Louisiana Tech comes to Raleigh this Saturday for a noon kickoff against the Wolfpack. Let’s get to know them.
Louisiana Tech
Strengths
It’s tough to get a full read on the Bulldogs since they’ve only played one game and then had a bye week, but that one game was a 25-17 victory over Nicholls State from the FCS level. There are certainly a few items we can glean from that effort.
As Steven noted in his preview of LaTech, the Bulldogs were about as bad of a rush defense in 2023 as you’ll find. In the season opener, they limited their opponent to 94 yards on 31 carries after adjusting for sacks. Holding an opponent to a hair over 3.0 yards/carry is a vast improvement for LaTech. The Bulldogs also limited the Colonels to just 200 yards of total offense in the game while allowing only 3 conversions on 16 third downs. That’s solid work regardless of the opponent.
The Bulldog offensive line is an experienced and large group with all five starters being fourth year players. The left side of the line especially has some size with both players checking in north of 6’5 and 340 pounds. They shouldn’t get pushed around.
Weaknesses
Well, obviously struggling with an FCS team is not a good indicator for an FBS team (ask me how I know). At least with NC State’s game against Western Carolina, the Wolfpack were able to pull away from the Catamounts late.
LaTech turned the ball over 5 times (3 INTs, 2 fumbles) in the Nicholls State game, while also committing 7 penalties. Last year’s team was among the nation’s worst in turnover margin with a -9 tally on the season. They were also tied for 105th in the nation with 6.8 penalties/game.
The secondary for the Bulldogs lacks size, with 5’9, 166 pound Demarcus Griffin-Taylor at one corner spot and 5’11, 185 pound Cedric Woods at the other. Woods does have plenty of experience, though, with 34 career starts under his belt. Griffin-Taylor will be making just his 5th career start on Saturday. Starting safeties Blake Thompson (6’1, 191) and Michael Richard (5’11, 178) have a combined 8 career starts.
Opportunities
There were 26 LaTech players who made their program debut in their opener. While I’m sure the coaching staff used the bye week to the best of their abilities, this is still not a team that’s had enough time to gel. NC State should be able to use a combination of different looks and pre-snap movements at the Bulldogs, stressing the communication abilities at various levels of the field to find breakdowns.
Back to that run defense, there should be plenty of opportunity to test it on Saturday afternoon. There is a new defensive coordinator running the show (Jeremiah Johnson from Northern Iowa), and as State fans know the man calling the plays can have a dramatic impact.
The LaTech offense lived on big plays in their season opener, with 173 of their 386 yards coming on just five plays. Their two QBs combined to complete just 16-of-32 passes. If NC State can limit the big plays and force the Bulldogs to continually churn out positive yards on a per-play basis, the odds will tip dramatically in the Wolfpack’s favor.
Trivia
Forget threats, let’s go with some trivia (trivial?) facts.
- NC State offensive coordinator Robert Anae was the offensive line coach at Texas Tech during Louisiana Tech head coach Sonny Cumbie’s time as a Red Raiders QB, including during Cumbie’s lone season as a starter in 2004 (4,742 yards, 32 TD, 18 INT). Ruffin McNeill, who now serves as a special assistant to the head coach for NC State, was the assistant head coach at Texas Tech during that time.
- LaTech’s six sacks against Nicholls State was the most in a game for the program since 2018.
- NC State leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 2-0 mark. Both games have taken place under Dave Doeren, including Doeren’s first win with the Wolfpack back in the 2013 season opener.
- The Bulldogs are 0-7 in games in the state of North Carolina. In addition to their two losses to the Pack, they are 0-4 against East Carolina and 0-1 against Charlotte.