Louisiana Tech posts 839 yards of offense in rout of Vandals
RUSTON, La. — Not much went right for the Idaho Vandals on Saturday night at Louisiana Tech as they fell 70-28 in a Western Athletic Conference game before 20,255 at Joe Aillet Stadium.
From the opening play — when a fumble gave the ball to the Bulldogs on Idaho’s 1-yard line, through 839 offensive yards, Louisiana Tech’s high-powered offense was more than the Vandals could handle.
“If we’re going to be in a shootout, we have to shoot,” coach Robb Akey said. “When we did get settled in, we didn’t get the run game stopped.”
The loss assured Idaho (1-7, 1-2) of its 12th losing season in the past 13 years, and its 13th losing season in 17 years of Division I-A (now Football Bowl Subdivision) play.
Of Tech’s 839 yards, 408 were rushing and of those, 232 were by Kenneth Dixon, who also scored six of the 10 touchdowns by the Bulldogs (6-1, 2-0). The 839 yards are a single-game record and the most by a FBS team this season.
“That’s a heck of a thing to go through as a player,” Akey said. “But I’ve got respect for them. They kept fighting.”
The Bulldogs were on the scoreboard after Todd Handley fumbled the opening kickoff and Louisiana Tech recovered inside the Idaho 1-yard line. Dixon scored on the short run just 12 seconds into the game.
Missed tackles haunted the Vandals on Tech’s next drive, which covered 66 yards in 1:02 and was capped on the fifth play of the drive when Dixon went in from 2 yards out for a 14-0 Tech lead with 12:56 to go in the first.
Idaho came right back, though, when Dominique Blackman tossed the ball to Roman Runner, who found Najee Lovett behind the defense for the 58-yard scoring play with 12:17 left in the first. Trey Farquhar’s kick made it 14-7.
The Bulldogs parlayed a fourth-down gamble near midfield into their third TD when Colby Cameron hooked up with Ray Holley for a 2-yard score with 10:03 left in the first for the 21-7 edge. Cameron finished 29 of 37 for 400 yards and two TDs.
The track meet continued when Handley atoned for the fumble when he romped 92 yards on the ensuing kickoff return to cut the gap to 21-14 with 9:50 to play in the first. It was the longest kickoff return of the season for the Vandals and Handley’s first career TD.
Dixon scored his third TD of the night — and the first quarter wasn’t halfway over yet, when he pushed through from the 1 with 7:58 left in the opening quarter for a 28-14 Tech lead.
The first quarter scoring wasn’t over yet. The Bulldogs added another on a pass from Cameron — this one to Quinton Patton and covering 20 yards for the 35-14 lead with 49 seconds to go in the first. With that score, the Bulldogs set a record for most points against the Vandals in a quarter — a mark that had been 34 by the 1968 Weber State team.
Myles White slipped tackles and rolled through the defense to make it 42-14 after collecting a 36-yard pass from Cameron with 13:01 to go in the first half.
Dixon chalked up another one when he ran in from 7 yards out with 9:50 to go in the first half for the 49-14 Tech lead.
Defensive tackle Jesse Davis set up the Vandals’ next score when he recovered a Tech fumble at the Idaho 13 and lumbered 84 yards before being pulled down at the Bulldogs’ 3-yard line. He fumbled as he went down and Vince Keener recovered at the Tech 1. The ball originally was given back to Tech. After the replay, the officials deemed Keener had covered Davis’ fumble and the ball went to the Vandals. James Baker scored from the 1 to make it 49-21 with 4:08 to go in the first half.
Back came Dixon for his fifth score of the first half when he went in from the 2 after setting up the TD with a 48-yard run. With 3:17 to go in the half, the Bulldogs went up 56-21. Those 56 points tied the 56 Washington State scored in a half against the Vandals in 1975. The 56 also tied a WAC single-game record.
