Three Keys to Victory: ULM

It’s back-to-back rivals for Louisiana Tech. For the third straight week, the Bulldogs will play a game along the I-20 corridor of North Louisiana. But rather than playing in the friendly confines of Origin Bank Field at Joe Aillet Stadium, Tech heads 30 minutes east to the… confines of Malone Stadium (I couldn’t come up with an adjective that felt right there). It’s the first meeting of the Bulldogs and Warhawks since 2000 – what can Tech do to continue its dominance of the UL System? Go on the offensive Last week Tech’s offense was extremely successful against a Cajun defense that had looked pretty decent through their first five games of the season. The Bulldogs moved the ball with a 51.3% success rate – and an especially impressive 61% success rate in obvious passing situations. Blake Baker was on fire, completing 77% of his passes for nearly 8 yards per attempt. The offense took what the Cajuns gave them all night long, and it paid off in the end. The great news for Tech fans this week? ULM’s defense ain’t the Cajun’s defense. In fact, it’s consistently ranked in the bottom five in nearly every one of my favorite metrics to look at for this article every week. Scoring Defense: LAST (45 ppg) Total Defense: LAST (512 ypg) Passing Yards per attempt: 136th (9.3 ypa) If last week is any indication of things to come – Tech will excel in passing situations. The Warhawks are allowing a 44% success rate on those plays, and Tech has proven that they’ll take advantage. Dogs of Havoc By this point in the season, you’ve heard and read about the Tech defense’s ability to create negative plays. In both the Army and ULL games, that propensity also created some opportunities for the opponent to score on long “explosive” plays. In 2026, it’s been sort of a live by the sword, die by the sword defense. Tech’s going to create negative plays, but will their aggressiveness haunt them over the course of a game? So far, the answer to that is mostly no – the Dogs came out on top in both games despite giving up multiple plays of 40+ yards in both. And there’s more good news here for Bulldog fans: ULM isn’t particularly built to take advantage of these moments. First off, they allow a havoc rate of 17.4% (120th). But the question is – do they punch back? And the answer is mostly no – they rank #102 in offensive explosiveness (for contrast, Tech ranks #6 in that same metric, and causes havoc on 21.3% of plays defensively (#9)). Tech should be right in their wheelhouse against a Warhawk team that doesn’t have much of a homerun threat. Feed the DOGS Last week we saw three Tech receivers go for 90+ yards in a single game for the first time in a decade. This season, Eli Finley and Jaylen Mickens have been stand out targets, each with a legit shot to be first-team All-SBC when it’s said and done. Add in Shettron and his 100 yard performance, and the Cajuns didn’t know what hit them! These guys create matchup nightmares for opposing defenses, and I expect Tech and OC Nathan Young to continue creating innovative ways to spread the football around. ULM’s chances pretty much hinge on whether their 130th ranked pass defense can slow down Baker & co. right as they’re getting into a really nice rhythm. Against FBS opponents, Tech’s passing yardage has increased week over week. I expect that to remain the case this week. If it does, Tech will ROLL in this one. Evan is a contributor at go tech pls dont die, a weekly podcast, Twitter, and blog that covers Louisiana Tech sports in a not-so-serious way.