Sluggish offense needs a major spark in Florida

Another week, another internal challenge to improve offensive execution.

Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie told reporters after Saturday’s 23-20 overtime loss to Tulsa and Tuesday in his weekly presser that the Bulldogs’ offense isn’t in a good spot three games into the 2024 season. He can see details aren’t being met and the sustainability of drives is poor. It’s a sharp observation by the third-year head coach.

Among CUSA’s 10 teams, Tech ranks as the sixth in scoring offense (21.7 points per game), seventh in total offense (331 yards per game), ninth in rushing offense (79.7 yards per game), third in passing offense (251.7 yards per game), and second to last in total first downs (45) — tied for the third fewest first downs in the country. Nationally, Tech has the eighth worst rushing offense and is 109th in scoring out of 133 teams.

With that in mind, Cumbie opted to flipflop and flop- flip his quarterbacks throughout the Tulsa game, with all three scholarship players — Jack Turner, Blake Baker, and Evan Bullock — taking the field in what was a onescore game with the Golden Hurricane.

Now, heading down to Miami to face the FIU Panthers (1-3, 0-0) to begin league play, Tech (1-2, 0-0) needs an offensive breakthrough of any kind to get out of its losing streak.

Cumbie, still deciding on Tech’s starting quarterback between Bullock and Turner, said it’s all a matter of playing as one unit offensively.

“Regardless of who plays quarterback, offensively we gotta play better starting at offensive line, running back, and at receiver. I felt like from a tight end standpoint our guys were very productive. We need to get a little bit more assignment sound at that position also,” Cumbie said. “Regardless of who plays quarterback, we gotta play better collectively. And that will allow that position, which it’s a very important position, to be a lot easier also.

“We have the talent and ability. We just gotta put it together. That’s really what I’ve seen with our guys is our guys care a lot and they pour a lot into it,” he added.

The Bulldogs have 10 turnovers and 8 touchdowns this year, punting or turning the ball over on 65% of their offensive drives, and have converted 16-of-45 attempts ( 35.56%) on third down, good for 95th nationally out of 133 teams.

Sophomore tight end Eli Finley, coming off a career-best 91 receiving yards and his first collegiate touchdown against Tulsa, said the Bulldogs have the pieces to score more effectively. He told reporters Tuesday that Tech’s offensive turnaround is only a matter of time, with players eager to win.

“We focus on doing our job, executing the assignment. Regardless of who’s at quarterback, we gotta trust them as a team that they’re going to go out there and execute plays,” Finley said. “We’re hungry. We have a lot of want to. We have a lot of guys who want to win football games. We’re ready to go.”

Cumbie agreed with his young tight end on Tuesday, not ready to close the door on the Bulldogs’ chances to compete this season. For him, nine games are more than enough time to get persistent issues figured out.

“I still have a lot of excitement about this football team. There are nine games left. I think this team has a lot of toughness. I think this team has a lot of wantto and a lot of positive intent. And they want to be successful,” Cumbie said. “There are a lot of football games that are left. So, I’m excited to embark in Conference USA play as we open at FIU with our kids.”

The Panthers are a mixed bag this season, ranking second in CUSA in scoring offense (30.3 points per game) but are held back by their No. 8 total defense (435 yards per game) and No. 9 rushing defense (212 yards per game). FIU is led by one of the better young quarterbacks in CUSA in sophomore Keyone Jenkins.

In four starts this year, Jenkins has thrown for 896 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions at a 64.9% completion rate. For context, Tech’s three quarterbacks have combined for 755 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions at a 53% completion percentage.

“ They’re a really good football team,” Cumbie said of FIU. “I think you watch the Indiana game and that game’s really close throughout the whole game. Indiana scores a touchdown to make it look like that from a score standpoint. Central Michigan, they (FIU) really had their way with those guys. Conference USA, every game is going to be like what we saw Saturday night. We’ve got to execute really well on all three sides of the football.”

Tech will play FIU Saturday at 5 p.m. in Miami at Pitbull Stadium. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.