PREVIEW | LA Tech vs North Texas
Following a blowout win over Northwestern State, Louisiana Tech (2-1) welcomes former conference foe North Texas (0-2) into Ruston for a pivotal matchup.
Game Time | Saturday @ 6 PM
TV/Radio | ESPN+/KXKZ 107.5 FM
Louisiana Tech HC | Sonny Cumbie (5-10 overall record in 2nd season)
Louisiana Tech OC | Jake Brown & Scott Parr (29.0 points per game in 2nd season)
Louisiana Tech DC | Scott Power (25.3 points allowed per game in 2nd season)
North Texas HC | Eric Morris (0-2 record in 1st season at North Texas)
North Texas OC | NA
North Texas DC | Matt Caponi (52.0 points allowed per game in 1st season)
Mean Green Projected Starters
*Offense
QB | RS Junior #4 Chandler Rogers (6’0 195/68.4 PFF Grade) --<Southern Miss, Blinn College, ULM
AND Junior #3 Stone Earle (6’0 207/48.9 PFF Grade) --<Abilene Christian
RB | RS Junior #27 Oscar Adaway III (5’10 219/54.4 PFF Grade)
RB | Senior #23 Isaiah Johnson (5’10 210/67.7 PFF Grade)
WR | RS Sophomore #9 Ja’Mori Maclin (5’11 183/65.1 PFF Grade) --<Missouri
WR | Senior #1 Kaylon Horton (5’9 173/63.4 PFF Grade) --<Tarleton State
WR | RS Senior #2 Roderick Burns (5’9 190/58.1 PFF Grade)
WR | RS Junior #7 Trey Cleveland (6’1 193/57.0 PFF Grade) --<Texas Tech
TE | RS Sophomore #88 Xzavior Kautai (6’0 235/61.5 PFF Grade)
LT | Senior #77 Kaci Moreka (6’5 291/52.8 PFF Grade) --<Northern Colorado, Trinity Valley CC
LG | Junior #65 Gabe Blair (6’2 294/56.4 PFF Grade)
C | RS Senior #67 Ethan Mineer (6’2 296/60.5 PFF Grade) --<Arkansas State
RG | Junior #64 Jett Duncan (6’1 282/56.9 PFF Grade)
RT | RS Sophomore #54 Febechi Nwaiwu (6’4 316/61.1 PFF Grade)
*Defense
LDE | RS Sophomore #51 Fatafehi Vailea (6’1 282/61.4 PFF Grade)
NT | Junior #10 Roderick Brown (5’11 303/74.3 PFF Grade)
RDE | Senior #44 Mazin Richards (6’1 240/79.9 PFF Grade)
OLB | RS Freshman #32 Ethan Wesloski (6’1 229/63.0 PFF Grade)
MLB | Junior #19 Jordan Brown (6’1 228/72.6 PFF Grade)
OLB | Junior #36 Jaylen Smith (5’11 214/64.0 PFF Grade)
STAR | RS Freshman #11 Patrick Smith (5’9 184/63.1 PFF Grade)
CB | RS Senior #8 John Davis (6’0 187/71.5 PFF Grade) --<Texas Tech
FS | RS Junior #1 Logan Wilson (5’10 170/55.4 PFF Grade) --<Kansas State, ULM
SS | RS Junior #0 Phil Hill (6’0 198/67.7 PFF Grade) --<UNLV
CB | Senior #5 Ridge Texada (5’8 181/59.0 PFF Grade) --<McNeese State
*Special Teams
K | Senior #99 Noah Rauschenberg (6’0 198/74.5 PFF Grade) --<Baylor
P | Freshman #29 Adam Jacklin (5’11 195/55.4 PFF Grade)
KR | Senior #1 Kaylon Horton (5’9 173/64.0 PFF Grade) --<Tarleton State
PR | RS Senior #2 Roderick Burns (5’9 190/62.9 PFF Grade)
Bulldogs Projected Starters
*Offense
QB | RS Senior #19 Hank Bachmeier (6’1 221/73.0 PFF Grade)
RB | RS Junior #4 Tyre Shelton (5’11 190/74.6 PFF Grade)
RB | RS Junior #21 Keith Willis Jr. (5’11 206/71.7 PFF Grade)
WR | RS Junior #16 Tru Edwards (6’3 200/44.1 PFF Grade)
WR | RS Senior #6 Smoke Harris (5’7 183/69.4 PFF Grade)
WR | Sophomore #1 Cyrus Allen (6’0 177/67.9 PFF Grade)
TE | RS Senior #34 Ryan Rivera (6’3 234/59.3 PFF Grade)
LT | Junior #68 Dakota White (6’4 305/53.0 PFF Grade)
LG | Junior #79 Bert Hale (6’5 331/60.9 PFF Grade)
C | Graduate Student #62 Abe Delphin (6’1 310/49.1 PFF Grade)
RG | RS Senior #76 Biron Rossell (6’5 310/48.1 PFF Grade)
RT | RS Sophomore #65 Carson Bruno (6’4 312/58.8 PFF Grade)
*Defense
LDE | Sophomore #18 Ezekiel Durham-Campbell (6’6 245/84.7 PFF Grade)
DT | Senior #93 Rason Williams II (6’4 280/53.1 PFF Grade)
DT | Senior #5 Deshon Hall Jr. (6’3 264/73.3 PFF Grade)
RDE | RS Junior #88 Mykol Clark (6’4 260/69.4 PFF Grade)
MLB | RS Senior #6 Brevin Randle (6’0 232/49.8 PFF Grade)
MLB | RS Senior #3 Jeslord Boateng (6’2 228/72.6 PFF Grade)
NK | Freshman #13 Michael Richard (5’11 180/79.6 PFF Grade)
CB | Senior #1 Willie Roberts (5’11 190/81.1 PFF Grade)
