Sam Houston State Game Week

Monday - The 3-2-1

Tuesday - Weekly Practice Report, Stat Attack, Weekly Press Conference, BTB Radio

Wednesday - Know the Opponent, BC Radio Interview at 7:15 AM on SportsTalk 97.7 FM, Pro Dogs Week 9 Recap

Thursday - Scouting Sam Houston State QB Keegan Shoemaker, Score Predictions

Friday - Three Keys to Victory, Game Preview

Saturday - Game Thread

Sunday - Game Recap, Snap Count Totals & PFF Player Grades

Questions?

Let’s hear ‘em!

LA Tech 42
Sam Houston State 17

The negativity is gone, the PROGRAM IS BACK!!! Let’s go!!!

@cwardell03 previews the final home game of the year:

Shoemaker is gritty:

Patriotic College Football Helmets

MISSISSIPPI STATE-LA. TECH SCRIMMAGE​

• This should come as no surprise considering what they did from a power standpoint last season, but Mississippi State’s Dakota Jordan and Hunter Hines were impressive in a 10-5 game one win over Louisiana Tech. Both sluggers showed premium power, while Ross Highfill got into power party with a three-run home run of his own.

• Amani Larry also had a productive afternoon for the MSU offense, while freshman Dylan Cupp and David Mershon were both impressive from a defensive standpoint. Cupp is one of the top freshmen to head to college this fall.

• In terms of newcomer arms, we got good reports on Khal Stephen, who transferred to MSU from Purdue, while one of the more intriguing newcomer arms in the country, Cam Schuelke, also was intriguing. Schuelke has a hard-nosed approach and attacks hitters from a nasty, underneath angle. Miami transfer Karson Ligon, who will be one of the more experienced arms in the SEC in 2024, also impressed.

• In terms of returning arms for the Bulldogs, to no surprise, two-way pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje was impressive in his limited work, while Colby Holcombe, who has a sturdy build and a big-time arm, showed good stuff with improved command. That could be a game changer for Holcombe as we look ahead to the 2024 campaign.

• Speaking of hard-nosed, MSU righthanded pitcher Nate Dohm had a good showing in the scrimmage against Louisiana Tech. Though the Bulldogs got some good swings off him, he still had premium velocity with electric overall stuff. One more arm — Logan Forsythe — left a good mark during the scrimmage. Forsythe worked just 6.1 innings for the Bulldogs last season, but was clean and has a solid inning over the weekend.

• Tennessee transfer righthanded pitcher Turner Swistak pitched well for La Tech, sitting 91-93 mph with his fastball, while also peppering the zone with strikes. Meanwhile, junior college transfer Nate Crider was consistently 91-93 mph with his fastball, along with a swing and miss 85 mph slider. Furthermore, Wingate (NC) transfer hurler Sam Brodersen was 91-94 mph with his fastball, along with a plus slider and quality splitter. Finally, keep an eye on freshman Hayden Harmon, who was 90-93 mph with his fastball along with a swing and miss slider.

• Senior righthander Ethan Bates also stood out in the scrimmage. The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder, was 91-93 mph with his fastball, along with a solid 83-85 mph slider and a big-time changeup. Sources say Bates missed a lot of bats. Speaking of Bates, he also had a big day at the plate with a mature offensive approach and a two-run home run.

• In some interesting news, veteran backstop Jorge Corona missed the scrimmage after having Tommy John surgery earlier this year. Karson Evans assumed the role. As for Corona, he should be back in action for the scrimmage against Auburn in a few weeks.

• Dalton Davis showed a mature offensive approach and had two doubles in the scrimmage, Mike Ballard was terrific defensively at shortstop and had three hits in game one, while Kasten Furr, a New Orleans transfer, was strong up the middle and showed some strength with a two-run home run.

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BC & Beck are back for BTB Radio on Tuesday night! Starts up at 6 PM on SportsTalk 97.7 FM.

- Dunkin’ Dogs/Lady Techsters season opener recaps
- Liberty Recap
- Will Tech ever be good again? At anything?
- Sam Houston State preview
- K Jacob Barnes will join us in studio at 6:45

Questions for Barnes??

Calls/Texts — (888)-993-7762

Benjamin Sorrells of Sports of SHSU helps preview the Bearkats:

Liberty Game Week

Monday - The 3-2-1

Tuesday - Weekly Practice Report, Stat Attack, Weekly Press Conference, BTB Radio

Wednesday - Know the Opponent, BC Radio Interview at 7:15 AM on SportsTalk 97.7 FM, Pro Dogs Week 8 Recap

Thursday - Scouting Liberty QB Kaidon Salter, Score Predictions

Friday - Three Keys to Victory, Game Preview

Saturday - Game Thread

Sunday - Game Recap, Postgame Position Breakdown (New Feature), Snap Count Totals & PFF Player Grades

Questions?

@ntruppel takes a look at the close losses for SHSU + their odd ability to draw penalties:

Either he wants us emailing Wood to get him bought out or he lost his locker room and needs something to rally them around.

CUSA has slid off into the sunset. MACtion, you’re up for midweek football:

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Sonny Cumbie will be the new head football coach at Louisiana Tech.

Starts up at 7:30 AM. I’ll have it covered.

Sonny Cumbie, Smoke Harris, Tru Edwards, and DeMarcus Griffin-Taylor are scheduled to speak to the media on Tuesday. Starts at noon.

I’ll have it covered.

Marvel Concept Helmets

Louisiana Tech will open its 2023-2024 season on the road at Colorado State on Monday night.

