2016-17 Football Previews – (C-USA) – Bulldogs
Looking for 2016 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs predictions? The Bulldogs have been members of C-USA for three years now and they’ve consistently been a threat since joining. Louisiana Tech has put together back to back 9 win seasons, but have some key pieces to replace heading into this season.
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2016-17 College Football Preview – Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
Head Coach: Skip Holtz
2015 Record:9-4
Louisiana Tech Odds to win 2017 FBS Championship: OFF
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With conference not really at it’s strongest heading into this season, the Bulldogs still should have enough pieces returning and coming in to be contenders.
The Bulldogs certainly have a lot of work to do. They will enter this season with a lot of new parts to work with. However, those pieces and parts have to fall into place early on.
Louisiana Tech had one of the best offenses in the conference. For that to continue, some of the underclassmen will be asked to do a lot.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Predictions: Team Strengths
Specialists Are Back
It’s not the most ideal situation for the Bulldogs, but their most impressive players returning are their specialists.
Place kicker Jonathan Barnes returns and has a solid season to build off of. Barnes went 22 of 26 on field goals and 6 of 8 from field goals over 40 yards.
Punter Gerald Shouse had 8 punts of 50+ yards in 2015.
While it’s not overwhelming to get excited about a kicker and punter returning. These two are going to play a giant part in this team’s plan in 2016.
Protection Up Front
While they lost a lot of playmakers offensively, the good news for the Bulldogs is that their offensive line lost nothing. In fact, they got even better.
Three starters return from last year and they even add a bonus 4th. Kirby Wixson, who was a starter in 2014 and then sat out the entire 2015 season with injury, returns to make this line even stronger.
O’Shea Dugas, who won Freshman All-American honors and Darrell Brown, who won second team All-C-USA honors return even more dangerous.
With a new playcaller under center, having a solid line to protect and make things easier in the early going is extremely important and a huge positive for this Bulldogs team.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Predictions: Team Weaknesses
Explosive Playmakers Gone
The Bulldogs lost a lot.
QBs Cody Sokol and Jeff Driskel have been dominant over the past couple seasons, but now it’s their backups turn to make his mark on the program.
Ryan Higgins doesn’t have the experience, but he has shown his abilities with a solid spring that gave him this starting job. Unfortunately for Louisiana Tech, they lost a lot more as well.
The Bulldogs RB Kenneth Dixon, who was a touchdown machine and could break through for huge runs has moved on. Louisiana Tech doesn’t have much to replace him, but they do have options.
They’ll have 3 guys that will get playing time early on, as they look for one of the three to pull away with the job.
Louisiana Tech will have to be conservative early on in the season, which is not how they operate, but getting these inexperienced guys the work in and get them feeling comfortable is important.
Not Only Thin on Offense
The defense for Louisiana Tech wasn’t the best, but on occasions they would step up.
However, this season they will see almost an entirely new unit as 8 starters are gone and need to be replaced.
The secondary returns just 1 starter and that certainly doesn’t bode well for a team that struggled mightily against the pass last season, ranking 100th in pass defense.
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs 2016 Prediction: 8-4
The Bulldogs just have a lot of question marks to deal with.
Offensively losing your star QB and RB that produced such a prolific offense isn’t going to be replaceable in just one game. Look for the Bulldogs to certainly struggle early on in the season, trying to find their groove.
Defensively they weren’t very good last year and they get even worse with the losses in the secondary. This defense has even more question marks than the offense.
They still overall have talent and if they can figure things out early in the season, Louisiana Tech will have a solid season.
Expect an 8 or 9 win season, but they likely won’t find themselves competing in the C-USA Championship Game unless a couple breaks fall their way.
2016 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Football Schedule
- 09/03/16 at Arkansas TV Fayetteville, Ark. 3:00 p.m. CT
- 09/10/16 vs. South Carolina State Ruston, La. 6:00 p.m. CT
- 09/17/16 at Texas Tech TV Lubbock, Texas 6:00 p.m. CT
- 09/24/16 at Middle Tennessee * TV Murfreesboro, Tenn. 6:00 p.m. CT
- 10/01/16 vs. UTEP * TV Ruston, La. 6:00 p.m. CT
- 10/06/16 vs. Western Kentucky * TV Ruston, La. 7:00 p.m. CT
- 10/15/16 at UMass TV Foxborough, Mass. 2:30 p.m. CT
- 10/22/16 at FIU * Miami, Fla. 6:00 p.m. CT
- 10/29/16 vs. Rice * Ruston, La. 6:00 p.m. CT
- 11/05/16 at North Texas * Denton, Texas 4:30 p.m. CT
- 11/12/16 vs. UTSA * Ruston, La. 2:30 p.m. CT
- 11/25/16 at Southern Miss * TV Hattiesburg, Miss. TBA
What do you think about our 2016 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs predictions? Please leave us a comment below telling us how you think they’ll do in 2016!
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