JOURNAL SPORTS
Perfect homecoming weather and potential for victory create plenty of anticipation around Saturday afternoon’s home games for Louisiana Tech and Northwestern State.
Grambling (4-3, 2-2 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference) and Centenary (2-3, 1-1 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) are open Saturday.
LOUISIANA TECH: The Bulldogs have found their new conference affiliation to their liking, opening 2-0 in Sun Belt play by rallying past UL-Lafayette at home and overcoming a scoreless first half to smother ULM 24-0 in Monroe last week.
Tech (4-2, 2-0) hopes to keep its SBC slate clean and win its third straight overall Saturday afternoon at 4 as Old Dominion (2-5, 1-3) comes to Aillet Stadium on homecoming in Ruston. The game will be carried on ESPN+.
Bulldogs quarterback Blake Baker is off to a strong start in conference play, with 497 passing yards on a completion rate of 74.6 percent and an efficiency rating of 167.06, accounting for six total touchdowns and no turnovers. He has nine passing touchdowns, 857 passing yards and just one interception on the season, along with a Sun Belt-best 169.4 efficiency rating.
Louisiana Tech’s defense enters Week 8 tied for the Sun Belt lead with nine interceptions, a conference-best 7.8 tackles for loss average and 47 total team TFLs (second in the league), and also sitting amongst the top five in opposing team passing efficiency (127.4), third-down conversions (.369), fourth-down conversions (.444) and turnovers forced (13). Alonzo Jackson Jr. paces the Sun Belt with 10.0 TFLs and his 5.0 sacks are tied for the second-most in the conference.
Janard Lockhardt is among the top defensive backs statistically in the country, with his 1.17 pass breakups per game tied for the ninth-best rate in FBS, and his seven total breakups among the top 20 in the country. Jordan McRae is one of four SBC defensive backs with at least three interceptions.
NORTHWESTERN STATE: The scoreboard didn’t deliver the desired result a week ago, but the Demons came away from their rivalry matchup with McNeese believing they had taken another step forward. Now they have a chance to turn that progress into a win on homecoming.
NSU (0-7, 0-4) welcomes Nicholls (2-5, 1-3) to Turpin Stadium on Saturday for a 2 p.m. Southland Conference kickoff on ESPN+.
The Demons are coming off an agonizing 24-21 loss to McNeese, a game in which five turnovers and explosive plays by the Cowboys after halftime proved costly. NSU’s offense produced 374 yards of offense, its second-highest total against an FCS opponent this season, while the defense limited the Southland Conference’s top rushing attack to just over 100 yards on the ground.
The defense also recorded nine tackles for loss, its highest total in a game since 2022, and forced two turnovers. It was the second time this season the defense had two or more takeaways in back-to-back games.
Head coach Blaine McCorkle believes the performance gave his team, especially the defense, a much-needed confidence boost entering another rivalry matchup.
“Hopefully it gives them the confidence boost they deserve,” McCorkle said. “Sometimes you have to prove to yourself that you can do it, stop buying the lies and go out and perform. I think that game gave them a really good look in their eye. They were eager to get back to work and put in a new game plan against Nicholls. I think we’re in a good spot coming out of last week.”