2023 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team

2023 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football
Conference	Conference USA
Record	3–9 (2–6 C-USA)
Head coach	Sonny Cumbie (2nd season)
Co-offensive coordinators	Jake Brown (2nd season) Scott Parr (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Scott Power (2nd season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Joe Aillet Stadium
Seasons ←  2022 2024  →

2023 Conference USA football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 25 Liberty y$		8	–	0					13	–	1
New Mexico State y		7	–	1					10	–	5
Jacksonville State*		6	–	2					9	–	4
Western Kentucky		5	–	3					8	–	5
Middle Tennessee		3	–	5					4	–	8
UTEP		2	–	6					3	–	9
Sam Houston*		2	–	6					3	–	9
Louisiana Tech		2	–	6					3	–	9
FIU		1	–	7					4	–	8
Championship: Liberty 49, New Mexico State 35
$ – Conference champion y – Championship game participant * – Ineligible for postseason play due to FCS-to-FBS transition rules Rankings from AP Poll

The 2023 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team represented Louisiana Tech University in the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bulldogs played their home games at Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston, Louisiana, and compete members of Conference USA. They were led by second-year head coach Sonny Cumbie. The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team drew an average home attendance of 15,796 in 2023.

Preseason

Conference USA media poll

Conference USA media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Western Kentucky	(18)
2	Liberty	(4)
3	Middle Tennessee
4	Louisiana Tech
5	New Mexico State
6	UTEP
7	Jacksonville State
T8	FIU
	Sam Houston

Source: ^[1]

Schedule

Louisiana Tech and Conference USA announced the 2023 football schedule on January 10, 2023. ^{[2] [3]}

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 26	8:00 p.m.	FIU	Joe Aillet Stadium Ruston, LA	CBSSN	W 22–17	16,299
September 2	11:00 a.m.	at SMU *	Gerald J. Ford Stadium University Park, TX	ESPNU	L 14–38	21,490
September 9	6:00 p.m.	Northwestern State *	Joe Aillet Stadium Ruston, LA (rivalry)	ESPN+	W 51–21	19,152
September 16	6:00 p.m.	North Texas *	Joe Aillet Stadium Ruston, LA	ESPN+	L 37–40	17,434
September 23	2:30 p.m.	at Nebraska *	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE	BTN	L 14–28	87,115
September 29	8:00 p.m.	at UTEP	Sun Bowl El Paso, TX	CBSSN	W 24–10	9,101
October 5	7:00 p.m.	Western Kentucky	Joe Aillet Stadium Ruston, LA	ESPN	L 28–35	13,014
October 10	6:00 p.m.	at Middle Tennessee	Johnny "Red" Floyd Stadium Murfreesboro, TN	CBSSN	L 23–31	9,602
October 24	6:00 p.m.	New Mexico State	Joe Aillet Stadium Ruston, LA	CBSSN	L 24–27	13,798
November 4	5:00 p.m.	at Liberty	Williams Stadium Lynchburg, VA	CBSSN	L 30–56	21,647
November 11	2:00 p.m.	Sam Houston	Joe Aillet Stadium Ruston, LA	ESPN+	L 27–42	15,080
November 18	1:00 p.m.	at Jacksonville State	Burgess–Snow Field at JSU Stadium Jacksonville, AL	ESPN+	L 17–56	20,252
*Non-conference game Homecoming All times are in Central time

Game summaries

FIU

See also: 2023 FIU Panthers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Panthers	14	3	0	0	17
Bulldogs	0	13	0	9	22

Statistics	FIU	LT
First downs	8	27
Total yards	182	450
Rushing yards	178	117
Passing yards	4	333
Turnovers	1	2
Time of possession	21:42	38:18

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
FIU	Passing	Grayson James	5/14, 4 yards, INT
	Rushing	Shomari Lawrence	15 rushes, 139 yards, TD
	Receiving	Josiah Miamen	1 reception, 4 yards
Louisiana Tech	Passing	Hank Bachmeier	34/44, 333 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Charvis Thornton	8 rushes, 51 yards
	Receiving	Smoke Harris	11 receptions, 155 yards, TD