FS | RS Senior #2 Cecil Singleton Jr. (6’2 210/62.9 PFF Grade)
SS | RS Senior #0 Myles Heard (5’11 201/59.0 PFF Grade)
CB | RS Junior #11 Cedric Woods (5’11 184/72.6 PFF Grade)
*Special Teams
K | RS Junior #35 Jacob Barnes (5’9 183/70.2 PFF Grade)
P | RS Senior #31 Blake Ochsendorf (6’6 220/65.4 PFF Grade)
KR | RS Senior #6 Smoke Harris (5’7 183/58.3 PFF Grade)
PR | RS Senior #6 Smoke Harris (5’7 183/66.5 PFF Grade)
Scouting the Mean Green
This was expected to be a transitional year for North Texas, transitioning to a new coach, a new quarterback, and a new conference. Seth Littrell was fired in the offseason after seven seasons as the North Texas head coach, and Eric Morris, former Incarnate Word head coach and Washington State offensive coordinator was brought in to implement a high-flying passing attack in Denton. Philosophically, Morris prefers four-wide receiver sets and mostly utilizes the tight end as a blocker in passing and running situations. As stark contrast to last season, the most effective rushers on the team have mostly been quarterbacks Stone Earle and Chandler Rogers. By far the biggest threat offensively is Ja’Mori Maclin, cousin of former NFL star Jeremy Maclin, with 7 receptions for 183 yards and 3 touchdowns through two games.
Of the two quarterbacks, Rogers should be expected to have a greater role this game after significantly outplaying Earle in the game versus FIU. Earle has simply been way too inefficient, turnover prone and negative play prone, having completed just 56.4% of his passes, throwing 4 interceptions and being sacked 5 times, compared to Rogers completing 63.6% of his passes, throwing just 1 interception and not being sacked this season. Something to watch for in this game is how North Texas comes out in the 3rd quarter. In their first two games this season, the Mean Green were outscored 36-7 in the 3rd quarter, leading to two losses.
Severely holding this team back, the North Texas defense has been flat out atrocious so far this year. After allowing Cal to score 58 points and put up 681 yards in Denton, the Mean Green went on the road and allowed an FIU team who had scored 17 and 14 points in their first two games to explode for a 46-point night. The most severe weakness of the defense has been tackling; an issue that usually does not resolve itself overnight. Being the most disruptive of the unit, DE Mazin Richards and LB Jordan Brown lead the team with 8 hurries. North Texas has only totaled 1 sack in two games, and it was by LB Ethan Wesloski, not by a core pash rusher. In coverage, Jordan Brown leads the team with a 77.0 coverage grade on PFF, and also leads the team with an 83.6 tackling grade.
Scouting the Bulldogs
Recovering from the loss at SMU, the Bulldogs responded well with a 51-21 victory over Northwestern State last Saturday. Surprisingly, it was the rushing attack for Tech that ruled the day, totaling 367 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns. The ground game was led by freshman Keith Willis with 118 yards and 2 touchdowns and Miami (OH) transfer Tyre Shelton with 62 yards and 1 touchdown on just 5 carries. With Crosby still out, Shelton should be expected to get an increased workload this week, providing the most explosiveness in the backfield. A red flag for an “Air Raid” team, the passing attack for the Bulldogs has been wildly inconsistent. The two leading factors for the struggles have been poor pass protection as well as a shockingly high number of skill positions players being injured this early in the season. Entering this game, Cyrus Allen is banged up, Tru Edwards is still recovering from his injury but expected to play, Kyle Maxwell is out after coming up with a great catch last week, and Koby Duru is out after leading the receivers in touchdowns this year.
