Game Notes
Week 9 Preview
10/24/2025 | 28m 47sVideo has Closed Captions
Game Notes looks ahead at Week 9 matchups across the state.
Game Notes looks ahead at Week 9 matchups plus Louisiana Tech's Tuesday Night battle against Western Kentucky. Week 9 Matchups Western Kentucky 28, Louisiana Tech 27 Florida A&M vs Southern Grambling State vs Jackson State McNeese State vs Nicholls Texas A&M vs LSU ULM vs Southern Miss ULL vs Troy Southeastern vs Houston Christian Lamar vs. Northwestern State
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Game Notes is a local public television program presented by LPB
Game Notes
Week 9 Preview
10/24/2025 | 28m 47sVideo has Closed Captions
Game Notes looks ahead at Week 9 matchups plus Louisiana Tech's Tuesday Night battle against Western Kentucky. Week 9 Matchups Western Kentucky 28, Louisiana Tech 27 Florida A&M vs Southern Grambling State vs Jackson State McNeese State vs Nicholls Texas A&M vs LSU ULM vs Southern Miss ULL vs Troy Southeastern vs Houston Christian Lamar vs. Northwestern State
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Thank you for.
We are back.
It's another game day weekend, and it's great to have you with us here for game notes on LPB.
Happy to be with you on the Saturday morning alongside my Super Bowl champ partner Scott Shannon.
I'm Victor Howell.
We are closing in on the month of October.
The games mean even more right now.
But Scott, as we have learned this week on the grand scale of college football, things happen quickly.
We've seen it and the dominoes soon to be falling a lot faster than what we're used to.
Yeah.
When you sit there in August and the season feels so far away and you're almost in November.
So right now, as a team, you're figuring out whether you're going to make early offseason plans or you're going to be in the playoffs for some of these teams.
But I think right now teams are they know what they are.
They know what they have in their roster, and now they're just trying to figure out a way to win some of these games, especially as the rival rivalry games come up.
Yeah, a lot of rivalry games on their way.
The pressure is being built up for players and on their fan bases, but it's also the pressure on the coaches and we have seen a lot of that.
And that news hit Baton Rouge earlier this week.
We know the lead in for the Southern Jaguars come into the season be ready to win the West.
You won the West a year ago.
You won the Bayou Classic.
You lost to Jay State.
While instead of getting off to that we've seen the book.
They just weren't waiting for the ending to come as fast as it did.
But it hit earlier this week for the South Jaguars on the bluff, and they are now looking for a new head coach as they start to finish out this regular season.
Following last weekend's ugly homecoming loss to Prairie View.
On Monday, the school announced they parted ways with head coach Terrence Graves one season ago.
Yes, the Jags won the Swac West under Grace.
They beat Grambling in the Bayou Classic before losing to Jay State in the Swac championship.
They were picked to win the West again this season.
Right now, the team is winless in conference play and have just one win on the year.
Now they'll go to interim root to try and salvage this season.
But the search is on for a new full time leader once again of the Jaguars football program.
We know that we really been struggling as a football team and, the moral of the story in a lot of ways is that, you don't want to lose, but you can sit when you lose some games, but it's tough to look at it, and you have to find a solution when you're not feeling like you're competing, for the entire game.
And I think that that got us to this point.
The thing about college plays is it's, it's a collaborative thing that we're offensive coaches get together and we put together a game plan.
And so I've been calling them for the last few games, since so, since the Alabama State game.
So, and we'll continue to do that.
We'll still collaborate with the other assistant coaches in terms of what we need to do game plan wise and, get on the field.
We'll make the best decision to move his offense forward.
And for us, come off as you know, I will have the I will have the headset.
So I'm going to put my best foot forward in terms of what I gotta do to win the next football game, that we have it up on our schedule.
Because that's my job now to put this team in the best position to win, make sure that the staff is all they supposed to do, and also make sure to junks to deslizado.
That's supposed to as well.
Hey, I've been a coach before, and, they don't been on the sidelines.
And and from a perspective that if they need anybody, they need fans now.
Right?
