This has been a depressing couple of weeks for Tech athletics, so let’s go back to a more uplifting time. Let's jump back to just over one year ago today - when the Bulldogs defeated UAB in double OT.

What people probably remember the most from that game was the second play of the second overtime period. Blazer RB Spencer Brown fumbled the ball at the goal line and Tech recovered, giving Jacob Barnes a chance to win the game with a field goal.

Sadly, Barnes missed the field goal wide right and it looked like we were headed to a third overtime. But Barnes hits on the ground and a flag soon follows - UAB had roughed the kicker.

Four plays later, Barnes hits the redemption shot to win the game for the Bulldogs.

At the time, that penalty felt like pure luck. The kind of good fortune that (especially now) it feels like Tech never gets. To clarify, it was absolutely the right call (just like the “Call Stands” on that UAB fumble that preceded it). But it wasn’t just luck that drove TD Marshall into Barnes’s plant leg. The Blazers had struggled with penalties all year.

And 2021 has been no different:

These struggles are not a new thing for UAB. It’s been a problem for the Blazers that’s been getting progressively worse since returning to football in 2017:

But the bad news doesn’t stop there for UAB. It's not just that the team is often penalized. The penalties that the Blazers get called for are often more of the 15-yard variety than the 5-yard kind:

With everything that's gone wrong this season for Louisiana Tech, the Bulldogs will need to take any advantage they can get. Penalties by themselves won't hand a victory over to Tech. But if the Bulldogs can take advantage of the flags that will surely be thrown, Tech may upset UAB for a second straight year.

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Nathan is also a contributor to gtpdd.dog, a lighthearted Louisiana Tech blog. Be sure to check out @gotechplsdntdie on Twitter.