Tip-off is scheduled for 9 PM on the Mountain West Network. Radio call on KXKZ 107.5 FM.

Both Tech & Colorado State finished 15-18 a season ago.

For Tech, Isaiah Crawford was named the CUSA Preseason Player of the Year.

For Colorado State, Isaiah Stevens was named the Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year.

I don’t expect Daniel Batcho to play for the ‘Dogs.

What will Tech’s rotation look like? Newman, Chavez, Henderson, Henry, Isaiah Crawford, Will Allen, and Dravon Mangum. Those 7 for sure, then maybe Turner, Jordan Crawford, and Ree sprinkled in.

Terri Miller is cleared to play, but he’s still probably a week away.

Colorado State isn’t a big team, they’ll be 6’8 at the 5 spot. After going 15-18 last season, they added two transfers. Clifford (Colorado) & Johnson (New Mexico) both averaged roughly 6 points a game last season.

Let’s goooooo!!!!

Torbush led Tech to a 3-8 record in 1987:

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I was hoping to have this out earlier today, but it just didn’t work out. Tom Gentile is going to start writing for me some, so here is his first piece:

In the Bulldogs first Saturday game in over a month, Louisiana Tech faced what one could say would be their biggest challenge all year against the now 9-0 Liberty Flames. With that being said, Liberty went into cruise control for the majority of the game, easily winning 56-30 and walking all over this Bulldog team.

With the Bulldogs falling to 3-7 on the year, officially out of bowl contention, the questions about this team’s success have narrowed down to basically just one question, who wants to be locked in and committed to this team? Going over each position group might give some insight to who is locked in. Going over each group isn’t just about stats, but about how they performed in key situations throughout the game.

Quarterback Hank Bachmeier made his second straight start after being absent from the team for a few weeks due to injury. Hank played very well last night, so far as to actually outgain Liberty QB Kaidon Salter in both completion percentage and total passing yards, with Bachmeier going 23-33 with 304 passing yards in the game. Unfortunately, Salter made a much larger impact for the Flames, accounting for four passing touchdowns compared to Bachmeier’s two.

The offensive line also played much better in the passing game than last week’s performance against New Mexico State, only allowing two sacks in the game. As for the run game, not much could get established throughout the game, as a whole Tech only managed 84 total rushing yards compared to Liberty’s 305, and only had 2.8 yards per rush. The Bulldog’s longest run came from Bachmeier himself on a 17 yard run in the second quarter.

As for the Bulldog’s RB committee, no one had more than eight yards on a rush. Keith Willis had a solid game with two rushing touchdowns, and Tyre Shelton came back for 29 yards after missing last week with injury, but other than that, there wasn’t much of an impact on the ground, only gaining seven first downs on 30 rushes.

While there were over 300 total passing yards in the game, players on an individual level were impactful as well. Tru Edwards was solid, grabbing 85 yards on six receptions and a touchdown. Cyrus Allen had 68 yards on five catches, and Smoke Harris had a touchdown in the game as well. The only problem with the receivers is that they aren’t getting the ball like they should be. Neither receiving TD was in the first half, and Smoke didn’t even have a reception until the second half, in order to be successful, Tech’s impact players need to get the ball earlier and more often.

Flipping to the defensive side of the ball, nothing really went right against this high powered Liberty offense, giving up over 600 yards of offense in the game, 305 on the ground and 297 in the air.

RB Quinton Cooley had a field day for the Flames offense, picking up 179 of Liberty’s 305 rushing yards on 23 attempts. Tech's defensive front was overmatched by the staunch offensive line that has led to Liberty being the 2nd best rushing team in FBS this season, and only adding to that by scoring four TD’s on the ground. This has been a recurring issue all season for the Bulldogs and it has led to them being in the bottom 10 in FBS in rushing defense.

The pass defense looked out of sorts too, also giving up 300 yards and also giving up four touchdowns in the air. CJ Daniels and Noah Frith both had breakout games, each having three receptions and averaging over 25 yards per reception, and each accounting for one touchdown. Aaron Bedgood and Bentley Hanshaw also had one touchdown each.

While there’s nothing to play for anymore, these next two games can determine who can respond to adversity and who can be coachable, it can also determine whether or not the coaches are capable of motivating their players despite the disappointing season.

Louisiana Tech’s next game will be in Ruston at 2:00 PM Central Time against 1-8 (0-5) Sam Houston State. The game will be televised on ESPN+. Louisiana Tech is looking for their first 4+ win season since 2020, while SHSU is still searching for their first FBS win as an FBS school.

New week:

Takeaways:

- Career-night for Edwards
- Bachmeier hasn’t thrown an INT in his last 139 attempts. 9 TDs & 0 INTs in last 5 games. Career-high QB Rating for the season
- Roberts allows 3 TDs at CB

First pitch is scheduled for 1 PM at JC Love Field this afternoon.

I’m BEGGING you to provide updates throughout the game 😀

I won’t be there, harvest season won’t give me a day off.

@RF_Dawgs will provide us with a recap.

Should be a nice challenge for Tech.

Catch BC & Beck after the game on KXKZ 107.5 FM. I’m sure it’ll be a dandy!!

Greg Phillips State Farm Hotline/Textline:

Calls — (800)-730-8031

Texts — (888)-993-7762

No podcast, tune in live!

We want to hear your thoughts on the game! It’ll be entertaining as always! Tune in!

Tech opens as a 6-point favorite.

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Takeaways:

- OL goes distance
- Edwards is in his right position
- Solo Lewis sighting
- Richard sees uptick in snaps after a lower total last week
- Nason nearly plays 100% of snaps