Louisiana Tech Football

It has been quite a while since Louisiana Tech fans received good news. But on Friday afternoon, things changed for the better.

According to a report by Brett McMurphy of ESPN.com, Louisiana Tech has hired former South Florida head coach Skip Holtz to be the Bulldogs' new head man.

The hire comes just a couple of weeks after a slew of events devastated the faithful in Ruston. First, the team was denied a berth in any postseason bowl game after finishing the season 9-3. Then, head coach Sonny Dykes left for greener pastures by agreeing to take the vacant head coaching spot at California.

It appeared that the 2010 WAC Champions would be facing an uphill climb to make it back to relevance in the coming years.

The hiring of Holtz should give those fans new hope. Despite struggling at South Florida, Holtz has had a pretty decent track record as head coach of smaller schools.

At his first head coaching stop in Connecticut, Holtz compiled a 34-23 record while guiding the Huskies to the 1998 1-AA quarterfinals. After that season, Holtz accepted his first head coaching position in the FBS ranks at East Carolina.

It was as head coach of the Pirates that Holtz experienced the most success.

In his five seasons in Greenville, Holtz led East Carolina to four bowl games and finished worse than second in the Conference USA East Division only once. He compiled a 38-27 overall record while leading his teams to a 28-12 conference record.

This is good news for Louisiana Tech, which makes the move from the dissolving WAC conference to Conference USA starting next season.

In addition to a strong showing in Conference USA, Holtz’s East Carolina teams were known for causing problems for many power-conferences foes. In 2008 alone, the Pirates knocked off No. 17 Virginia Tech and No. 8 West Virginia en route to a Conference USA Championship Game berth.

Due to his success with East Carolina, Holtz was one of the hottest coaching commodities in the country following the 2009 season. In January of 2010, Holtz accepted the South Florida job.

In Tampa, success was much harder to come by. During his three-year tenure, the Bulls would only play in one bowl game, despite being a favorite to win the conference in both 2011 and 2012. After compiling a 16-21 overall record and an ugly 5-16 Big East record, Holtz was let go.

Holtz’s struggles at South Florida should not make fans in Ruston overly skeptical of the hire. While he struggled in a major conference, Holtz has shown the ability to get the most out of his players at smaller schools.

One of the most pressing issues for Holtz right out of the gate will be attracting a batch of young players that will help the Bulldogs compete in the future.

Louisiana Tech loses 31 seniors from the 2012 team, including Sammy Baugh Award winner Colby Cameron, Ray Guy Award winner Ryan Allen and wide receiver Quinton Patton.

However, Holtz does inherit some talent from Sonny Dykes. Freshman running back Kenneth Dixon led the nation with 27 touchdowns this season, and will likely be the focal point of the offense next year. Holtz’s 2007 ECU squad was helped tremendously by a star running back, current Tennessee Titans rusher Chris Johnson.

In the end, Louisiana Tech has to be fairly pleased with the hire considering what has transpired over the past two weeks. Frankly, the school could have gotten a lot worse.

Skip Holtz’s success in Conference USA in the past signals he knows how to win at this level, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he has the Bulldogs competing for conference titles in a couple of years.

Louisiana Tech punter Ryan Allen wasn't satisfied with winning the 2011 Ray Guy Award as the nation's best punter. 

He had to win another, and he did. Allen was awarded the 2012 Ray Guy Award on Thursday, beating out Florida's Kyle Christy and Ball State's Scott Kovanda to take home the honor.

CBS Sports' Eye on College Football reported the news on Dec. 6 (via Twitter):

The Ray Guy Award for Best Punter goes to Louisiana Tech's Ryan Allen.

— Eye on College FBall (@EyeOnCFB) December 7, 2012

According to Louisiana Tech's website, Allen set the record for average yards per punt in a season entering this year at 46.1 yards per try. He was able to break that mark this year.

Thumping the ball 48 yards per try is impressive. His past reputation probably helped him earn this year's award, but that doesn't take away from what he did this time around. As impressive as last year's record was, breaking it is even more noteworthy.

