by Malcolm Butler
BOWLING GREEN — Road wins have not come easy for Louisiana Tech over the past five years.
Nothing has come easy.
However, on a day where the Bulldogs never found the black-painted end zone at Hutchins-Smith Stadium, Tech still found a way to claim a victory over C-USA leader WKU spoiling the Hilltoppers Homecoming.
Buck Buchanan connected on four field goals, the Bulldog offense found a rushing attack and controlled the clock, and the Tech defense stone-walled the high-powered WKU offense in a 12-7 win Saturday.
As has been the case all season, the game wasn’t decided until the waning moments. After Buchanan’s 48-yard field goal attempt was blocked with less than two minutes to play, WKU took over on Tech’s 47 yard line with 1:55 to play and two timeouts.
However, as they did all day long, the Bulldogs defense stood tall. On fourth down and 15 from the Tech 35, WKU completed a pass to Dalvin Smith but Cedric Woods tackled Smith one-yard shy of the line to gain, forcing the turnover on downs.
Tech was able to kneel and run out the clock, picking up just its second road win in the last four years.
“We talked about all week was being uncommon,” said head coach Sonny Cumbie. “People are drawn to uncommon things. It is very common in a season that we have to blame, to shut it down and exit stage left. I talked to our team about being uncommon. They have an uncommon fight and grit.
“The ball has not bounced their way this season. You see the belief they have in each other, that is the most important thing. I think we dominated the line of scrimmage. Really proud of our football team for how hard they played.”
One week after its most gut-wrenching loss of the year thanks to a Hail Mary pass that sent the contest into overtime against Jacksonville State, Tech (4-6, 3-4) never flinched against the Hilltoppers (7-3, 5-1).
The Bulldogs discovered a rushing attack, mounting more than 200 yards on the ground and dominating the time of possession with 40 minutes. Amani Givens recorded the first 100-yard rushing performance by a Bulldogs since Tyre Shelton’s effort in last year’s loss to WKU, totaling 103 yards on 17 carries. Omiri Wiggins added 70 yards on nine totes.
“Coach Young and the offensive staff put together a great plan of running the football,” said Cumbie. “We were able to get Tru Edwards open a little bit, but they were daring us to try to win the game with our run game. Really proud of our offense to be able to control the game and we won the game.”
The Bulldogs, who threw for just 66 yards including just 17 in the final two quarters, were able to move the football between the 20-yard lines once again. However, Tech couldn’t find paydirt, thus relying on Buchanan’s field goals.
Buchanan connected from 35, 42, 24 and 28 yards with his only miss being the blocked attempt late in the fourth quarter.
WKU entered the game averaging 30 points and 280 yards passing per game, but the Hilltoppers had no answer for the physical, swarming Bulldog defense.
The biggest stop came late in the third quarter. With Tech leading 9-7, WKU faced a fourth down and one from the Bulldogs five-yard line. Instead of attempting a chip shot field goal to take the lead, WKU elected to go for it.
WKU quarterback Caden Veltkamp tried to run for it out of the shotgun on a designed run, but he was stopped for a two-yard loss, giving the ball back over to Tech.
“We were trying to figure out what personnel grouping they were going to come out in (following the timeout),” said Cumbie. “Our defense executed better. They won the line of scrimmage. That was the story of the game. It was a great job by our secondary as well against a really good quarterback, receivers, and scheme. Our guys did a phenomenal job of shutting them down.”
Veltkamp completed 18-of-26 passes for just 152 yards while WKU totaled just 215 yards of total offense in the game.
Tech recorded seven tackles for loss, including three sacks, and didn’t allow a pass play of 20 yards or more in the contest.
“Tough one,” said WKU head coach Tyson Helton. “Didn’t get it done. Had a lot of opportunities. Defense responded when they needed to and got a big field goal block at the end to give us an opportunity. Really struggled offensively. Going into it we knew they were a really good defense.”
Nine of Tech’s 10 games have now been decided by one score, including eight straight contests.
Tech will travel to face Arkansas Saturday at 3 p.m. in Fayetteville.
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