La Tech falls to Texas Tech 59-45

The Bulldogs debuted their new all red uniforms for the first time on the road as Texas Tech held a white out. But the Red/White Raider offense was as advertised. Patrick Mahomes lit up the field and the Bulldog defense had a hard time stopping him.

Louisiana Tech started slow, and at one point Texas Tech led 35-10. The Bulldogs got some momentum going as the game progressed. Scores right before halftime and on the first drive on the 2nd half cut down the Texas Tech lead but the slow start was too much to overcome. Some bad tackling kept the upset out of reach.

Despite a sloppy start last week, Ryan Higgins played much better and kept it clean. Higgins threw 20/32 for 311 yards and 3 TD’s with no interceptions. He also ran 8 times for 57 yards. By comparison, Patrick Mahomes threw 26/36 for 470 yards and 5 TDs with no interceptions. He also ran 12 times for 37 yards and 1 TD.

Despite the loss, La Tech showed many flashes of potential going forward. Trent Taylor made a fantastic play: a reception followed by an impressive run that broke at least two defenders’ ankles and went for a 76 yard TD. Kam McKnight ran for a TD out of the wildcat. Carlos Henderson burned a defender on a 54 yard TD catch. Putting up 45 points on the road is impressive, but against Texas Tech, it just wasn’t enough.

Like I expected, La Tech had the better rushing game. 261 yards to TTU’s 196. But a strong passing game led to Texas Tech putting up a scary 666 yards (no, seriously). La Tech managed a still impressive 572 yards.

The killer was 3rd down. Texas Tech converted 8/10. La Tech? 4/10. La Tech also went 1/2 on 4th down. Texas Tech’s defense bent, but didn’t break at critical moments. A pair of onside kicks went straight to Texas Tech. Recovering those could have been major.

The game got chippy a few times, with a Bulldog being ejected late in the game. Xavier Woods was lucky to not get ejected after disputing a referee’s call.

As tough as this loss was, the Bulldogs showed a level of fight in this game that suggests La Tech will continue to be a rough opponent in conference play.

Speaking of which, La Tech (1-2) travels to Middle Tennessee (2-1) next week to begin conference play in what could be the game of the week for C-USA.