Out of 45 punts this year, only six were sent into the end zone as touchbacks. Combining accuracy and hang time isn't easy, but he's perfected the art.

Allen averaged over 50 yards per punt four times this season, peaking against Texas San-Antonio with an average of 62 yards.

Christy and Kovanda were both quality candidates as well. Christy averaged 46.1 yards per try, while Kovanda slammed the ball 40.2 yards per attempt. Both players played an important role for their teams but couldn't quite bring home the hardware.

Winning any award twice isn't easy. Punters don't always receive national attention, but Allen has proved himself as the nation's best for two consecutive seasons.

Adding this trophy only solidifies that fact.

A lot of the blame has been placed on Louisiana Tech athletic director Bruce Van De Velde for the Bulldogs not being selected to play in any bowl game this postseason. But Van De Velde can be considered a victim of the system just as much as everyone else associated with Louisiana Tech football.

Depending on whom you believe, Van De Velde was actually looking out for his team, making sure that the school did not accept a bid prematurely and then find out later that it could have played in a more prestigious bowl.

According to an Independence Bowl official, Louisiana Tech was extended an invitation to the game in Shreveport on Saturday afternoon but turned down the offer (via ESPN). Van De Velde insists that the school asked for more time to decide but was not granted that luxury.

In the end, the Independence Bowl took Ohio University from the Mid-American Conference. When Northern Illinois received an automatic bid to the Orange Bowl, it set off a chain of events that culminated with the Bulldogs being left out.

A 9-3 team with the nation’s top offense and the Sammy Baugh Trophy winner at quarterback is left out of all 35 bowl games. Seventy teams, a handful of which have .500 records or worse, were chosen over Louisiana Tech.

Many of the Louisiana Tech faithful are directing their displeasure towards Van De Velde, including more prominent alumni such as NBA legend Karl Malone. "I am heartbroken and embarrassed that our university would do this to Tech Nation. To our football and staff this is exactly what is wrong with our university,” wrote Malone (via Los Angeles Times).

While the feelings are without a doubt understandable, Malone and other members of “Tech Nation” shouldn’t be directing their animosity toward Van De Velde entirely.

In the heat of the moment, it may be difficult to recognize Van De Velde’s intentions. The athletic director understood that he was negotiating on behalf of a very good football team. A team that took the currently ninth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies to the brink. A team whose three losses this season were to teams ranked in the current BCS standings.

Who would have guessed that not one bowl besides the Independence Bowl would want the Bulldogs to play in its game?

Instead of vilifying Van De Velde, Louisiana Tech fans should be angry at the current system in place.

Bowl games are about money more than anything else. Sure, on the surface, one can make arguments about how it’s a reward for teams that have had a good season and extra practice time for underclassmen. But in the end, it’s all about the bottom line.

That’s why bowls like the Liberty Bowl and Armed Forces Bowl took 6-6 squads instead of a team with one of the most potent offenses in the nation. The Sun Bowl went one step further, extending a bid to Georgia Tech, which finished the regular season with a losing record at 6-7 after losing to Florida State in the ACC Championship Game this past Saturday.

Who are these bowls actually rewarding? Players like Colby Cameron, a senior who, while winning one of the more prestigious individual awards in college football, may never play another down of organized football? Or conferences like the ACC and SEC, who both sent teams with .500 records to bowl games.

Schools such as Georgia Tech and Mississippi have bigger fanbases. Bowls expect that they will travel better than smaller schools.

Though it seems pretty hypocritical that the Independence Bowl would turn around and take Ohio after Louisiana Tech was indecisive.

Ohio University, located in Athens, Ohio, is some 15 hours away from Shreveport, La. Are Bobcats fans really going to make the long trek to Shreveport to cheer on a team that lost its last four regular-season games?

Louisiana Tech isn’t the only example of a snub, either. Middle Tennessee State, the Sun Belt Conference’s second-place team, was passed over by bowls as well. Particularly interesting is the fact that Western Kentucky, whom the Blue Raiders finished ahead of in the Sun Belt and beat this season, was chosen to play in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl on December 26.

