Mississippi State blew out Louisiana Tech 45-3 the last time the two teams played in 2018.
But Skip Holtz’s squad hopes to pose a greater challenge when the two packs of Bulldogs meet at 3 p.m. Sept. 4 to open the 2021 football season at Davis Wade Stadium.
Here’s a look at the first opponent on MSU’s schedule this fall.
Editor’s note: This is the first installment in The Dispatch’s 2021 Scouting the Schedule series. The series continues Sunday with a look at Mississippi State’s second game of the season.
Louisiana Tech quick facts
2020 record: 5-5
Coach: Skip Holtz, ninth season
ESPN Football Power Index: No. 110
All-time series: 6-2, Mississippi State leads
Last meeting: Nov. 3, 2018
History
Mississippi State has won its past four games against Louisiana Tech, including a 2017 contest in Ruston featuring the infamous “third-and-93” play where a fumble rolled nearly the entire length of the field, setting up the home team with third-and-goal at its own 7-yard line. The other three of the previous four matchups between the two have been in Starkville, as will this year’s contest.
2020 season
Louisiana Tech finished the shortened 2020 season at 5-5 after blowout losses to TCU and in the New Orleans Bowl to Georgia Southern. But the Bulldogs picked up a few solid victories along the way, edging Southern Miss by one point, routing Houston Baptist and beating UTEP, UAB and North Texas.
A pair of quarterbacks split time under center for Louisiana Tech, with Abilene Christian grad transfer Luke Anthony throwing for 1,479 yards on 221 pass attempts and redshirt sophomore Aaron Allen recording 602 yards on 121 passes. Anthony had 16 touchdown passes, and Allen had four.
Fifth-year senior Israel Tucker was the team’s leading rusher with 648 yards on 149 carries. With 440 yards, redshirt senior Adrian Hardy was the Bulldogs’ best receiver, but six other pass-catchers had between 150 and 304 yards on the year.
Redshirt junior Milton Williams was Louisiana Tech’s best defensive player with 10 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, but he was a third-round NFL draft pick of the Philadelphia Eagles this spring. Williams was the only Bulldog drafted in 2021.
Louisiana Tech has finished .500 or better in every season since 2013, its first season under Holtz.
Key additions
On July 9, the Bulldogs officially added three transfers who are set to make an instant impact in Conference USA.
Quarterback Austin Kendall started nine games for West Virginia in 2019 after transferring from Oklahoma, completing 187 of 304 passes for 1,989 yards and 12 touchdowns that season.
Mississippi State will likely be familiar with running back Keyon Henry-Brooks, who rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown against the Bulldogs with Vanderbilt last Nov. 7.
And cornerback Jacquez Payton joins Louisiana Tech from Jacksonville State, where he had 30 tackles and three interceptions over the fall of 2020 and the spring of 2021.
Louisiana Tech also brought in Grambling State running back Kevin Dominique on June 17. Dominique ran for 446 yards and four touchdowns on 76 carries in 2019.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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