Three Things We Learned:

The offense remained inconsistent throughout the night against South Alabama. While the Bulldogs did compile 440 yards of offense and 30 points, the ‘Dogs were only 4-14 on third down. Speaking postgame about the offense, Skip Holtz said, "I was proud of the way we were able to run the ball tonight. I think we struggled protecting the quarterback. We had three interceptions. One of the things J'Mar did great last year was protect the ball. I know no one was madder than him at a couple of them"

Replacing Jarred Craft and Boston Scott will not be an issue. Jaqwis Dancy and Israel Tucker combined for 226 yards on 34 carries. Dancy showed off his impressive speed on numerous occasions while Israel Tucker was consistent throughout the evening. With the combination of Dancy and Tucker, Bulldog fans can now be certain that the running game will be strong throughout the night.

The defense has an opportunity to be dominant. While the Bulldogs did give up three plays of 25+ yards, the unit did force four turnovers and limit the Jaguars to 308 total yards. In regards to the play of his defense, Skip Holtz said, "I thought overall they competed. I think there were some great individual plays." Amik Robertson and L’Jarius Sneed proved all of their preseason hype to be legit in helping to limit South Alabama to only 91 passing yards. Going forward, if Tech can limit the big plays, the unit will be, perhaps, the best in Conference USA.

Two Questions Going Forward:

Will J’mar Smith become more consistent? After throwing three interceptions and fumbling once while also struggling with accuracy, there will be plenty of questions surrounding Smith this week. While the offensive line certainly deserves some of the blame, Smith will need to be better if Tech is going to win a conference championship.

Will the special teams unit improve? After missing an extra point, not recovering an onside kick, allowing a couple of big kick returns, and shanking two punts, the special teams unit must be better. In reference to the struggles on special teams, Skip Holtz said, "I thought the kicking game was poor. We gave up an onside kick. We started at our own 10-yard line on a kickoff return. We punted the ball very poorly tonight. We gave up a big kickoff return to start the game." Eric Link was hired as the special teams coach just prior to the start of fall camp and will certainly need to clean things up after a tough week one.

One Prediction for Next Week:

Louisiana Tech will dominate Southern from start to finish as expected. While Southern is an inferior opponent, an easy home win to get to 2-0 in 2018 will feel good before Tech heads to Baton Rouge to take on LSU on September 22nd.

Join us at BleedTechBlue.com for only $9.95 a month. We are your #1 source for Louisiana Tech Athletics!