In the end, the unfairness of the bowl system was again highlighted by a preference toward the power conferences which bring in more money for the bowls.

Offensive coordinator Tony Franklin was blunt when speaking about the issue. "The best answer is we'll be in Conference USA and it won't happen anymore. The WAC was a dying conference. Had no power, no stroke, no anything. Here in the end it's shown they have nothing. They're dead. Next year, we win nine games and you don't have this problem,” said Franklin (via Yahoo!).

Try using that line to console the 31 seniors who will not be playing in a bowl game this season.

Athletic directors and their ilk have a tendency to put a spin on things. We know this from experience.

But on BCS Selection Sunday, Louisiana Tech associate media relations director Patrick Walsh ignited a firestorm on Twitter when he tweeted that Louisiana Tech was not going to a bowl game because it had "not been selected."

Louisiana Tech has not been selected for a postseason bowl game. Nation's No. 1 offense ends year at 9-3. #WeAreLATech

— Patrick Walsh (@LATechPWalsh) December 2, 2012

At first, the sympathies came pouring in.

How could the 9-3 Bulldogs get snubbed like this? Walsh's Twitter account then got hammered when the truth came out: Louisiana Tech did receive a bowl berth from the Independence Bowl but decided it wanted to wait on other options. 

According to CBS Sports columnist Bruce Feldman, athletic director Bruce Van De Velde gambled and lost. Said Van De Velde:

We asked the Independence Bowl to let the games play out because we were told by the Heart of Dallas Bowl and the Liberty Bowls that they were very interested in us. They (the Independence Bowl reps) called us on Saturday and put a deadline on us. We thought there would be a spot open for us in one of those other bowls. We asked them to wait so we could vet out these other options, but they wouldn't.

That's kind of like being asked to the prom by the trombone player and telling him, "Hey, nothing personal but can I put you on hold in case the captain of the football team asks me out?"

The Independence Bowl already had Louisiana-Monroe as one of its participants, and there is reportedly bad blood between Monroe and Tech. ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy seems to indicate that Louisiana Tech is trying to spin its way out of the giant dumpster fire it created, but the Independence Bowl is sticking to its guns. 

Independence Bowl official told me "Louisiana Tech offered bid Saturday to play Louisiana Monroe. They turned it down"

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) December 3, 2012

Van De Velde took a huge risk and lost, but in the process he prevented his school from a nice payout and a great sendoff for his football team's seniors. Make no mistake, the football team was excited for the postseason.  

Head coach Sonny Dykes tweeted his excitement.

We are very excited about our bowl game possibilities. Looking forward to finishing the season with a win. Go Bulldogs!

— Sonny Dykes (@SonnyDykes) December 2, 2012

After Tech was shut out from a bowl game, Dykes tweeted this:

I'm heartbroken for our 31 seniors that have given so much for Louisiana Tech. They deserve to finish their careers in a bowl game.

— Sonny Dykes (@SonnyDykes) December 3, 2012

The school's Facebook page hit DEFCON 1, the outrage escalated and the niceties were dismissed.  

Long snapper Josh Cuthbert expressed his frustration on Twitter.

Love all my boys who are seniors especially! No bowl game 9-3 not too happy right now... @r_allen86 @mnels33 @cspence89

— Josh Cuthbert (@Jdb51me) December 3, 2012

Previously, Cuthbert had tweeted something more damning, but it was deleted minutes after Mark Schlabach retweeted it.  

La. Tech deep snapper @jdb51me Oh yeah and way to go athletic director #yousuck

— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) December 3, 2012

Former basketball player Karl Malone chimed in as well.

I am Bulldog to the core, I am heart broken and embarrassed that our university would do this to Tech Nation. To our football and staff this

— Karl Malone (@TheDeliverer_32) December 3, 2012

is exactly what is wrong with our university. Now it's time to get former athletes to run our program. I'm 6"9 and not hard to find.

