by Malcolm Butler
Louisiana Tech plays a rare Tuesday football game as the Bulldogs face Middle Tennessee tonight at 6 p.m. at Floyd Stadium.
The game can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on 107.5 FM with the pregame show starting at 4:30 p.m. with Malcolm Butler (PxP), and Teddy Allen (Analyst) providing a call of the game.
For the first time since 2010 when Tech traveled to the blue turf of Boise State to face the No. 2 ranked Broncos, a Bulldog team will suit up and play a meaningful game on a Tuesday night.
It will be a short turnaround for the Bulldogs who dropped a 35-28 decision to WKU Thursday night in Ruston.
Although Middle Tennessee (1-5, 0-2) has just won one game this year, their losses have come against the likes of Alabama, Missouri, WKU and Colorado State.
“One and five is very misleading for those who just look at their record,” said head coach Sonny Cumbie. “This is a good football team that hung tough with Alabama at Alabama in the first game of the year. They just lost 23-19 at Missouri in an extremely close ball game. They played them very tough at Missouri. This is a really good team.”
Middle Tennessee is coming off a 45-30 loss to Jacksonville State last Wednesday in a game that saw the Blue Raiders lead 23-7 at halftime.
“They started the game really fast last week,” said Cumbie. “And they turned the ball over (in the second half) and couldn’t hold them off. This is going to be a physical football game. Rick Stockstill has been the head coach there for a very long time because he is really good at what he does. They have tough players that are talented.”
The Bulldogs (3-4, 2-1 C-USA) played their best half of football this season in the second half of the 35-28 loss to WKU in their last outing. Tech trailed 35-7 at halftime before fighting back and having a chance to tie the game in the final two minutes.
“I think it just came down to execution,” said Cumbie. “I think in the first half we were playing with eight, nine, 10 guys on offense. We weren’t executing all 11 at one time. I think that summed it up on offense. And defensively it was similar. We didn’t tackle well in the first half. They had explosive plays in the first half.
“In the second half our defense did a phenomenal job of holding them to 72 yards. Offensively, we were able to hit 10 explosive plays which is our goal for an entire game, and we did it in a half. We were able to score points.
“This week it’s been telling our guys and showing our guys that this is the football team that you are capable of being. This is who you are whenever you execute. That’s where we left off and hopefully where we can pick up tonight.”
Tech leads the all-time series 5-2, although the Blue Raiders have won two out of three in Murfreesboro.
