WKU’s offense sputters, fall to Louisiana Tech 59-10

A game that began with such promise, and actually saw the WKU defense play competently, fell to complete pieces after miscues early in the second half gave Louisiana Tech a free 14 points to build upon their 31-10 halftime lead. When it was all said and done, the Topper offense didn’t score in the back two quarters, and the defense slowly but surely decayed into what we’ve seen out of them all year, and the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs remained perfect in C-USA play with a 59-10 victory.

Brandon Doughty had an outing to forget, throwing for 134 yards on 14 completions and four interceptions, nearly all of which were underthrows. When Leon Allen and Ace Wales were trusted with the ball, they did good work, with Allen rushing for 76 yards on 14 carries and Wales had four carries for 54 yards, 46 of which game on the opening play from scrimmage. Taywan Taylor lead the way receiving way, with two catches, 50 yards and the only touchdown WKU scored on the afternoon.

It was a career day for a pair of Bulldogs. Quarterback Cody Sokol threw a career high five touchdowns, and even rushed for one, on his way to throw for 335 yards on 30 completions and an interception, but that’s just a small skid mark on a great line. Also with a career day was receiver Trent Taylor who caught nine balls for 113 yards and three scores, averaging 12.6 yards per catch. The Tops did do a good job with the Bulldogs rushing game, allowing just 129 yards, and kept leading rusher Kenneth Dixon to 77 yards, and 48 of that came on a long touchdown rush early in the first quarter.

The halftime score really wasn’t indicative of how close the game was. Sure, it was 31-10, but the Tops were still very much in the game, but a costly fumble on the second half kickoff killed any chances the Tops had at a comeback. If you missed the game, I know you don’t believe this statement, but it’s 100% true; the first half saw a tremendous defensive performance form the Tops. Probably the best defensive performance of the year, if not the best, than only second behind Navy. Limiting Dixon like that was as dominant as it sounds, but unfortunately Sokol burned the WKU’s cornerbacks and secondary for huge plays (but, let’s be honest, it’s what we were all expecting). I’m not 100% sure if it was the Bulldogs defense that truly stopped the Tops offense, especially when compared to the fact that it was the Tops’ offense that caused so many self inflected wounds.

Nearly everyone figured Louisiana Tech would win, but almost no one could have predicted one of the nations’ top offenses would sputter the way that it did. Oh well, back to the drawing board for homecoming and UTEP.

So, I know you have all sorts of emotions after this game and effort. Feel free to send them our way, either in a comment below or a tweet at @WaveTheRedTowel.