Throughout the next 12 weeks, BleedTechBlue will take an early look at each of Louisiana Tech’s 12 opponents for the 2018 football season.
The Bulldogs finished 2017 with a 7-6 record that included a fourth consecutive bowl win in the DXL Frisco Bowl over SMU 51-10.
Skip Holtz returns for his 6th season at Louisiana Tech as the head coach.
After a tough road trip to Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech will follow that up with a trip to Starkville to take on Mississippi State.
Tech hosted Mississippi State last season in week two with the Starkville Bulldogs winning handily, 57-21.
Mississippi State is extremely talented once again and is expected to compete for an SEC Championship under first year head coach, Joe Moorhead.
Moorhead was formerly the offensive coordinator at Penn State and will replace Dan Mullen who took the head coaching job at Florida in the offseason.
Offensively, Nick Fitzgerald returns at quarterback to give Mississippi State an extremely explosive offense. Although he was injured in the final regular season game, Fitzgerald threw for 1,782 yards last season to go along with 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The signal caller also rushed for 984 yards and 14 touchdowns.
In what has become the norm, how many games Mississippi State wins may depend on whether or not Fitzgerald can improve from an accuracy standpoint through the air. Fitzgerald completed only 55% of his throws last season. We’ll see if the offensive guru, Moorhead, can help in improving this statistic.
Aeris Williams and Kylin Hill return at running back after combining for over 1,600 yards and eight touchdowns in 2018.
Wide receiver is a question mark, but newcomers Stephen Guidry, Devonta Jason, Austin Williams, and Malik Dear are expected to contribute right away. With Moorhead planning to have Fitzgerald looking downfield more often, this trio will have to be ready to be on top of their game early.
Defensively, Mississippi State is littered with talent and returns seven starters from last year’s teams.
Bob Shoop is the Bulldogs’ fifth defensive coordinator in as many seasons but will have an opportunity to coach one of the best defensive lines in the entire country.
Montez Sweat and Jeffrey Simmons are two future first round NFL Draft picks up front. The duo combined 27.5 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks a year ago. These two will keep opposing offensive coordinators up at night.
Linebacker Leo Lewis is looking to rebound after a tough season in 2017 that only saw him collect 46 tackles. Keep an eye on young linebackers, Willie Gay and Erroll Thompson, at linebacker as well. Linebacker is a position of focus in the offseason but expect the Bulldogs to have things figured out by the time Tech sees them in November.
Mark McLaurin and Johnathan Abram were the two leading tacklers a season ago and return to their safety spots to give the Bulldogs an experienced secondary.
Changing from a 3-4 scheme to a more traditional 4-3 scheme is the only major change defensively. Shoop is expected to employ an attacking style that saw Mississippi State finish top five in the SEC in sacks, tackles for loss, and turnovers created.
With expectations through the roof in Starkville, pulling off an upset will be extremely difficult for Louisiana Tech in 2018.
With that said, coaching changes sometimes force programs to take a step back initially and injuries do occur so who knows what the two programs will look like late in the season.
Stay tuned to BleedTechBlue.com throughout the summer as we continue to preview the 2018 season. Join us for only $9.95 a month. We are your #1 source for Louisiana Tech Athletics!
