Who: North Texas (1-2, 0-1 C-USA) at Louisiana Tech (1-2, 0-0)
Where: Joe Aillet Stadium (Ruston, La.)
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
TV: Stadium
Radio: KXKZ 107.5 FM (Ruston), KDBS 1410 AM (Alexandria), KDBS 94.7 FM (Alexandria), WUBR 910 AM (Baton Rouge), KJVC 92.7 FM (Mansfield), KZBL 100.7 FM (Natchitoches), KOKA 980 AM (Shreveport), KOKA 93.3 FM (Shreveport), KNCB 1320 AM (Vivian), KNCB 104.1 FM (Vivian), KVCL 92.1 FM (Winnfield)
Radio Talent: Malcolm Butler (PxP), Teddy Allen (Color) and Luke McCown (sideline) w/ pregame at 1:30 p.m.
If history is any indication, the scoreboard at Joe Aillet stadium could be in for another workout when Louisiana Tech hosts North Texas Saturday at 6 p.m. in the Conference USA opener for the Bulldogs.
The annual match-up between the two West Division foes is usually a wild one. Tech won last year’s meeting 42-31 in Denton in early December.
“There have been some great games in this series history,” said Holtz. “Seth has done an unbelievable job of putting a lot of talent together. I know the competitive nature between these two teams and the history between these two teams, and I know it’s one our players are excited about.
“This is only the second time in my nine years here that we are opening conference play at home. How awesome is that. And this three-game homestand has been great.”
Well, most of it.
Tech was six seconds away from defeating SMU last Saturday when a successful Hail Mary gave the Mustangs a 39-37 win. Holtz said his team has responded well this week in practice.
“It’s been a good week of practice,” said Holtz. “They lived what we always talk about. You have 24 hours to celebrate or 24 hours to mourn after games. I said something to one of the players Tuesday in practice, and he looked right at me and said, ‘Coach, the 24-hour rule. That game is over.’
“We aren’t going to have a pity party. We aren’t cursed by the football gods. None of that is going on. We had plenty of opportunities in that football game from the start to the finish. We have gone up the rough side of the mountain the last few weeks and we have learned a lot about our team. We just look at it as an opportunity to tighten some things up and clean some things up.”
North Texas enters the game coming off a 40-6 loss at home to UAB in its Conference USA opener last Saturday. And although the Mean Green comes into the game having lost its last two games, Holtz knows better than to take any game for granted … especially a league contest.
“I have great respect for Seth Littrell,” said Holtz. “North Texas always has high scoring offenses and they have playmakers. And this will be an unbelievable challenge for us. I know our players are really excited about getting into conference. We said we would learn a lot about our team during the first three weeks, and we have a lot of things to get cleaned up for league play. I like our focus and I know our guys are excited about playing again at home this weekend.”
North Texas is led by running back DeAndre Torrey, who ranks seventh in the country in all-purpose yards per game at 162.3, including a career-high 320 in a season-opening win over Northwestern State.
“They’ve had some really, really tough losses that could’ve gone either way,” said Littrell about the Bulldogs. “They could just as easily be 3-0.”
Photo: Tim Smith