They trying to get they first win, coaches taking over and and so you need that extra push when you're not as confident as you been.
You haven't gotten the win and you're trying to figure things out sometime.
That home crowd, can help you get that win.
And that's what we're asking.
And they'll have that home crowd this afternoon to take on Florida.
And Fred McNair led Alcorn State at one point.
Remember, earlier this year, he was elevated to coach offensive coordinator.
Being the quarterbacks coach, he now takes over.
I thought it was interesting when Roman Banks said there's a difference between playing and competing.
He had a very rare press conference after the game last Saturday with a loss to prove you, and to me, that makes it sound like it looks like saying they did.
Yeah, it looks like either the team quit or the coach lost the team because he sees them playing, not competing.
That's why they made the move.
Yeah, I think when I hear him speak in there, I'm thinking of really it's between hope and despair.
Are you giving the fans hope or you giving your school hope that you can win?
Or is there despair where you go out there every single week and you think, we can't win this game?
If you have despair, it's time to make a move.
And I felt like, you know, just hearing him say that he felt like it was time to make a move, especially after last week's game and the slow start to the season and the numbers tell the story as you take a look offensively for the Jaguars look defense at times they've got some standout players, but they can only do so much.
When you look at the rankings of Southern's offense in the Swac, the numbers don't tell a pretty picture.
It has been a struggle all season long.
And just take a look.
They're dead last in points per game, just barely 13 points a game.
Dead last a total offense have only scored 11 touchdowns.
That's dead last.
You want to find something to be positive about okay.
The passing offense is 11.
We know the situation.
They've been using 3 or 4 quarterbacks out there on the block.
But Scott those numbers tell you that the defense can only do so much.
You're not getting any support from the offensive side when they're on the field.
So when you look at those numbers, we now know Fred McNair is going to take over.
You've got Florida A&M on the block today.
Then you go through the rest of the season.
And of course you lead up to the Bayou Classic.
When you look here at their schedule.
What's the most important thing for these Jaguar players now as they move forward under an interim?
Well, I think first and foremost it's about you have an opportunity of an interim head coach, but you get to play at home, get the fan base back, get them excited, show effort.
And I think it's the responsibility, the coaching staff as well.
We're not going to do the same thing.
We're not going to play the same players.
We're going to run the same offensive scheme.
We're going to do the same defense scheme.
We're going to change it up.
We're going to do it a different way.
I think that'll reinvigorate the guys and get the locker room going.
We'll see.
You want to take on, Florida A&M and see that the rest of the schedule.
And of course, the season will end down in New Orleans at the end of the year when they play the Bayou Classic against Grambling.
And we'll talk about Grambling a little later on in this program.
All right.
Let's talk about Nicholls now.
And McNeese will be taking place down on the bayou, where it's been over a month since the Colonels actually woke up in their own beds to get ready to play a football game in their own stadium.
Very familiar surroundings.
But that's what they did last night.
Getting ready for today.
Yes, it's a home game, finally for the Colonels as they play a big South End Conference game against the Cowboys from McNeese.
The Colonels lone win the season came at home in the first game of the season, a big time beat down on the defending conference champs, UAW.
But it's bit a bit of a struggle since that.
Now they welcome in the Big East Cowboys and reigning Southland Conference Offensive Player of the week.
Quarterback Jake Straw.
In last week's win over Houston Christian, he tied a school record with three rushing touchdowns, finished the game with a career high 108 rushing yards that went along with this 133 passing yards.
Now, cowboy fans hope he and the team can carry the momentum into tomorrow against a Nicholls team that McNeese head coach Matt Theater says resembles his own team in many ways.
I believe watching from afar because, Timmy was only the head coach one year when I was here, and, but watching from afar, I don't think anybody in the last decade has done it better than Nicholls has in our league.
You know, year in and year out.
I think the added layer for us is, you know, number one, we're going to go play a good football team that's hungry for a win.
Kind of the same position that that we were last week.
You know we need to we need to win a road game, which we have it in a tough place to play.
It's always been a tough place to play.
They've always done a really good job there.
