Three Keys to Victory: Washington State
Louisiana Tech returns to action tomorrow night against the Washington State Cougars for the very first time. The Dogs are traveling from far East to far West, still looking for their elusive sixth victory to return to a Bowl game.
What can Tech do to right the ship after a tough loss in Newark?
Win Third Downs
This will be a tough game for the Bulldogs. Your body’s going to have whiplash from going Delaware-Ruston-Pullman in under a week. You’re going to have to have mental and physical toughness to come away with a victory against a former P5 team.
To win a game like this, the offense will have to give the defense a chance to catch their breath between drives. And it’s not all on the offense – the defense will have to take care of business and get themselves off the field, too.
Here’s the good news. Washington State’s defense is “successful” on 39% of their 3rd and 4th down play attempts. That ranks them 53rd in FBS this season, so not terrible, but not “elite”.
Where the Bulldogs can hopefully find some success will be in stopping the Cougars’ offense on 3rd and 4th down. Wazzu is only successful on 37.8% of their attempts (104th), and Tech’s D is the 34th ranked team in this category.
Getting off the field early and having long, sustained drives will help Tech have a real shot to win.
Don’t go down easy
With the news that starting QB Blake Baker is out for the rest of the season, you’ve got to assume Tech will show a heavy dose of the run. Clay Thevenin, Omiri Wiggins, Trey Kukuk… we might have 5 guys get 10 carries each.
Looking at Washington State’s defense, they’re a little bit better against the pass than they are against the run. Now I don’t know how many times they’ve faced a team in our situation… where we’re going to have to run all night… but I still think Tech can have some success on the ground.
The main factor here is going to be breaking tackles. The Cougar defense gets to the ball carrier early – opponents are rushing for an average of 1.67 yards before contact against them (49th). BUT they are ranked dead last in missed tackle rate – whiffing on 16.1% of their tackle attempts.
Tech’s offense is currently ranked 24th in Yards After Contact (averaging 3.5), so this could be a real area for Tech to exploit. I know you’re going to have tired legs from the long flights… but stretch really well and you should be able to make some guys miss.
Rear view mirror
I don’t need to tell anyone reading this that Tech has been abysmal on the road for the last 4 years. I don’t need to tell you that our record is 3-20 on the road (1-20 against teams not from El Paso). I don’t need to tell you that we’re averaging 8 points per game less on the road than we are at home.
What I do need to tell you is that there’s a serious monkey on Tech’s back. For whatever reason, they just can’t get it together on the road in this era. And if there were ever a road trip to write off… it’s this one. Let me say it again… Delaware to Ruston to Pullman is not an easy back-to-back trip. And finals are looming.
There are a TON of excuses for why we shouldn’t expect Tech to win this game. But we’re fans.
For the players and coaching staff, it will be HUGE to put last week’s loss – and all of the other road woes – in the rear view mirror. You can’t dwell on what was (or in this case… wasn’t). You have to play the opponent in front of you, whether that’s at home in Ruston, or 1,620.34 miles away in Eastern Washington.
Just go out and win the game.
Evan is a contributor at go tech pls dont die, a weekly podcast, Twitter, and blog that covers Louisiana Tech sports in a not-so-serious way.