Idaho held Tech on the Bulldogs’ first drive of the second half and drove to the Tech 20 before yielding the ball on downs on its first drive of the half. The Bulldogs did score on their next possession — it was Dixon again, on a 20-yard run with 7:28 to go in the third for the 63-21 lead.
On Idaho’s next possession, Lovett had first-down yardage near midfield on a reception from Blackman, but fumbled and Tech covered it at the Idaho 44. Zach Griffith made it 70-21 when he ran in from the 3 with 4:02 left in the third.
The Bulldogs were moving again when the ball popped loose and Gary Walker recovered at the Idaho 33. The opportunity was short-lived as Blackman was intercepted two plays later and Tech had the ball back at the Idaho 47 with 19 seconds left in the third.
As the fourth quarter opened, Tech was forced to punt for the first time in the game, but the Vandals still didn’t come up with good field position with the drive starting at the Bulldogs’ five. A three-and-out and a 57-yard Bobby Cowan punt and Tech had the ball back at its own 44 with 11:52 to play.
However, on first down Brandon Davis lost the ball and it popped up to Ryan Edwards to give the ball back to the Vandals at the 50. Mike LaGrone scored on a 1-yard pass from Blackman with 8:31 left after a key fourth-down conversion by Mike Scott, followed by a 33-yard pickup by Jahrie Level — both passes from Blackman. Farquhar’s kick made it 70-28.
Idaho 14 7 0 7—28
Louisiana Tech 35 21 14 0—70
First Quarter
LaT_Dixon 1 run (Nelson kick), 14:48.
LaT_Dixon 2 run (Nelson kick), 12:56.
Id_Lovett 58 pass from Runner (Farquhar kick), 12:17.
LaT_Holley 5 run (Nelson kick), 10:03.
Id_Handley 92 kickoff return (Farquhar kick), 9:50.
LaT_Dixon 1 run (Nelson kick), 7:58.
LaT_Patton 20 pass from Cameron (Nelson kick), :49.
Second Quarter
LaT_M.White 36 pass from Cameron (Nelson kick), 13:01.
LaT_Dixon 7 run (Nelson kick), 9:50.
Id_Baker 1 run (Farquhar kick), 4:08.
LaT_Dixon 2 run (Nelson kick), 3:17.
Third Quarter
LaT_Dixon 20 run (Nelson kick), 7:28.
LaT_Griffith 3 run (Nelson kick), 4:02.
Fourth Quarter
Id_LaGrone 1 pass from Blackman (Farquhar kick), 8:31.
A_20,255.
Id LaT
First downs 11 39
Rushes-yards 23-47 53-408
Passing 257 431
Comp-Att-Int 21-36-2 32-42-0
Return Yards 0 27
Punts-Avg. 7-46.3 2-39.5
Fumbles-Lost 3-2 4-3
Penalties-Yards 5-35 4-30
Time of Possession 25:35 34:25
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING_Idaho, Baker 10-42, R.Bass 6-18, Handley 3-7, Lovett 1-5, Blackman 3-(minus 25). Louisiana Tech, Dixon 17-232, B.Davis 14-85, Holley 11-47, Cameron 5-22, Hakmi 1-11, Courtney 2-8, H.Lee 1-5, Griffith 2-(minus 2).
PASSING_Idaho, Blackman 20-35-2-199, Runner 1-1-0-58. Louisiana Tech, Cameron 29-37-0-400, Griffith 3-5-0-31.
RECEIVING_Idaho, M.Scott 7-71, Lovett 4-78, Handley 3-10, Level 2-45, Runner 2-14, Baker 1-30, Homme 1-8, LaGrone 1-1. Louisiana Tech, M.White 6-100, Guillot 6-89, Patton 4-41, Holley 3-51, H.Lee 2-42, D.Banks 2-20, J.Greenwalt 2-20, Jackson 2-10, Gru 2-9, Casey 1-28, M.Lee 1-17, Stuart 1-4.