— Karl Malone (@TheDeliverer_32) December 3, 2012

Yahoo! reporter Eric Adelson reportedly talked to Tech offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, and his players' reactions were predictable.

LaTech OC Tony Franklin says players are "devastated" about not going to a bowl. "Every emotion you can have, from to sad to angry."

— Eric Adelson (@eric_adelson) December 3, 2012

There's no explanation for a school's greed when players put their unpaid bodies on the line. When a school's athletic director gambles with the small reward these players get at the end of the season: A paid vacation with plenty of swag. 

Last year, the Independence Bowl participants, according to the Sports Business Daily, received these gifts: "Gift suite, Timely Watch Co. watch, New Era cap and a commemorative football." A gift suite is basically a private shopping experience with a vendor (such as Best Buy or Nike) that allows the player to select merchandise that doesn't exceed a preset limit. 

No vacation, no bowl-week experience—where the team is treated like royalty—and no swag.

Most of these seniors will never play another down of organized football. Don't kid yourselves, that Independence Bowl watch means a lot to these players.

What a lousy way to end a 9-3 season. A team that had the nation's No. 1 scoring offense was let down by a bunch of grown-ups who acted like spoiled, rotten brats. 

Louisiana Tech fans would probably like to forget the last two Saturdays. Since November 16th, the Bulldogs have gone from BCS hopeful to WAC afterthought.

What’s worse is that the two teams that Sonny Dykes’s squad lost to since that time are now ranked in the BCS standings, and fellow non-AQ school Kent State is almost assured a BCS bowl bid if it can win the MAC Championship Game on Friday night, and if Stanford beats UCLA in the Pac-12 title game.

There is no time to dwell on lost opportunities, though. The Bulldogs will still be playing somewhere during the holiday season.

The question is where will they play?

Thanks to two straight losses against Utah State and San Jose State, Louisiana Tech fell to third place in the WAC standings. In addition to losing out on the final opportunity for WAC football hardware, the Bulldogs are now the last choice of many bowls with a WAC tie-in.

Those bowls include the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, New Mexico Bowl and Hawaii Bowl.

Since Utah State accepted a bid to play in Boise in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl on December 15th, it is clear that Louisiana Tech will not be heading to the blue turf this December.

The New Mexico Bowl has also already accepted Nevada to play in its game on December 15th. While the bowl technically has a tie-in with the WAC, it would only choose a team from the conference if the Pac-12’s 7th place finisher was not bowl-eligible. The Pac-12 has eight bowl-eligible teams, so it seems unlikely that the Bulldogs would receive an invitation to play in Albuquerque.

That leaves Louisiana Tech with two possibilities, one of which is fairly open-ended. The Bulldogs could receive an invitation to the Hawaii Bowl to play on Christmas Eve, or could fill a bowl slot left void by a conference without enough bowl-eligible teams.

The one stipulation with the Hawaii Bowl is that a Mountain West team would normally be invited unless an agreement is made, due to the fact that Hawaii now plays in the Mountain West Conference instead of the WAC.  

However, the Hawaii Bowl seems like a good fit for Sonny Dykes’s team. Normally, a WAC member takes on a team from Conference USA in what has historically been a very high scoring bowl game.

In fact, since officially becoming known as the Hawaii Bowl in 2002, the winning team has failed to score 36 points just once (Nevada won 24-17 over Southern Mississippi last year).

A high scoring affair would be right up Louisiana Tech’s alley, and perhaps the only way the Bulldogs could return to Ruston with a trophy. The team leads the nation in scoring average with 51.5 points per game, and also racks up the most yards averaging 577.9 per game.

There is also the possibility that Louisiana Tech could fill the void created by a conference without enough bowl-eligible teams. In this case, geographic factors come into play.

The SEC, who is allotted 10 bowl slots, only has nine eligible teams for the postseason. The tenth slot would likely be invited to play in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana, less than 70 miles from Louisiana Tech’s campus in Ruston.

