Tech hangs on to beat UTEP

It wasn’t pretty. In fact, it was often ugly. But wins are counted all the same in the history books, and Louisiana Tech certainly wasn’t complaining Tuesday night after a 14-10 victory over UTEP.

The Bulldogs (3-4, 2-2 CUSA) improved to 3-1 at home with their win, getting a shutdown defensive performance from defensive coordinator Jeremiah Johnson and his unit by holding the Miners to 1-14 on third down, 85 passing yards, and 251 yards of offense – forcing seven punts and two turnovers on downs in the win.

 “Just really excited and proud of our football team,” Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie said. “Definition of winning ugly, and we needed that. I think we talked this week to our football team about really the things we wanted to accomplish this week wholistically as a football team was we wanted to attack victory. I felt like at times in previous games we’ve waited on our heels and just hope something good was going to happen. I think tonight, particularly on defense, and offensively on a 97-yard drive when we needed it most, attacked victory.”

The biggest stop of the night came with UTEP trailing 14-10 with 2:33 left, starting its final drive at its own 31. All Tech needed was hold. The Bulldogs had been in this scenario before, needing a final stop defensively to preserve a win, including just last week when New Mexico State drove down 75 yards to send the game to overtime with Tech guarding a three-point lead. Tulsa also had a late scoring drive to pull ahead on a 9-play, 48-yard drive to nail a walk-off field goal.

But Tuesday, the Bulldogs didn’t flinch. UTEP moved down to its own 47 with 1:53 left, facing a 4th and 1 with no timeouts. Pick it up and the drive continues and momentum builds. A stop would be the end of the game as Tech could burn the clock.

The Miners opted to pass, but completed, after review overturned the call on the field, the pass short of the line to gain. Ballgame Bulldogs. Jakari Foster, who tied Kolbe Fields with 11 total tackles to lead Tech, made the clinching stop.

“We just put our head down and grinded,” Tech defensive back Jacob Fields said. “Anybody can say what they whatever they want to on the internet, on social media, or whatever it was. But at the end of the day, offense came to practice ready to push the defense and the defense came to practice ready to push the offense. We knew just to keep our head down and just keep working.”

The dominant defense wasn’t exactly matched on offense for most of the night. Tech finished with 7 rushing yards on 30 carries – a 0.2 yards per carry average – against a UTEP defense allowing 214 rushing ypg. Tech went 6-17 on third down as well and entered the fourth quarter with 159 total yards of offense

But for one drive, the defining, go-ahead series of the night, Tech quarterback Evan Bullock delivered accurate and aggressive throws to put Tech in position to score. And at the end of the day, it was what was required, given the defense’s level of play, to win.

The Bulldogs’ first drive of the fourth quarter on their own 3 with 11:55 left to play, trailing 10-7. Bullock moved Tech to UTEP’s 38 and then the UTEP 13 with 7:12 left as he hit Amani Givens for 22-yard completion as pressure was coming with force from the Miners’ front. Bullock went 5-6 for 93 yards on the drive, putting Tech down at UTEP’s 1-yard line on a connection to Tru Edwards, with running back Amani Givens scoring from a yard out to take the first lead of the night with 6:28 to go.

Bullock finished 22-30 passing for 248 yards and a touchdown – a 47-yard strike to Solo Lewis in the second quarter.

“He’s sneaky clutch. He has some playmaking ability,” Cumbie said of Bullock. “You saw in a two-minute drive last week at New Mexico State he’s able to lead us down for a field goal attempt. I talked to him as kindly as I could in the first quarter and second quarter about, ‘Hey, don’t wait for those moments to start playing like that.’ I think that’s the biggest takeaway from his performance I think from a stat line standpoint he did a nice job. But I think there were some things we missed read wise. But when the moment was needed, he met it. He led us down there with some critical throws.”

It was a typically ugly first half for the Bulldogs as they walked into the locker room tied at 7-7 with a 2-8 effort on third down and had four punts and a turnover on downs offensively in the first half beyond the score. In fact, with Tech trailing 7-0 after the first, it was the fifth time this season the Bulldogs have gone scoreless after the first quarter.

Cumbie credited Johnson’s ability to rally his defense to carry Tech to another win, while also praising his DC for his passion for player development.

“There are stats and how our kids play on defense, and you see how they fly around and that’s pretty valuable,” Cumbie said. “Now, what you don’t see is where you get the most value with coach JJ and our coaches. What you don’t see when the doors open, offensive kids, defensive kids are in his office and they spend time with him and he cares about them. That’s the number one thing that you want in your program is coaches that care about people.”