Bulldogs hunker down for Golden Hurricane

This will be the only time Louisiana Tech will gladly welcome a hurricane to Joe Aillet Stadium.

It’s too early in the season to call Saturday a must-win for Louisiana Tech (1-1) or the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (1-2) but with both teams coming off tough losses last week, along with seasons well under .500 in 2023, the matchup is shaping up to be one of finding breathing room for both squads.

Win, and the hope of returning to the postseason for a bowl game in December gets another chip added. Lose, and the chances to find opportunities for success only dwindle by the week.

For the Bulldogs, they’re returning to The Joe in good spirits after nearly upsetting NC State last week in a 30-20 loss, leading 17-6 at halftime. But thanks to second half miscues, Tech allowed the Wolfpack and their true freshman quarterback to pull out a victory. It was a missed opportunity for sure, but Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie believes his team is ready to build off, not hang their heads from, the defeat. With a tough lesson behind them, Cumbie expects the Bulldogs to be ready to play with a purpose.

“I think both football teams are going to be hungry for a win,” Cumbie said. “I think that both football teams are going to come in here and play a physical style of football. (Tulsa head coach) Kevin Wilson has done a really good job there. He’s a phenomenal football coach. He’s had highly productive offenses his whole career, and so you know you can expect that. Defensively, their front does a really nice job against the run.”

Tulsa’s season started with a win over Northwestern State but has hit a two-game losing streak with losses to Arkansas State and Oklahoma State in recent weeks. As Cumbie mentioned, the Golden Hurricane have a stout run defense, showcasing its firmness against one of the best running backs in the country in OSU tailback Ollie Gordon.

Gordon, the 2023 Doak Walker Award winner and Big 12 Player of the Year, managed just 41 rushing yards and zero touchdowns last week against Tulsa. In three games, Tulsa’s opponents haven’t had a rusher over 78 yards.

Tech needs better production than that to beat the Golden Hurricane but may need new faces to step up as starting tailback Marquis Crosby may be on a limited workload after getting 2 carries at NC State for 4 yards.

Cumbie said Donerio Davenport, Omiri Wiggins, Fred Robertson, and Amani Givens will have to meet the moment and finally give the Bulldogs a rushing attack.

Through two games, Tech is averaging 2.5 yards per carry with two touchdowns.

“Marquis, he’s still a little banged up from the first game, and so he’s not running 100%. We’ve gotta get more production there,” Cumbie said. “There are layers of improvement in all areas. I do think our football team took a step, really improving in every aspect of our team. We were better in this game (NC State) than we were against Nicholls. And that’s the goal is to continually improve and compete with each other throughout the course of the season.

“But we gotta get some juice going in that room.”

Tech got explosive plays to set up easy scoring drives through the air on Saturday, with Jack Turner connecting with receivers Jay Wilkerson for 85 yards and Tru Edwards for 148 yards respectively. But outside the second quarter fireworks in the pass game, Tech managed 167 yards of offense.

Starting and staying efficient on offense is a priority for Cumbie moving forward after the first two games of the year have started poorly.

In fact, the Bulldogs haven’t scored a touchdown on their opening drive since Oct. 5, 2023, against Western Kentucky. And through two games this year, Tech’s eight drives in the first quarter have ended with six punts, two turnovers, and one touchdown.

“We gotta start football games better on offense. We’ve gotta start faster,” Cumbie said. “We can’t have this feeling out process where we get our feet under us. When the gates open, we’ve gotta be ready to go and we’ve got to be able to see things, we gotta be able to react.”

Louisiana Tech (1-1) will take on Tulsa (1-2) Saturday at Joe Aillet Stadium at 6 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.