With all of the injuries at receiver, look for younger players at that position to be given opportunities to play a key role like Decoldest Crawford, Julien Lewis, and Dedrick Latulas. Ryan Rivera made his first start at tight end last game, still sharing snaps with Nate Jones. If neither tight end is able to be more effective in the vertical passing game, Cumbie might start utilizing more 4-wide receiver sets to add more speed. The offensive line is still looking to find its footing in 2023, and something to watch out for is how much Landon Nelson plays at center this week. Nelson played 26 snaps a week ago in comparison to 32 for Delphin and earned a 77.7 pass blocking grade on PFF. Bruno excelled as a pass blocker against NSU with an 81.8 pass blocking PFF grade, but White struggled on the left side with just a 55.5 pass blocking grade. For this offense to truly take off the way it was expected to, the offensive line needs more consistency and discipline on a week-to-week basis.
To address the gigantic elephant in the room, the Bulldogs’ defense allowed 475 rushing yards, 10.1 yards per rush, and 4 rushing touchdowns in an embarrassing 47-27 loss to North Texas last season. The good news: many of the linebackers and safeties from last season’s team have moved on and the defense looks much better so far this year. Jeslord Boateng has been an excellent addition to the linebacker unit, adding physicality and solid tackling to the position. Willie Roberts might be the best cornerback in the conference, and opposing quarterbacks are starting to learn not to throw in his direction. Freshman Michael Richard has stepped up in a huge way at the nickel position and finished with a team-high 3 pass breakups last week. J’Dan Burnett has been an instrumental part of the defense’s success, but will be out this week and replaced by Ezekiel Durham-Campbell. The Lenoir-Rhyne transfer has seen limited time as a rotational player this season, but has made an impact, totaling 3 hurries, 3 QB hits, and 4 tackles for loss. The area that needs the most improvement is likely at the defensive tackle position opposite Deshon Hall. Williams and Nason have split reps at the position, but neither one has been able to establish themselves as a solid disrupter of the defensive line. One of the keys to stopping the North Texas offense is Durham-Campbell and Clark containing on the edge to prevent the quarterbacks from scrambling.
Special Teams Duel
After a rough first game, kicker Jonathan Barnes made all of his field goals and extra points, coming to 6 of 8 on field goals and 9 of 9 on extra points. Tech punter Blake Ochsendorf had his worst game against NSU but has still had a good season up to this point, punting 13 times with an average of 40.5 yards per punt with a long of 57 yards. For North Texas, kicker Noah Rauschenberg has made all of his kicks, going 6 for 6 on extra points, 2 for 2 on field goals, and having a long of 49 yards. The Mean Green have been heavily struggling in the punting department, with Adam Jacklin punting 7 times for an average of just 37.9 yards per punt with a long of 43 yards. Neither team has been particularly electric in the return game, with North Texas averaging 20.2 yards per kickoff return and 0.0 yards per punt return, and Louisiana Tech averaging 14.2 yards per kickoff return and 3.9 yards per punt return.
Matchups to Watch
1) Willie Roberts vs Ja’Mori Maclin
2) Oscar Adaway III vs Jeslord Boateng
3) Deshon Hall Jr. vs Gabe Blair
4) Cyrus Allen vs John Davis
5) Tyre Shelton vs Jordan Brown
Prediction
The magnitude of this game for Louisiana Tech this season, and as a program moving forward cannot be overstated enough. A win would give the Bulldogs their first 3-1 start since 2019, the Bulldogs’ only 10-win season as an FBS team in program history. Beating North Texas after being thrashed by the Mean Green a year earlier would be a signature win for Coach Cumbie early in his tenure at Louisiana Tech. To limit North Texas’ offensive firepower, the Bulldogs’ defense has to contain Rogers and Earle all night long. Tech’s defensive backs have favorable matchups against the opposing wide outs and the defensive line should wreak havoc on a mediocre pass protecting group. This is the game that the Bulldogs need to establish their passing attack, and if that means running more tempo, then that is what has to happen on Saturday. Smoke Harris has had a quiet last two games, but I would be stunned if that streak reached 3. I think that this game has the potential to be very high scoring, but I believe the Bulldogs will pull away in the second half.
Final Score: Bulldogs 44. Mean Green 34.
ESPN FPI
Louisiana Tech #111
North Texas #127
University Comparison
Louisiana Tech | Location: Ruston, Louisiana | Conference: CUSA | Enrollment:11,037
North Texas | Location: Denton, Texas | Conference: AAC | Enrollment:44,532
Stadium History
Joe Aillet Stadium
Opened in 1968
Capacity of 28,562
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