JOURNAL SPORTS

The Louisiana Tech-ULM neighborhood football rivalry is back on, albeit several years away from kicking off.

Wednesday, the schools announced a two-game, home-and-home scheduling agreement to meet in 2030 and 2031.

The renewal of the rivalry is Sept. 21, 2030 at Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston and the following season on Sept. 13, 2031, at Malone Stadium in Monroe.

The two programs were scheduled to face one another in 2020 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, but the game was canceled due to COVID-19 issues within the ULM football program.

The programs have met a total of 43 times with Louisiana Tech leading the all-time series, 30-13. The Bulldogs have won eight straight over the Warhawks, including the last meeting which was a 42-19 victory on Nov. 11, 2000, in Monroe.

At its peak in the 1980s, the annual contests filled both stadiums and generated intense interest. Tech shifted to the FBS ranks (then Division I-A) in 1987 and exited the Southland Conference, just before ULM (then Northeast Louisiana, led by Shreveport-Southwood quarterback Stan Humphries) soared to the NCAA Division I-AA championship, with former Tech player and assistant coach Pat Collins as head coach. A 44-7 ULM rout in Ruston that year was the last Warhawks’ triumph; the Bulldogs won the eight meetings since, annual home-and-home contests ending in 1991, then picking up again for four years from 1997-2000.

Louisiana Tech athletic department spokesman Kane Maguire said existing non-conference football contracts already in place were among the factors that kept the nearby rivals from colliding any sooner than seven years from now.