Liberty rolls over LA Tech

Stop if you’ve heard this one before: Louisiana Tech lacked execution and detail in a 56-30 loss to Liberty on Saturday, dropping the Bulldogs to 3-7 overall and 2-4 in CUSA action.

On a night the Liberty Flames clinched hosting the Conference USA Championship game and improved to 9-0 overall, the Bulldogs allowed 602 yards and the most points by the program since Sept. 9, 2017.

It’s an all-too-familiar message for second-year head coach Sonny Cumbie, who told the media postgame the Bulldogs’ fourth loss in a row comes down to players and coaches not focused on the little things that make teams win. And when you’re playing the class of the league, the margin for error was going to be razor thin. The Bulldogs cut themselves short time and time again.

“We didn’t. That’s the bottom line,” Cumbie said postgame when asked about defensive stops. “We didn’t stop them and we knew they were really good on offense and their quarterback and running back are really good and their offensive line did a great job and bottom line is we didn’t do a good enough job on defense and didn’t do enough on offense.

“We didn’t get off the field really outside of the takeaway. You finally get a takeaway,and that just sums it up, and you go three and out on offense with a short field.”

The Bulldogs rolled over on defense early and never recovered, allowing Liberty’s high-powered offense to move up and down the field with ease, trailing 28-10 at the break after allowing the Flames to light up the scoreboard with touchdown drives on four of their first five possessions.

And it wasn’t just Liberty flexing its undefeated muscles against a middling program, oftentimes it was the Bulldogs giving the Flames new life - including two third-down penalties that kept the Liberty drive alive with under two minutes left in the first half.

After a 3-yard touchdown from Keith Willis to get LA Tech in the end-zone for the first time, and cut the lead to 21-10 with 1:51 left, the Flames started their final drive of the half on their own 25.

No problem when the Bulldogs offer free chances.

Just when it seemed like the Flames were going to be in position to punt, setting up on 3rd and 2 with 1:13 left, Myles Heard jumped offsides to keep the Flames moving.

Then, after Kaidon Salter connected on multiple throws downfield, the Flames set up inside the Tech 20 looking to crush the Bulldogs’ spirits once more. After two stands from the defense, Liberty was faced with a 3rd and 10 at the Tech 19. That’s when Brevin Randle was called offsides, but was waved off by the Flames because on the same play Cedric Woods committed pass interference to move the chains.

On the next play, Liberty made it an 18-point lead thanks to a 4-yard touchdown catch from Aaron Bedgood.

“Credit Liberty,” Cumbie said. “They kicked our tails as coaches they beat us and as players they beat our team and they’re a really good football team and they’re undefeated for a reason. I’d be surprised if anybody does end up beating them.”

Liberty kept the foot on the gas out of halftime, scoring on a 55-yard touchdown on the seventh play of the third quarter to an uncovered Noah Frith for a 35-10 lead.

By this point, the Flames had touchdowns on five of its six drives.

Keith Willis and Smoke Harris punched in touchdowns in the quarter but it was too late, as Liberty running Quinton Cooley scored rushing touchdowns of his own on the Liberty drives in between the faint Bulldog scores to maintain the wide margin.

Liberty’s first punt came with 8:24 left in the fourth quarter, with the Bulldogs coming minutes away from not forcing a punt for the first time since Dec. 3, 2016.

Kaidon Salter ended his night 16-25 passing for 297 yards and 4 touchdowns, while Cooley burnt the Bulldogs for 23 carries for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns. Liberty’s rushing attack put up 305 yards at 6.8 ypc.

Tech’s offense was secondary for most of the night, trailing from the second possession of the game but had a solid performance from Hank Bachmeier who finished 23-33 for 304 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions against the nation’s leading team in interceptions. Smoke Harris hauled in 5 catches for 73 yards and a touchdown, while Tru Edwards had 6 catches for 85 yards and a touchdown.

With bowl game hopes gone for the third season in a row, what exactly are the Bulldogs playing for?

Cumbie said players have pride on the line and are left with a crossroads to prove they’re worth keeping around in the future.

“That’s what I told them after the game,” Cumbie said. “I said the bowl game is out the window and you’re going to find out for the next two weeks a lot about who fights and we talk about loyalty in our program as one of our cornerstones and loyalty for us in summed up in action. And we’ll see from players and coaches as well. We’re all in this together and to continue to stay the course and continue to see how hard we can play. And you’ll find out who we can depend on. This was the only game in our conference where it wasn’t that close and so that’s part of the problem is you want to find and identify players on your team who are intrinsically motivated and want to go out there and play with a lot of passion and play with a high level of focus and execution and so we’ll be able to identify that over the next two weeks and find out, as we move forward into the winter and into the spring from a player standpoint the guys you can rely on and continue to build this thing as rosters continue and change as they do every year now with the transfer portal.”

Louisiana Tech returns home for its home finale against Sam Houston State (1-8, 0-5 CUSA) on Saturday, Nov. 11 at Joe Aillet Stadium.