And then another, added layer to us is this will be our first after new kickoff.
So we got to go through a new schedule and stuff.
So look, it's a great opportunity for us.
But, you know, the things that we did well, you know, you have to turn the page and you got to try to do them.
Well again.
And the big question will be, can the Cowboys do it again on the road?
It's a 3:00 kick this afternoon down into it was the first home game since September 6th for the Nicholls Colonels McNeese on the road this season it's been a problem.
Oh, and three on the road.
So that's what Matt Villatoro was talking about.
Have to do it again.
But the challenge being away from home in this series.
The Colonels have won the last four meetings.
Hopefully you have tickets to go enjoy Saturday afternoon football activity.
Oh if not, you have to check out this game on ESPN plus.
For Lamar, southeastern and probably Stephen F are really not that different.
You know you put put all three able to pull it out.
They're all gonna be the same team.
They're all really, really good teams.
You know, Lamar is going to come in here ranked 15th in the nation and very deserving of that.
They're six and one.
They've won six straight games.
They know how to win.
They know how to win a close game.
So they're very similar to southeastern.
So that's the challenge.
Just kind of like when we went to Minnesota Cincinnati back to back.
All right.
Now we get to play these two back to back or very similar teams.
So what are the lessons you learn from one of the other.
They're going to help you be better next time we go out.
Well last week it was a shutout loss to Hammond to the top 25 Lions from southeastern.
And afterwards Lane McCorkle said they are what a playoff team looks like.
Well, the demons might get another post up look today when they host the 15th ranked Lamar Cardinals.
Lamar is the highest ranked team out of the South and Conference, and haven't lost a game this season since dropping the season opener against North Texas.
This will be played in Natchitoches, so the demons hoping for some home field help.
Kickoff is set for 4:00.
Again, if you don't have tickets to make it out there to the game in person, check out all the action on ESPN plus.
What is it?
Past?
Also not indicative of what's going to happen in the future.
It's it's, That's good.
That's all we're done with tonight.
You got to, you know, you move on.
So it's, it's good to look backwards, but you gotta look forward, you know, process that we have this week.
We're not looking to.
We don't ever look to shut out anybody.
I look to go say, we gotta win this game.
We don't.
We don't do that stuff.
We go to our process during the course of the week and and we see how that plays out.
Because sometimes you might end up with the results that you got.
But the way you got there is not that's not what you wanted to do.
So we want to make sure that we follow a good clean process throughout the course of the week to get us ready for Saturday.
Well, it's been 65 years since the Lions have posted back to back shutouts, but that's the wave of momentum they're riding right now.
After shutting out McNeese and Lake Charles.
And then last week doing the same thing at home to Northwestern State.
Now, one of the biggest things head coach Frank Safo has going for him and his team right now.
It's balanced and it's overall balanced.
The offense for the Lions has been fast and dynamic, the defense has been aggressive, and special teams have been a big factor in the last few games so far.
Says that's been part of the strategy for this team and so far it is paying off huge dividends.
We've been rotating a lot of guys and playing a lot of guys and you know, you just got to have depth.
It's a 12 game season.
You got to be careful what you guys got.
You got to be smart.
Practice wise.
We got to be smart with the total number of reps it to get.
And, so that's why we this plan from the beginning was to get a lot of guys reps early in the season and continue to get those reps.
And those guys can then continue to grow and develop.
So, you know, it's important that you're going to get you'll get better when you're playing.
You don't get much better when you're standing on the sidelines watching.
So we got to play those guys and some of those guys a little bit of a good job.
He's been going deep into the roster spot.
And you look at the numbers here as I was just mentioning before, his sound bite, look at the points per game, almost 35 points per game.
These rankings are through the South and conference through this season.
Offense is number three.
Defense is number three.
Even kickoff return Scott.
That's number one.
When you talk about all three phases of game.
They're number one in kickoff return yards.
And they're at the bottom with 48% third down conversion.
That's a heck of a graphic right there.
You have all three phases of your football team with with great rankings.
Number one ranking number two number three ranking.
So you're doing very well in all three phases.
