Louisiana Tech dropped its first road contest of the season at SMU 38-14 on Saturday afternoon.

What's next? Let's take a look.

Three Things We Learned

1 -- Road losing streak reaches 15

The Bulldogs have not won on the road since a 42-31 win at North Texas on December 3, 2020.

That's 15 straight road losses by an average of 17.8 points per game.

At some point this streak has to come to an end, right?

2 -- Slow start for a 2nd straight game

Louisiana Tech fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter for a second week in a row.

In this case, SMU eventually stretched out the lead to 31-0, and the Bulldogs were unable to score a point in the first half.

Is it a trend to be worried about? I'm not ready to say that just yet, but it's definitely something to keep an eye heading into the game against Northwestern State this weekend.

Playing from behind is never a recipe for success.

3 -- Scott Power's defense is MASSIVELY IMPROVED

After allowing only 17 points and 182 total yards many were interested in seeing how the Tech defense would perform against a more formidable opponent in SMU.

The results: 38 points and 457 total yards allowed.

However, I'm not sure those numbers necessarily do a great job at painting the correct picture.

Hank Bachmeier threw one interception that was returned for a touchdown. That's 7 points that aren't on the defense.

With 8:24 remaining in the 2nd quarter the defense stood tall and forced an SMU punt from its own 10. However, 12-men on the field would give the Mustangs a first down that would eventually lead to another 7 points.

With 30 seconds remaining in the first half, SMU was backed up at its own 8 yard line. LJ Johnson took one up the middle for a 67-yard gain that would eventually lead to a touchdown pass with 2 seconds remaining in the half. A little flukey? Possibly.

My point is that the 38 points allowed certainly comes with a number of caveats. Power's unit allowed only 7 points in the second half and showed a fight in it that we haven't seen from a Tech defense since 2019.

The unit will only get better.

Two Questions Going Forward

1 -- Was the offensive line performance an anomaly?

Tech's offensive line was only able to pave the way for 28 rushing yards on 24 carries and allowed 6 sacks on Saturday afternoon.

On top of that, the Mustangs had 11 TFL and Bachmeier was pressured on 41% of his drop backs.

A lot of folks are concerned about the play of the unit, and I get it.

Maybe it's a wake up call, maybe its not an accurate representation of the unit, or maybe the unit just flat out played bad for 60 minutes and will leave it in the past. We'll find out.

I will remind you that Tech rushed for 150+ yards per game in the last 6 games of 2022 and return 80% of the group.

2 -- What is the identity of the Tech offense?

Tech has played the first two games of the season without its top two running backs in Marquis Crosby and Tyre Shelton.

Tech played 97% of the snaps on Saturday without its two starting outside receivers in Tru Edwards and Cyrus Allen.

It's never easy at the G5 level to play without your top playmakers. No one will deny that.

However, Hank Bachmeier has proven that he's legit at the quarterback position. He's also willing to stand in the pocket and take a shot for the good of the team.

What will the offense look like going forward? Let's let Hank COOKKKK.

One Prediction for This Week

Bachmeier's fireworks lead Bulldogs to 4-TD win over Northwestern State.

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