the Bulldogs have a 44-9-1 record in openers at Joe Aillet Stadium.

Opening at home and against a C-USA opponent adds to the need to get out of the gates fast if the Bulldogs want to position themselves to reach their postseason goals.

Harris will be catching passes from a new quarterback on Saturday as Boise State transfer Hank Bachmeier is set to make his Tech debut.

Bachmeier, who’s won 20 of his 29 career starts, will lead the Tech air-raid offense after throwing for 6,605 yards, 41 touchdowns and 19 interceptions at the Mountain West powerhouse.

For as experienced as he comes, Saturday will be his first game for another program after four years in Boise. But Bachmeier isn’t nervous.

“Excited,” Bachmeier said. “It’s my fifth year, third team from Florida for a season debut, so I’m excited about that. New journey for me, so excited to go out there and go play.”

After watching FIU on film, Bachmeier sees a defense that will allow for layup throws — easy completions — to create an early rhythm, so he’ll work to not force anything dangerous.

After all, the Panthers had the fifth worst scoring defense in the country last season (37 points per game) and lost their top tackler in linebacker Gaethan Bernadel to Stanford among many transfer losses.

Set to make his first collegiate start in over a calendar year, Bachmeier said he isn’t afraid to slowly play his way into the game.

“Take what they give you and they give you the game, that’s kind of my mentality,” Bachmeier said.

Tech’s new quarterback will have more on his plate than usual in leading the offense as returning starter and leading rusher Marquis Crosby is out due to injury and second-string running back Tyre Shelton is questionable.

“It’ll be a game-time decision with Tyre,” Cumbie said Tuesday. “I think it’ll be how it goes this week, and we’ll just see the rest of the practice and how he feels.”

Shelton, a transfer from Miami-Ohio, joined the Bulldogs after 32 career games in the MAC, where he rushed for 1,153 yards and 7 career touchdowns. If Shelton is a no-go, Charvis Thornton and true freshman Keith Willis Jr. will take over.

The Bulldogs face FIU on Saturday at 8 p.m. in Joe Aillet Stadium. The game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.