You've had two recent shutouts, your only loss on the year to LA tech and to LSU.
So you're playing good football and nobody's managed this two quarterback system as good as southeastern I think they've done as good as anybody in the country.
Yeah.
We focused about the the two quarterback system.
But I think those numbers show you it's much more than that.
We've seen the defense interception return from touchdown, kickoff return for a touchdown one week ago.
And even though they have those two quarterbacks, they're all using all the players all the way around them.
Look, with all due respect to Tulane, who's on a bye this week and is coming off a nice win has played well.
I think southeastern might be the hottest trending team of the 11 teams we're covering in the state.
Their trajectory has been on a very nice climb.
Yeah, I would agree with 100%.
I think they're secondary.
They have guys in the secondary who are going to play on Sundays.
Caleb Caleb Proctor was a guy we highlighted.
He gave LSU fits when we watched him play in, against the Tigers at night.
So he's going to be playing on Sundays.
This team has a lot of really talented players.
They're well coached and you sit down with the quarterbacks.
Last week I think it was so it brought us into their locker room, gave us an insight into just how tied this team is together, and that's going to take you a long way come November when it's time to win these games.
Yeah, they've been playing very, very well.
Let's take a look at their schedule now.
Closing things out.
Because as you'll notice when they get down on the road at Houston Christian here you have East Texas A&M at home in Hammond.
Then it's back to back road games.
It's always a big one and it's personal between Nicholls and Southeastern.
But look at those two games at Lamar and then at Incarnate Word.
Who's the defending champs in the Southland Conference.
We focus on that back in August and here we go.
It's coming down to those two games.
Lions don't want to look too far ahead, but let's set it up very nicely with the way they're playing here.
With five weeks left in their season.
Well, trust me, even with the rain forecast this weekend in Baton Rouge this past week it's been sunny.
Sun's been out.
It's been nice weather here in south Louisiana.
Don't ask Tiger fans.
It's been dark clouds and gloomy.
Coming off a disappointing week last week in Nashville, where the Tigers suffered a tough loss to the Commodores from Vanderbilt, and it doesn't get any easier this week, with number three Texas A&M rolling into town to face the Tigers and a prime time matchup tonight.
The college landscape has changed a lot this week.
Terrence Graves being let go Billy Napier being let go at Florida out of the SEC.
Things are moving fast.
But Brian Kelly says he doesn't have time to look for any of that stuff.
He's still trying to be focused on getting his team better.
I can't take time to think about those things.
I have to think about not making mistakes in the red zone and making sure that we do a good job staying on the upfield shoulder of the quarterback.
When we blitz off the edge into a naked boot, I got to think about those things and helping our coaches keep coaching and teaching that.
And so I'm not trying to play off your question, but the reality of is that if I take a global view on all of these things all day, I wouldn't get my job done.
And some are saying that I'm not getting it done now.
I get that right, and I get the criticism that comes with that.
But we are working hard every single day to get our football team better.
He was asked directly about everything that's going on in football.
Hey, I don't have time for that.
I got to get my team better.
And here you go tonight Texas A&M number three and undefeated.
Though the Aggies have not won in Baton Rouge since going back to 1994.
Remember the name Mario Craver?
He leads the Southeastern Conference with his receiving hours with a quarterback who is an excellent and a defense that has been stingy.
This game will be broadcast nationally tonight on ABC, and the game is a sellout.
So if you don't have tickets, you can watch all the action on ABC.
Scott, early this week, Brian Kelly was asking the SEC teleconference does he have a fear of losing his team.
And he merely said, no, not even thinking about it.
We've got quality guys.
We're in no position right now to lose this team with what's what's going on.
However, I remind you, it was the end of last year when they said, we're keeping receipts.
We'll see you in the playoffs.
You're one loss away from a three loss team.
You still got to go to Alabama.
You still got to go to Norman.
You could have a five loss season.
What they're going.
So with everything that's happening with denial and transfer, how do you keep the team focused when you already have more losses than what you thought you were going to?
At this point of the season?
It's hard.