It would not be surprising if the bowl extends an invitation to the Bulldogs because of the perceived willingness for fans to make the short trip to Shreveport to see the team play.

While some of the more wealthy fans of the Bulldogs might like to see the team make the trip to Honolulu, it seems far more likely that the Independence Bowl will extend an offer to the WAC’s third-place finisher.

Location is important regarding ticket sales, and the Shreveport-Bossier area has the highest concentration of Louisiana Tech alumni in the country (via ktbs.com).

Shreveport may not be very far from Miami, but based on the magnitude of the bowl games being played at each site, the distance probably feels ten times further for a Louisiana Tech team that was in the driver’s seat for a BCS bowl bid two weeks ago.

Louisiana Tech may have lost some importance in the eyes of the national media after last weekend’s overtime loss to Utah State, but Sonny Dykes’ team cannot sit around and sulk about what was lost.

If the Bulldogs want a chance at a share of the WAC title, they are going to have to bounce back and beat a very talented San Jose State team on the road Saturday night.

The key for this team against the Spartans will be to start strong, something it was not able to do against the Aggies on Saturday.

In addition to digging a 17-3 deficit by halftime, the Bulldogs were never really able to get things going offensively until about midway through the third quarter. At one point, Utah State had built a 24-point lead.

Both of Louisiana Tech’s losses this season have been characterized by slow starts. Another slow start against San Jose State could spell trouble for the Bulldogs, especially considering how the Spartans have played recently.

Since losing to Utah State on Oct. 13, San Jose State has reeled off five straight victories, scoring at least 31 points in four of those games.

After Utah State, the Spartans have the best defense in the WAC. However, like the Aggies, San Jose State’s offense has been largely underrated all season.

Spartans quarterback David Fales is second to Colby Cameron in passing yards and is tied with the Louisiana Tech senior for the WAC lead with 28 passing touchdowns. Fales is also the conference’s most accurate quarterback among starters, completing 72.5 percent of his passes.

Like Chuckie Keeton a week ago, Fales has the potential to cause significant problems for a Louisiana Tech defense that has had trouble with almost everyone this season. The Bulldogs allow an FBS-worst 518.5 yards on defense, including 338 yards through the air.

It will be imperative that Louisiana Tech apply pressure to Fales, who has been sacked 28 times this season.

Luckily, getting to the quarterback is one of the few things the Bulldogs do well on defense.

Louisiana Tech averages almost two sacks per contest, and has a very capable pass rusher in defensive lineman IK Enemkpali. The Bulldogs actually did manage to come up with a few key stops on defense against Utah State last week, but unfortunately the hole it dug early proved to be too deep.

So the key to the game again falls to a fast start.

The nation was beginning to learn quarterback Colby Cameron’s name, as the senior had yet to throw an interception entering  Saturday’s matchup. After throwing two interceptions in the loss, Cameron appeared to be yet another story of a pretty decent quarterback that simply hadn’t faced a good defense.

Cameron has the chance to prove the doubters wrong, though. His leadership and ability will be very important in determining the outcome of this game.

After a loss like last weekend, which ended Louisiana Tech’s hopes of going to a BCS bowl and cost the team the outright WAC title, it would not be entirely surprising if it came out flat against San Jose State.

Thus, players like Cameron will be instrumental in determining the overall focus of this team.

Judging from the Spartans’ game against Utah State, it is reasonable to assume that Louisiana Tech has the offensive power to overwhelm San Jose State if the defense merely makes a few stops. But the team will have had to move on from last weekend’s heartbreak in order to come out strong on Saturday.

While the majority of the nation was focusing on what was happening at the top of the BCS standings, fans of the little guy were still taking in what had occurred just a few hours earlier in Ruston, Louisiana.

Thanks to No. 20 Louisiana Tech’s 48-41 overtime loss to Utah State, there will be no BCS buster this season.

The Bulldogs, who came into Saturday with an outside chance of qualifying for an automatic BCS bowl berth, were labeled as a team with the potential to struggle before the game started.

As it turned out, Louisiana Tech struggled mightily before finally getting things together in the second half and making a furious comeback that eventually forced overtime.