At SMU

See also: 2023 SMU Mustangs football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	0	7	7	14
Mustangs	14	17	0	7	38

Statistics	LT	SMU
First downs	11	24
Total yards	269	457
Rushing yards	28	209
Passing yards	241	248
Turnovers	1	0
Time of possession	26:03	33:57

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Louisiana Tech	Passing	Hank Bachmeier	21/33, 241 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Charvis Thornton	8 rushes, 24 yards
	Receiving	Koby Duru	3 receptions, 55 yards, TD
SMU	Passing	Preston Stone	23/37, 248 yards, 3 TD
	Rushing	L. J. Johnson Jr.	14 rushes, 128 yards, TD
	Receiving	Jordan Hudson	2 receptions, 72 yards, TD

Northwestern State

See also: 2023 Northwestern State Demons football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Demons	7	7	7	0	21
Bulldogs	10	21	20	0	51

Statistics	NWST	LT
First downs	20	22
Total yards	324	478
Rushing yards	185	367
Passing yards	139	111
Turnovers	3	2
Time of possession	31:41	28:19

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Northwestern State	Passing	Tyler Vander Waal	10/24, 134 yards, TD, 3 INT
	Rushing	Kolbe Burrell	11 rushes, 56 yards, TD
	Receiving	Jaren Mitchell	4 receptions, 60 yards
Louisiana Tech	Passing	Hank Bachmeier	9/18, 110 yards, TD
	Rushing	Keith Willis Jr.	13 rushes, 188 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Kyle Maxwell	1 reception, 42 yards

North Texas

See also: 2023 North Texas Mean Green football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Mean Green	10	13	7	10	40
Bulldogs	0	14	0	23	37

Statistics	UNT	LT
First downs	32	21
Total yards	562	432
Rushing yards	249	215
Passing yards	313	217
Turnovers	1	1
Time of possession	33:24	26:36

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
North Texas	Passing	Chandler Rogers	24/40, 313 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Ayo Adeyi	19 rushes, 148 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Roderic Burns	11 receptions, 134 yards
Louisiana Tech	Passing	Jack Turner	9/13, 145 yards, TD
	Rushing	Tyre Shelton	16 rushes, 152 yards, TD
	Receiving	Cyrus Allen	5 receptions, 82 yards, TD

At Nebraska

See also: 2023 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	7	0	7	14
Cornhuskers	0	7	7	14	28

Statistics	LT	NEB
First downs	17	20
Total yards	338	419
Rushing yards	46	312
Passing yards	292	107
Turnovers	1	0
Time of possession	28:02	31:58

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Louisiana Tech	Passing	Jack Turner	27/42, 292 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Jacob Fields	6 rushes, 28 yards, TD
	Receiving	Cyrus Allen	6 receptions, 102 yards, TD
Nebraska	Passing	Heinrich Haarberg	8/17, 107 yards, TD
	Rushing	Heinrich Haarberg	19 rushes, 157 yards, TD
	Receiving	Billy Kemp IV	5 receptions, 62 yards

At UTEP

See also: 2023 UTEP Miners football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	14	3	0	7	24
Miners	0	7	3	0	10

Statistics	LT	UTEP
First downs	14	17
Total yards	294	321
Rushing yards	142	220
Passing yards	152	101
Turnovers	0	1
Time of possession	27:08	32:52

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Louisiana Tech	Passing	Jack Turner	9/20, 152 yards, TD
	Rushing	Tyre Shelton	16 rushes, 104 yards, TD
	Receiving	Cyrus Allen	1 reception, 85 yards
UTEP	Passing	Cade McConnell	4/11, 48 yards
	Rushing	Deion Hankins	15 rushes, 83 yards
	Receiving	Jeremiah Ballard	3 receptions, 39 yards

Western Kentucky

See also: 2023 Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Hilltoppers	21	14	0	0	35
Bulldogs	7	0	14	7	28

