Our Post Game Reactions
Evan: Tech played a well-rounded game against a vastly inferior opponent and came up with its first true domination of the year in FBS play. The Roadrunners couldn’t do much outside of a few successful drives. The Bulldogs defense had a very workmanlike approach to the game: everyone did their jobs and did them well. The offense really struggled to run the football, but luckily, “Heard You Was Talkin’ Shit” J’Mar showed up this week and threw for over 300 yards to make up for the lack of a running game. Hopefully next week the running backs will be healthier and we can get back to 9.7 yards per carry Dancy, rather than the 1.5 yards per carry Dancy we saw Saturday.
Josh: I thought Tech played very well and beat a team they were supposed to beat. After watching the offense struggle against UAB, it was nice to see things work against UTSA. It really shows that in order for our offense to be successful, our run game has to at least be a threat, even if this week we didn’t run so well compared to past games. J’Mar being able to successfully throw the ball is what kept the offense rolling and it’s good to see him carry the offense. Honestly, I’m super impressed by how bad UTSA looked at times. I thought they were a program on the rise that was supposed to compete for the west division yearly, but I guess something has happened in San Antonio that I don’t know about.
Nathan: It’s hard to take anything away from this game. Tech played well enough against a bad team. I don’t think I really learned anything about this 2018 squad, and assuming Saturday isn’t a disaster, I’m not sure I will when Tech plays UTEP either.
Did Tech Die?
Evan: Unless UTSA’s totally real and not pathetically fake cannon accidentally misfired and hit a Bulldog player….no, Tech did not die!
Josh: Tech went and did not die!
Nathan: Tech did not die, but UTSA Head Coach Frank Wilson must have if he thinks Tech was only better than UTSA “on this day”.
Player of the Game
Evan: Collin Scott. The Bulldog linebacker ended the game with six tackles and one sack. That sack came on UTSA’s opening drive, and totally killed the momentum after the Road Runners’ 52 yard play to open the game. Scott came straight through A gap, untouched, and put Cordale Grundy in the dirt. On the next play, Blake Baker faked another A gap blitz and brought pressure from the edge. Scott didn’t blitz, but the specter of him blitzing spooked Grundy enough to disrupt the play.
Josh: J’Mar Smith. 300+ yards and carrying the offense to a win. He did what needed to be done.
Nathan: Ferguson. Yeah, he didn’t put up the numbers that he did against North Texas. But UTSA focused so much of their attention on him, it allowed Collin Scott and others to have a larger impact.
Tech Record Predictor
Contest Recap
This week, we had 29 players compete in the contest. After last week’s debacle (only two players scored in double digits), we saw an improvement back to the kind of scores we’re used to seeing. The 29 players scored an average of 8.3 points, which is pretty good, considering that no one got any points on question 2.
The league table continues to heat up, too! With just four weeks remaining until the gtpdd Contest’s inaugural playoffs, let’s take a look at how our Top Ten is shaping up:
There’s actually a three way tie for third and fourth place! If the playoffs started this week, I’d have to come up with a tie breaker! As it stands, your top 4 is: Steveyti (77), JC (68), Daniel Adams, Mikey Spikey, and Reece Aultman (66). Exciting stuff! Fun fact: The only one of those five players in the top four (wait….) that has been the winner of a week is Reece. No one else at the top of the board has won a sticker (yet!). Let’s get to the questions!
Questions 1 & 2: Who’ll win; by how much?
Answer: Tech won! By 28! Every single person predicted that Tech would win….but no one scored any points on #2. Everyone thought they’d win by less than 28. The largest margin of victory predicted was 17 points.
Question 3: Predict the total punting yardage in the game.
Answer: There were a lot of punting yards in this game. UTSA has a really good punter, and Tech’s Davan Dyer actually did a consistently good job, too! The correct answer was 419 yards. We had two players score five points by being within five yards: Chase Patterson, and your fearless leader, your faithful comrade, the wind beneath your wings, me, your Contest Czar.
Question 4: How many receptions will Tech players have in the game?
Answer: Tech players had 25 receptions in the game. Four people scored five points for being within one point. Germdawg and Ben LaBorde got it exactly right! Only 7% of players didn’t score any points on this one.
Question 5: Who will win the coin toss?
Answer: UTSA won the toss and elected to defer to the second half. Remember that time that Tech won the toss and elected to kick when then meant to defer? What a sad day that was! Totally real* bonus points to whoever remembers what game this was.
*not real bonus points
Question 6: Predict the yardage of Louisiana Tech’s longest play from scrimmage in the game.
Answer: J’Mar Smith hit George Scott on a 67 yard touchdown pass in the third quarter. Two players got within 3 yards and scored full points: Ben LaBorde and Josh, who got this one exactly right!
Bonus: Let’s say that Wile E. Coyote’s distant cousin, Tech XXII, wants to purchase an Acme Corp. Super Outfit with which to catch Rowdy the Road Runner. Acme, of course, only accepts incompletions thrown by UTSA players as currency. To purchase the outfit, Tech will need UTSA’s quarterbacks to throw more incompletions than their current season average. Will Tech XXII be able to afford the Acme Super Outfit by the end of the game?
Answer: UTSA players averaged 16.5 incompletions per game prior to kickoff Saturday. They threw 21 in this game, so Tech XXII got the Super Outfit and caught Rowdy!