After a two-yard touchdown run by Utah State running back Kerwynn Williams with less than two minutes left in the third quarter, the Bulldogs had dug themselves into a considerable hole and were down, 41-17. But then the offense came alive, and Louisiana Tech stormed back to score three unanswered touchdowns in a span of about one quarter.

A 32-yard field goal by Matt Nelson with 11 seconds remaining in the game capped off the comeback and sent the game into overtime tied at 41.

Down a score in overtime, the Bulldogs were faced with a 4th-and-3 call. When the cloud of dust settled after Ray Holley’s run, Louisiana Tech had come up two yards short.

Sometimes it’s a sickening thought to the losing squad that two yards can be the difference between a potential Orange Bowl berth and the Independence Bowl, especially when you’ve been averaging 581 yards per game this season.

Credit needs to be given to Utah State, though. The Aggies proved that their defensive numbers weren’t a joke for three quarters, and even when the Bulldogs mounted a comeback, the Aggies were able to dig deep and find a way to win.

Senior running back Kerwynn Williams will go down as the game’s hero, doing everything in his power to help Utah State to victory.

Williams accounted for 303 total yards, including 162 rushing and another 125 receiving.

Years from now, Aggies quarterback Chuckie Keeton may be able to refer back to this game as his coming-out party. The sophomore threw for an astounding 340 yards and added another 121 yards on the ground, while also avoiding committing any turnovers.

In the end, this game really came down to ball security.

Louisiana Tech quarterback Colby Cameron, who had been perfect heading into the game throwing 27 touchdowns and no interceptions, finally looked human against Utah State’s stingy defense.

The senior threw two interceptions on the day, one of which came while the Bulldogs were driving in the red zone.

Without the three turnovers by the home team, this game may have had a different end result.

Still, Utah State’s upset victory over the Bulldogs will serve as the proverbial nail in the coffin for the non-AQ conferences’ chances at getting a team to a BCS bowl.

Without Louisiana Tech, Kent State will almost surely be the only non-AQ conference team in the newest BCS rankings. Since the Golden Flashes are making an entry so late into the season, it is hard to imagine a situation where the school would move up into the Top 16, which would make them eligible for an automatic BCS bid, provided that they finish ahead of an AQ-conference champion.

While this is upsetting to some fans who like to see the underdog conferences get a chance in the BCS every year, it may be best thing for the reputation of those conferences.

Louisiana Tech wowed pundits a little over a month ago by matching Texas A&M’s offense all game en route to a close 59-57 loss. However, Utah State validated concerns that the Bulldogs’ defensive issues would eventually be too much to overcome.

In a BCS bowl, Louisiana Tech may have suffered a similar fate to the one Hawaii experienced when it went to the Sugar Bowl back in 2008.

In that game, Hawaii’s potent offense was overwhelmed by Georgia’s defense, and the Warriors were pummeled 41-10.

By ending the Bulldogs’ hopes now, Utah State may have saved the little guys a black eye.

Unfortunately for Sonny Dykes’s team, that isn’t the way they probably see it. Losing always hurts, but losing out for a chance to play on the big stage will haunt them forever.

Football in the Western Athletic Conference hasn’t been this interesting since the days of undefeated Boise State and Hawaii teams.

Louisiana Tech, with its number 20 ranking in the latest BCS standings, has a legitimate shot at a BCS bowl berth thanks to Louisville’s lopsided loss to Syracuse last weekend.

The Bulldogs, whose only loss this season came to the same Texas A&M team that defeated previously top-ranked Alabama last Saturday, have one of the most exciting offenses in the nation, averaging 53.4 points per game.

However, everything could turn sour for Sonny Dykes’ team and arguably the entire Western Athletic Conference in general thanks to a different Aggies squad.

The Utah State Aggies are relishing the chance to play spoiler.