It's hard to keep the outside noise out, especially in this day and age with social media and all these kids, they have accounts, they listen.
Everybody talk to them, tell them what's wrong.
Family members are going to tell them it's not you, it's it's your teammates.
So you constantly have to keep the things inside your locker room, keep that hope and know that you have a good football team.
Last week I sat up here and I talked about part of the problem was effort.
You have too good a talent on your team not to play better than you are.
The Vandy game.
Yeah, it was a it was a game that I felt like LSU could have won.
But last year when they played at A&M, I felt like that was kind of the the window opening to some of the problems defensively running quarterbacks are going to face.
Marcell Reed came in the game last year with eight minutes in the third quarter and outscored LSU by really 31 six.
So that's the guy.
That's the guy you're gonna have to contain in this football game tomorrow night.
But I think there's a lot of talent on this team.
But at some point you're almost November.
You're you're things that you've been talking about.
Getting fix is the time is now.
It's time is now.
So it's getting too late.
Once you get to November, say it's now if you haven't already passed it.
So you better hurry up.
And to your point, Brian Kelly was also asked about being physical.
He said yes, we have to be more physical.
Here's where the Tigers stand in the SEC.
When you look at the standings, and I want you to notice all the teams on the left.
Look, look at the numbers, Scott.
That's absurd.
Look at the rankings of everybody.
You won't find LSU.
Do you get to the top of the right column.
They're at five and two overall at two and two in conference play.
But A&M leading the charge.
You go to Alabama after the bye week.
Of course Arkansas comes to you in November.
But there's the gantlet that is now ahead of LSU.
And they've got to make some moves immediately.
And we'll need a lot of help.
And don't forget they're going to finish up the season at Oklahoma in Norman there at the end of November.
So let's focus on tonight's ball game with Texas A&M and what they're going to be facing.
As you take a look at the schedule here with LSU at home, weather could be a factor, which means you might have to rely on the run game.
LSU run game has not been good.
Texas A&M is very well balanced.
So where do you think the keys live for LSU to get what is basically a must win tonight at home?
Yeah, well I mentioned earlier Marcel Reed is going to be the key.
This guy he's got great legs.
He can make plays outside the pocket.
You had trouble last week against Vandy.
It's going to be the same type of situation this week.
You cannot let let's get outside of the pocket.
He's going to make plays break down keep him contained as good as you can.
He's he's the dynamic with his legs.
But I do think there's there's vulnerabilities on this A&M defense.
They give up 528 yards to Arkansas last week 268 yards of rushing I know LSU's run game hasn't been great all year, but it's a defense that you can run the ball against.
You don't have to just go away from certain things because they've shut people down over 500 yards against Arkansas.
There's vulnerabilities there.
You have to find points.
And I know that sounds silly and simple, but you have to score more than 24.
That was your high point last week in Nashville and it was averaging around 30.
So already on paper you're down six.
The offense have got to find a way to score some points.
They absolutely do.
And I think that's been the most frustrating part.
You know as a defensive guy I'm always going to focus on the defense first.
But I think you ask anybody coming into the season everybody had high expectations for this LSU offense, which we score 40 points a game most everybody wanted.
We have a returning quarterback, and I think it really starts with being patient.
Three yards and four yards in a cloud.
It does is not a bad play.
It gives your quarterback a chance on third down.
So stay consistent with the running game.
You have really good running backs.
Feed them the ball.
Get Harlan, bury the ball in space.
That's a young guy who's a dynamic playmaker.
So you have guys.
You just need to utilize them in the matchup right now.
See what happens.
630 kick there in Tiger Stadium.
It is going to be sold out.
Let's go to an hour West on I-10 to Lafayette for the raging Cajuns and their focus point.
You remember Walker Howard.
He started the season.
And then he left the season before the end of the first game.
And then they went to quarterback number two.
And then he went to quarterback number three with lunch Winfield.
And then last week all of a sudden boom Walker Howard back on the field again.
He's out there slinging it for the cage.
And it wasn't enough to get the win for the Cajuns.
But he's back and getting healthy.
