Ho-Hum win for Tech

[DeepGreen]

Tech trounces North Texas

October 23, 2005

By Jimmy Watson

jimwatson@gannett.com

RUSTON -- Louisiana Tech continued the WAC's dominance over perennial Sun Belt champion North Texas on Saturday afternoon in Joe Aillet Stadium with a ho-hum 40-14 victory over the Mean Green.

North Texas has won four consecutive Sun Belt crowns and is 27-2 in the league since 2001. But the Mean Green is now 34-74-2 against WAC teams, although their overall record with Tech now sits at 5-5.

"If you look at what the WAC has done against other teams versus what the Sun Belt has done, there's no comparison," Tech coach Jack Bicknell said. "I don't know if this one game says much about the WAC against the Sun Belt, but there are a lot of good teams in the WAC."

Except for a brief letdown midway through the third quarter, when the Bulldogs (3-3, 2-1) gave up two quick scores to the visitors, Tech dominated this game in much the same way it did against previous home foes New Mexico State and Hawaii.

Tech was also flawless for the third game in its last four with no interceptions and no fumbles. Tech's only giveaway in four games was a Matt Kubik interception by Nevada last week at the Wolf Pack 2-yard line.

"Matt keeps getting better and he managed the game well today," Bicknell said. "We played very good defense again today, except for those two series in the third quarter."

The Bulldogs didn't score on their first possession of the game, but got points on every other drive in the first half in building a 27-0 lead. Tech's first score came on a 3-yard Freddie Franklin run, and Kubik followed that with a 17-yard touchdown pass to tight end Anthony James.

Tech moved in front 21-0 with 7 minutes remaining in the half when freshman Patrick Jackson scored from 1 yard out. Danny Horwedel then nailed field goals of 46 and 37 yards to complete the first-half scoring.

Horwedel hit again from 39 yards away on Tech's first series of the second half before the Mean Green got a 15-yard scoring pass from Daniel Heager. Running back Patrick Cobbs then found a wide open Johnny Quinn for a 33-yard score to cut Tech's lead to 30-14 with just over 4 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

"We came out of the locker room and were comfortable with a big lead and we can't do that down the stretch," Tech linebacker Jeremy Hamilton said. "We made some mistakes and let them back in the game."

In front of 19,481 fans, the Bulldogs' defense shut the door on North Texas after that, while getting a 29-yard field goal from Horwedel and a late 6-yard touchdown run from Jackson.

"What we wanted to do was to set the tempo early and take them out of their game," Tech quarterback Matt Kubik said. "When you see a team put up two quick scores in the second half, you get a little nervous. But our team has shown that it can respond quickly."

Tech rolled up 510 total yards, while limiting the Mean Green to just 287. Kubik was an efficient 23-of-30 for 283 yards with no interceptions. Franklin led Tech's rushing attack with 83 yards, while Kubik ran for 54 and Jackson added 44.

North Texas' dynamic running duo of Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas picked up 108 and 64 yards respectively. But Meager passed for just 60 yards and his backup, Matt Phillips was picked off twice. One of the picks came by Tech's Tramon Williams, who leads the WAC in interceptions.

"I knew that they had to throw deep, so I just stayed with my man," Williams said. "The quarterback just threw it up, so I played the ball."