The Aggies, who are 8-2 and tied atop the WAC standings with Louisiana Tech at 4-0, are actually a couple of bad breaks away from being ranked themselves. A missed field goal in the closing seconds against Wisconsin resulted in a heartbreaking two-point loss and a 6-3 defeat at the hands of in-state rival BYU three weeks later are the only blemishes on Utah State’s record.

Five points separate the Aggies from perfection.

On the bright side, Utah State brings to the table this weekend something that Louisiana Tech has not seen much of this season; a defense capable of shutting down its potent offense.

The Bulldogs have yet to face the WAC’s two best defenses this season (Utah State and San Jose State), but have had considerable trouble this season against less than stellar competition because of their own defensive struggles.

Louisiana Tech is ranked last in the WAC in yards allowed, averaging over 505 yards per game given up.

The advantage on defense, coupled with a formidable offense, makes Utah State an extremely dangerous team to face.

Sophomore quarterback Chuckie Keeton presents the most obvious danger to the Bulldogs’ BCS hopes.

The dual-threat quarterback has thrown for 23 touchdowns, while also rushing for over 400 yards and an additional four scores.

In the past Keeton has failed to come up with big plays when it matters most, but has clearly been playing his best football the past few games.

In addition to Keeton, running back Kerywnn Williams brings additional ground support to the offense. The senior has already eclipsed the 1,000 yard rushing mark for the season and should be well rested for this game.

If Louisiana Tech wants to avoid the upset, it will have to play a complete game, something that hasn’t truly happened yet this season.

The Bulldogs haven’t had to rely on the defense much at all this season thanks to the stellar play of the offense, particularly quarterback Colby Cameron. The senior has thrown for 27 touchdowns, while managing to avoid throwing any interceptions.

However, another college quarterback can serve as a cautionary tale.

Alabama’s A.J. McCarron had thrown for 18 touchdowns and no interceptions through his team’s first eight games of the season and was being pegged as a potential Heisman trophy candidate.

Since then, McCarron has thrown just two touchdowns to go along with two interceptions.

The two teams Alabama played during that two game span? LSU and Texas A&M, which featured the two best defenses McCarron had seen all season.

That isn’t to say that Cameron will be completely humbled by the Utah State defense. Louisiana Tech does have an advantage due to its up-tempo pace that few teams in the nation can keep up with.

Still, the Bulldogs cannot simply count on Cameron to be a machine and hide the defensive weaknesses.

This is the WAC’s marquee matchup of the season.  Weaknesses will be exploited.

It would be nice to see a non-AQ conference team make play in a BCS bowl this season.

The WAC would love to see it too, as the conference has been devastated by the loss of key programs in the past few years.

But Louisiana Tech cannot play like it did last weekend and expect to win on Saturday.

Otherwise, the underdog will take the Bulldogs out before they even have a chance to be underdogs themselves.

One by one, the teams without automatic bowl qualifiers who still have BCS bowl aspirations have fallen.

Last weekend, it was then-undefeated Ohio, who lost a heartbreaker to archrival Miami-Ohio 23-20. On Saturday night, Boise State joined the group, losing a 21-19 battle with San Diego State on the blue turf.

The Bobcats and Broncos were generally assumed to be the best bets for a team from a conference that does not automatically send a team to a BCS bowl to receive an at-large bid. With the aforementioned losses by those teams, there is virtually no way that they will not end up playing in a minor bowl game.

However, all is not lost for those fans who would like to see a bit of variation in the BCS bowl lineup every year. The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, ranked 19th in the most recent AP poll, still have an outside shot to sneak in.

Sonny Dykes’s team doesn’t necessarily control its own destiny, but an ounce of hope is really more than Bulldogs fans have had to hold onto in the past.

The Bowl Championship Series rules state that the highest-ranked champion of a non-automatic qualifying conference will receive an automatic berth if it is either ranked in the Top 12 of the BCS standings or ranked in the Top 16 and higher than at least one automatic-qualifying conference champion.

Currently, Nebraska is the Big Ten’s highest-ranked team at No. 18, which is the lowest ranking for a team that leads an automatic qualifying conference or division within a conference.