Statistics	WKU	LT
First downs	14	19
Total yards	426	397
Rushing yards	129	138
Passing yards	297	259
Turnovers	1	2
Time of possession	26:03	33:57

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Western Kentucky	Passing	Austin Reed	19/34, 297 yards, 3 TD, INT
	Rushing	Markese Stepp	9 rushes, 76 yards, TD
	Receiving	Malachi Corley	8 receptions, 207 yards, 3 TD
Louisiana Tech	Passing	Jack Turner	21/41, 259 yards, TD, 2 INT
	Rushing	Tyre Shelton	21 rushes, 118 yards, 2 TD
	Receiving	Smoke Harris	11 receptions, 117 yards

At Middle Tennessee

See also: 2023 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	6	3	7	7	23
Blue Raiders	10	7	7	7	31

Statistics	LT	MTSU
First downs	26	19
Total yards	419	353
Rushing yards	79	105
Passing yards	340	248
Turnovers	1	1
Time of possession	31:01	28:59

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Louisiana Tech	Passing	Jack Turner	14/23, 162 yards, TD, INT
	Rushing	Tyre Shelton	10 rushes, 39 yards
	Receiving	Smoke Harris	11 receptions, 129 yards
Middle Tennessee	Passing	Nicholas Vattiato	23/29, 248 yards, 2 TD
	Rushing	Jaiden Credle	13 rushes, 65 yards, TD
	Receiving	Holden Willis	4 reception, 103 yards, TD

New Mexico State

See also: 2023 New Mexico State Aggies football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Aggies	0	10	14	3	27
Bulldogs	3	13	8	0	24

Statistics	NMSU	LT
First downs	16	23
Total yards	327	371
Rushing yards	232	133
Passing yards	95	238
Turnovers	0	2
Time of possession	29:50	30:10

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
New Mexico State	Passing	Diego Pavia	10/19, 95 yards, TD
	Rushing	Star Thomas	10 carries, 88 yards
	Receiving	Jonathan Brady	2 receptions, 33 yards
Louisiana Tech	Passing	Hank Bachmeier	20/27, 238 yards, TD
	Rushing	Keldric Moody	9 carries, 55 yards
	Receiving	Kyle Maxwell	3 receptions, 68 yards

At Liberty

See also: 2023 Liberty Flames football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	0	0	0	0
Flames	0	0	0	0	0

Statistics	LT	LIB
First downs
Total yards
Rushing yards
Passing yards
Turnovers
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Louisiana Tech	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Liberty	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

Sam Houston

See also: 2023 Sam Houston Bearkats football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bearkats	7	7	14	14	42
Bulldogs	3	3	14	7	27

Statistics	SHSU	LT
First downs	19	20
Total yards	413	524
Rushing yards	144	105
Passing yards	269	419
Turnovers	0	4
Time of possession	28:37	31:23

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Sam Houston	Passing	Keegan Shoemaker	18/28, 269 yards, TD
	Rushing	Adrian Murdaugh	9 carries, 67 yards, TD
	Receiving	Noah Smith	6 receptions, 115 yards
Louisiana Tech	Passing	Hank Bachmeier	29/42, 384 yards, 2 INT
	Rushing	Charvis Thornton	2 carries, 48 yards
	Receiving	Cyrus Allen	7 receptions, 170 yards, TD

At Jacksonville State

See also: 2023 Jacksonville State Gamecocks football team

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bulldogs	0	0	0	0	0
Gamecocks	0	0	0	0	0

Statistics	LT	JVST
First downs
Total yards
Rushing yards
Passing yards
Turnovers
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Louisiana Tech	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Jacksonville State	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

References

1. "FB: CUSA Announces Media's Predicted Order of Finish". July 21, 2023. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
2. Hedges, Russell (January 10, 2023). "College football: Tech unveils 2023 schedule". Bossier Press-Tribune. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
3. Louisiana Tech Athletics (January 10, 2023). "Louisiana Tech announces complete 2023 football schedule". Crescent City Sports. Retrieved January 11, 2023.