Louisiana Tech put its 3-game losing streak to bed in dominant fashion 48-21 over Middle Tennessee on Thursday night.
It was the most complete game of the year on both sides of the ball for the Bulldogs and improved their overall record to 2-3 in 2024.
Let's take a look at some of our takeaways.
Three Things We Learned
1 — Nathan Young's play calling was FIRE
Sonny Cumbie handed the keys to the offense to Nathan Young last week, and Young was "in his bag" on Thursday night, as the kids like to say.
In Young's first game as the play caller on offense the Bulldogs scored 48 points and had 551 yards of total offense.
To take matters further, Tech was an astounding 12/16 (75%) on third down.
The Louisiana Tech faithful were ENTERTAINED by the Tech offense inside Joe Aillet Stadium on Thursday night.
2 — Evan Bullock....THE FUTURE??
Evan Bullock made his second career start on Thursday night and was nearly flawless at the quarterback position.
The redshirt freshman finished 18/25 (70%) for 290 yards and 6 total touchdowns.
Bullock's accuracy was tremendous throughout the evening while distributing the football to nine different receivers.
For the first time in a while it feels like Tech just might have THE GUY at the quarterback position going forward.
3 — Tech's run defense continues to stand out
Jeremiah Johnson's defense has received high praise throughout the season, but I want to highlight the run defense in particular.
After allowing only 60 yards to the Blue Raiders on Thursday night, Tech is allowing only 93 yards rushing per game in 2024.
That ranks 17th nationally.
The unit as a whole is averaging nearly seven TFL's per game.
Tech's front seven is playing at an extremely high level.
Two Questions Going Forward
1 — Can the Bulldogs create REAL momentum at New Mexico State on Tuesday?
Louisiana Tech hasn't won two games in a row at any point during Sonny Cumbie's first 29 games as the head coach.
The Bulldogs have a great opportunity to have their first "win streak" since December of 2020. Been a while.
On the opposite sideline? A New Mexico State team that appears to be dreadful in most statistical categories.
The one catch? The Aggies are only being outscored by 3 PPG at home versus 36 PPG on the road. Entirely different team when playing in Las Cruces.
It won't be easy.
2 — Have the run game issues been figured out?
Tech ran the ball for 222 yards on 45 carries against Middle Tennessee on Thursday night.
Eleven different Bulldogs carried the football.
Omiri Wiggins, Marquis Crosby, Fred Robertson, and Amani Givens combined for 145 yards on 24 carries from the running back position.
None of the four tailbacks carried the ball more than eight times, and it worked to perfection.
With a starting five of Daniel Keys, Bert Hale, Landon Nelson, Ja'Marion Kennedy, and Hayden Christman on the offensive line and a running back room that is seemingly go to attack opponents by committee, perhaps the run game issues have been solved?
One Prediction for Next Week
Big Game Bullock tosses two ouchdowns through the air against the Aggies.
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