Three Keys to Victory: Kennesaw State
Your Bulldogs return to action tonight! It’s a midweek CUSA showdown as the Dogs head to Georgia to take on the Owls of Kennesaw State.
Has Tech shaken off the road woes that have plagued the team in the Cumbie era? Have they figured out how to build momentum off of wins? Has Tony Franklin used the bye week to fine tune what has been a sluggish offense in 2025?
Tonight’s the night for answers as the Dogs look to improve to 3-0 in CUSA and 5-1 overall! What can the Bulldogs do to make sure they end up in the win column for the fourth straight time?
1) Defensive Consistency
Louisiana Tech’s 2025 defense has been nothing short of incredible. In just about every statistical category, Luke Olson’s bunch are impressive:
- Total Defense – 364 ypg (61st)
- Scoring Defense – 13.6 ppg (13th)
- Red Zone Defense – 4th
- Turnover margin: +1.6 (2nd)
- 4th down conversion percent allowed: 14% (3rd)
They may give up some yards, but they really clamp down in the red zone and on fourth downs when it’s kill or be killed.
But this week, Tech will enter the game without perhaps its two best players on the defensive side of the ball. Kolbe Fields is out for the season with an injury sustained in the UTEP game, and Mekhi Mason is out for a half a targeting call a few plays earlier.
Can Jadon Mayfield and Alonzo Jackson Jr. step up and be the every down players we expected them to develop into? Luckily, Kennesaw doesn’t look to have the highest powered offense in the league, especially in the run game. Their rush offense ranks 74th with 153 ypg, but advanced stats tell us that they’re successful on just about 44% of their run plays (87th, nationally). Tech’s defense to this point has only allowed a success rate of 33.5% (5th). If the new linebackers can continue the success they had on the field last week, Tech’s defense will continue to stifle their opponents – Kennesaw included.
2) Find your rhythm
As consistently great as the defense has been in 2025… the offense hasn’t matched the energy. They have shown bursts of efficiency and excitement at times – the second quarter of the NMSU game being the prime example – but have struggled to string together drives for long stretches of most games.
Last weekend at UTEP, the Dogs struggled to give Blake Baker any time to throw, leading him to make mistakes that would’ve cost any team against a better opponent. In fact, this season Tech’s QBs have been pressured on 40.3% of dropbacks. That’s good for 123rd in the nation!
This week, Kennesaw’s defense brings something different to the table. They don’t cause too much havoc on the defensive line, pressuring the QB on 31.6% of dropbacks (92nd). Opponents have been able to find more success through the air than on the ground. Opponents are successful on 43% of their dropbacks (110th) and 39% of run plays.
For Tech to come out with a win, they will need to find a consistent balance on offense. That will mean keeping the pocket clean to give Baker and/or Kukuk time to make decisions, and maybe even opening up some running lanes for them!
3) Take care of business!
As I mentioned at the top, it’s been a long while since we’ve been able to talk about Tech stringing together multiple wins in a row. Let alone road wins! In 2019, Tech won 8 straight – including road wins over Bowling Green, Rice, and UTEP.
To win on the road (especially in a state we haven’t played in since 1925…) you’ve got to play clean and consistent.
Coming into tonight, the Owls are scoring 19.4 points per game. Tech’s offense is only scoring 21.0. If the Tech defense wasn’t around scoring at a clip of one touchdown per contest, the Bulldogs would not be in the position they’re in. My point here is that if the defensive luck runs out (and “luck” isn’t the right term for it, but you get what I mean), the offense has to play clean, mistake-free football to ensure that we can win a tight game.
So far this season, Kennesaw is 114th in turnover margin at -0.8, so it isn’t outlandish to expect a couple of mistakes from the Owls. But you can’t count on defensive TDs.
Both teams are also relatively penalty prone, with Kennesaw ranking 90th in penalty yards per game and Tech ranking 132nd. Eventually that kind of stat is going to bite you in the behind if you don’t get it cleaned up!