On the surface, it is simple. If the current leaders of the AQ conferences win out, Louisiana Tech would not meet the requirements and is an unlikely candidate to receive an at-large bid. However, with losses by either Nebraska or Louisville, who would plummet in the rankings if they lost a Big East game, things get more interesting.

A loss by Nebraska would nearly assure Louisiana Tech of finishing ahead of all Big Ten teams in the BCS rankings at the end of the regular season, assuming the Bulldogs win out. However, the Big Ten title game gives the conference an extra opportunity to pick up points and jump over the Bulldogs, who by then would be idle.

Louisville, on the other hand, isn’t as lucky.

If the Cardinals were to lose and fall below Louisiana Tech, they do not have a conference championship game to rely on for points. Obviously, the argument can be made that the Cardinals would not fall below a one-loss Louisiana Tech squad with a loss. Late-season losses can be especially, and sometimes unfairly, penalizing, though.

While Louisiana Tech qualifying for a BCS bowl is one thing, being competitive in the game would be another thing entirely.

With Ohio’s defensive secondary injuries and Boise State’s offensive struggles, the Bulldogs may actually have been the best mid-major program all along. However, Sonny Dykes’s squad still has its issues. The Bulldogs are reminiscent of the 2007 Hawaii Warriors team that ran the table in the WAC and played Georgia in the 2008 Sugar Bowl.

The Bulldogs possess an extremely potent offense, averaging 52.4 points per game, which ranks second in the nation behind Oregon. In 2007, Hawaii averaged 56.4 points per game and ranked second in the nation as well.

Louisiana Tech owes a lot of its success this season to senior quarterback Colby Cameron, who has thrown for over 2,900 yards and has yet to throw an interception. The 2007 Hawaii squad was led by quarterback Colt Brennan, a Heisman Trophy finalist who feasted on the weaker defenses in the Western Athletic Conference.

The defense is the issue, as it often is with good mid-major squads. While Louisiana Tech gives up just over 21 points per game, the defense thrives off of forcing turnovers. There are concerns as to whether the Bulldogs could be as aggressive defensively against a team from a power conference.

Perhaps Louisiana Tech’s game against Texas A&M three weeks ago offers positive reinforcement. In addition to giving the Aggies considerable trouble before falling 59-57, the Bulldogs forced two turnovers while giving up none.

Louisiana Tech isn’t dead in the water by any means, but it definitely needs help.

Most fans and teams hope for chaos to occur at the top of the BCS standings. Fans of the Bulldogs, and underdogs in general, will be crossing their fingers for chaos in the middle instead.

Louisiana Tech fans were hit with the somber news that their beloved mascot Tech XX, an English bulldog, has passed away. 

The more startling piece of news is how the live mascot passed away, and the apparent cover up that was attempted in the wake of the dog's death. 

Initially, Friends of the Program released a post that Tech XX had gone missing. Now we have learned things are far worse. 

Louisiana Tech University's Facebook page has the full story. They then posted an update to the story once they heard more details behind the death, via Patrick R. Sexton, DVM. 

Regretfully, I learned this morning that through negligence of an employee, Tech XX was left outside too long on Sunday evening and passed away from a heat stroke. That employee unfortunately chose to handle it the wrong way and attempted to cover it up. Due to this negligence, the employee is no longer employed by Sexton Animal Health Center.

My family, my staff and I are extremely upset at this tragic turn of events as I know the entire Louisiana Tech Family is as well. Tech XX was a member of our immediate family and a daily part of our lives for the past four years. We are devastated over the circumstances of his passing and there will be a large void in our hearts for some time to come. As with any family member, we will spend considerable time grieving his passing.

The weather in Ruston, Louisiana is hot and humid, with temperatures nearing 100 degrees on Wednesday. 

Heat is an issue for canines and humans alike, and the employee exacerbated a horrible turn of events by trying to cover it all up. 

The previous mascot, Tech XIX, was retired back in 2008 due to health concerns. Students and fans will move on once again after a tragic end to a beloved mascot. 

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