And head coach Michael Decimos says if he's ready to go we got to play them.
You've got at least five left now, hopefully six.
And by some miracle, maybe seven.
But you got to continue to get him the guy ready to go play.
And he's looked really good in practice.
But, nothing replaces those game reps.
You know, hopefully I think if the situation if we feel good about it, being able to get him a little bit every game, a driver or two I think is really good for him.
You know, at some point if and when we need him again, you want him to be really confident, be ready to go.
And I thought he threw the ball with a lot of confidence.
You know, and he's practiced well.
Rachel, Cajuns are on the road.
They'll be at Troy.
That's a tough opponent tonight.
6:00 for that ball game.
As the Trojans have the number two defense in the Sunbelt Conference.
Check out the action tonight on ESPN plus.
That same Southern Miss team that got past the Cajuns last week back home in Hattiesburg, set to host another Louisiana team.
And the Warhawks from you all Monroe Warhawks had a rough second half last week and their loss to Troy, but there have been pockets of improvement for head coach Brian Vincent, the defense as a whole being one of them.
The challenge today, can I keep up with Golden Eagle quarterback Braylon Braxton, who's having an outstanding season for the Golden Eagles defense, will have its hand full.
The offense has to be ready to step up.
Step up.
It's an afternoon kick.
230 Hattiesburg isn't a bad drive for Warhawk fans.
If you can't make it, don't worry, you'll see all the action on ESPN plus.
Well, at the start of the season, we had a chance to visit head coach Mickey Joseph on the campus of Grambling University and talk about not only being a coach of the Tigers, but being a coach of a brand this afternoon.
Tonight, rather, is really a perfect example of that.
To play games in Shreveport, play the game in Dallas.
Now you're playing the number one team in the Swac in Vegas.
But yeah, it's Grambling against Jay State.
This one's going to be played out in Vegas.
It'd be great to see us here on campus.
But remember, it's the brand and it'll be a heck of a matchup when we see these two teams go at it.
Bow your neck.
I mean, you you played the number one team in the country, which is Ohio State okay.
You played the number two team in the country.
Now you get the opportunity to play the number one team in HBCU.
What opportunity?
What opportunity.
And then they take you away to Vegas.
That's a great opportunity.
You get to go see Vegas.
You get to play the number one team in the country.
So now have some gap integrity and and stop the run okay.
Stop the run.
But it's going to be hard.
They're very explosive.
And I just explosive in the run game.
That kid can make every pass.
That kid can throw every every pass.
They got some great receivers, but they will coach.
They will.
Of course, they're not number one for nothing.
Do we respect them?
Absolutely.
We respect the one 100%.
Are we intimidated?
Absolutely not.
Absolutely not.
Because I'm not intimidated.
And you going to follow your daddy so your dad ain't intimidated.
You're not intimidated.
But we're going against a good football team.
Absolutely.
And I want to make that clear.
They're really good football team.
But nobody's intimidated in this building, this football.
It's no such thing as being intimidated.
Scott I'll be right back.
I'm going to make sure I follow your daddy.
Dad is not intimidated, and neither are you.
Well, Marco Linzer leads the FCS in interceptions.
Made two interceptions in the Tigers victory on Saturday at Pine Bluff.
He also made six tackles.
That's why he's the Swac Defensive Player of the week.
As for Trey Bradford, he was dominant in Grambling victory ran for over 120 yards for the second consecutive week.
He finished with a buck 23 and two touchdowns, including the game winner.
Seeing Bradford carry the Rock a lot.
It's something Tiger fans better get used to.
Well, that's what that's what I bought Trey here to do is to carry about 2520.
He's older.
We tried to get the young kids some, some, some playing time to get them because we naturally we still have to have some kids.
So now it's two.
It's, it's October, so it's a little cooler right now.
He's he's always in great shape and and he can.
Tony.
It's time to run, Trey.
Time to run Trey.
You know and just run him in.
And that's what we're going to do.
So they're starting to come into their own up there.
And Grambling is great to have Trey Bradford.
We know about his dad and what he's done to the quarterback system.
