Boise
State
travels to
Ruston
,
Louisiana
as the Louisiana Tech
Bulldogs look to bust the Bronco Bowl Championship Series bubble in front of a
nationally-televised audience this Friday night.
The Broncos will be the highest-ranked team to ever step
foot on the field at Joe Alliet Stadium since the Bulldogs joined the Football
Bowl Subdivision in 1989. The former highest-ranked team was a 17th-ranked
Fresno
State
squad who held off
Tech 28-24 in 2004.
Boise
State
enters their 12th
meeting with a 7-4 all time record against the Bulldogs. The last
matchup ended in a 35-3 Bronco landslide win in
Boise
. Louisiana Tech
currently resides at fifth place in the Western Athletic Conference with a 2-3
conference record (3-5 overall) after a nail-biting one-point loss to
Idaho
last week.
The 2009 "Dooley's Dawgs" are led by Derek
Dooley, the only Head Coach/Athletic Director in NCAA Division 1 sports.
After a 5-3 (8-5 overall) second-place WAC finish last season and a 17-10
Independence Bowl victory over Northern Illinois, Dooley currently holds a
record of 18-20 (1-0 in bowls) in his third year with the program. He was
first hired as a graduate assistant at the
University
of
Georgia
before moving on
to
SMU
and later being hired
by Nick Saban as the recruiting coordinator and tight end coach at LSU.
After a few years with LSU, Dooley left the program to coach alongside Saban as
tight end coach of the Miami Dolphins. Dooley is also the son of legendary
University
of
Georgia
head coach and
athletic director Vince Dooley.
2009 LA Tech Results (before
Boise
State
):
2009 LA Tech Remaining Schedule (after
Boise
State
):
LA Tech Players to Watch:
Sr. Safety, Antonio Baker, has racked up 51 tackles, 2
interceptions, 5 pass deflections, and 3 forced fumbles so far this year.
He is 11th on the NCAA active leaders list with 10 career interceptions.
Baker finished last season on the All-WAC team, First Team All Louisiana, and
LSWA Louisiana Defensive Player of the Year with 115 total tackles and over 300
career tackles.
Sr. RB, Daniel Porter, leads the team in carries with 677
yards on 124 attempts, seven touchdowns, and 118 receiving yards. He
finished 2008 as First Team All-WAC with 1,164 rushing yards and nine
touchdowns.
Sr. TE, Dennis Morris, leads the team in receiving with
357 yards and six TD's on 16.2 yards per reception.
Jr. WR, Phillip Livas, has 205 receiving yards, 200
rushing yards, and leads the return team with 393 return yards and a touchdown.
Livas was First Team All-WAC in 2008, as well as the Independence Bowl offensive
player of the game. He was also honored as First Team All Louisiana for
returns and Second Team All Louisiana for receiving.
So. LB, Adrien Cole, leads the team in total tackles with
59 and 2 forced fumbles.
LA Tech Stadium Info:
Located in
Ruston
,
Louisiana
, Joe Aillet Stadium
was originally opened on
September 28, 19
68
with Terry Bradshaw
leading the Bulldogs to a 35-7 victory over ECU. The stadium was named in
honor of Joe Aillet, who coached LA Tech for 27 years. The stadium's first
ever nationally televised game came in 2002 against
Fresno
State
and it's first ever
BCS
school hosting was to
Mississippi
State
in 2008. The
stadium currently holds 30,600 people and its grounds are made of FieldTurf.