But again is that coaching the brand you've already had three.
I would love to see this on campus.
Jay State yeah, but hey you're going to Vegas National Showcase.
Yeah what an experience I think I think Coach Joseph was one of the best coaches in the country, I really do.
I think you listen to him talking.
I put myself as a 18 year old kid, sit in that seat listening to him talk.
I'd be motivated to play a football game.
And I think he really cares about these young men and the brand.
I mean, I think he represents the brand well to be playing in Vegas, it's going to be a national stage.
They're going to be they're going to be.
The national audience is going to be there watching this game.
So I think the tremendous opportunity I think has just it does a great job putting it in perspective for the young men.
Like take advantage of this, soak it in because you don't get many moments like now it's going to be a good well Grambling and Jay State tonight out in Vegas.
Let's take it a highlights.
The night we had a rare game our Tuesday night game up in Ruston.
As we wrap up this morning on game notes Louisiana Tech was in action Tuesday night.
Remember they played Thursday a week ago so they had an extended time break off.
Then they come back on a Tuesday night to take on Western Kentucky.
It's three nothing Western Kentucky with Blake Baker.
The beautiful touch to Malia and Jackson that goes 41 yards.
And that leads to Baker finding David Pietro in the end zone.
That's touchdown on this pass right there seven three Louisiana Tech big moment here early in the game.
Look at the blitz and the tackle by Eric Hill.
It happens fast Scott boom fumble.
Tech's going to take advantage.
But they're going to review.
And we're going to watch it one more time.
He's ejected for targeting.
Do you agree I don't I think you see the head snap back and you automatically think targeting.
But I think it's more facemask a facemask and by definition targeting supposed to be the crown of the helmet.
I don't think the crown of the helmet touched him.
No big loss there on defense.
And the Bulldogs are down 22 seven at the half.
And when they come out for the opening kick they go deep into the playbook.
Sonny Cumbie pulling out the throwback.
And look at the wall that gets set up here for this one.
And they're going to take it all the way down for the touchdown Clay seven.
And nobody gets a one spin move.
And the Bulldogs run on the scoreboard 20 to 14.
And now it's 2017 tech.
It's a field goal.
This is going to tie it at 20.
Now tech had a chance to kick a field goal to win this at the end of regulation.
And the kick was blocked.
So we go to overtime.
And in overtime Tech's going to get the touchdown.
They outscore West Kentucky 20 to nothing in the second half.
And through this part of overtime it's now 2720.
But the Hilltoppers get a key fourth and eight.
And then when George Hart the third takes it in they're now down by one.
And Western Kentucky said we didn't come this far to tie and go to a second overtime.
We're going for the win Rodney Tisdale at quarterback gets it rolls, waits, looks and finds Cade Hutchinson.
That's it.
And that's all Western Kentucky wins it on the two point conversion in overtime 28 to 27.
Here's Sonny Cumbie postgame.
Tell you that share with the team afterwards is really there's not a word that I can say.
There's not a message that I can say that's going to ease the wound of this season.
Because it hurts.
We really have 100 guys.
I think they poured everything they could into a football game, into a week of preparation, you know, and and belief and expectation from the standpoint of what we were going to do.
I mean, at the end of the day, Western Kentucky, you know, credit them at the two point conversion.
Their quarterback did a great job of keeping the play alive and finding a backside drag.
You know, on the two point play.
You know I think our defense played a really good game in the second half.
They shut them out in the second half overtime and and you know you made it there the fourth.
They made a good throw and catch on the fourth down you know, and get down in the situation.
So, you know, there's a lot of bright spots individually and collectively in terms of our guys playing, better in the second half together.
But ultimately we want to win the football game.
We weren't able to do that.
28 to 27 was the final next game for tech Halloween night when they will take on Sam Houston.
We have a full slate of football ready to go on this Saturday, and we hope you enjoy all the action.
And thank you for starting your day with us.
For Scott Shanley and Victor, how we'll see you tomorrow night to wrap everything up on post game notes, but until then, enjoy your game day and thanks for joining us here on LP.
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