Those miscues, coupled with a solid all-around performance on both sides of the ball from the Bulldogs, led to a 35-18 Tech win on a rainy day at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
Junior tailback Kenneth Dixon had a big day for the Bulldogs, running for 63 yards and a touchdown while also catching four passes for 79 yards and another score. Quarterback Cody Sokol overcame a slow start to throw for 247 yards and lead the Bulldogs to a win.
The real star of the day, however, was defensive end Houston Bates. Bates, a fifth-year senior, transferred from Illinois to La. Tech to be closer to home and he turned in an insane performance – seven tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks – against his former team.
The Illini racked up yards in bunches in the first half, but didn’t have much to show for it on the scoreboard – mainly due to eight penalties. A defensive holding penalty on a La. Tech fourth-and-one set up the Bulldogs’ first score of the game, a Jarred Craft 15-yard run that gave the Bulldogs a 7-0 lead.
Illinois was able to respond on its next drive with a 27-yard Taylor Zalewski field goal, but the momentum swung back in Tech’s favor in a big way soon after. On the first play of the Bulldogs’ ensuing drive, Sokol hit Dixon out of the backfield on a wheel route for an 80-yard score.
The next Illinois drive looked promising, but came up empty when Zalewski missed from 42. After forcing a La. Tech three-and-out, Illinois moved down the field quickly and scored on a Reilly O’Toole (24/39 for 295 yards) 25-yard touchdown pass to Jon Davis, but Zalewski missed the extra point, making it 14-9.
Illinois’ next drive resulted in another costly miscue as O’Toole was intercepted by Xavier Woods. Tech appeared to get away with a hold on Illinois receiver Mike Dudek (7 catches, 84 yards) and the ball floated right into the arms of Woods, who returned it 69 yards for a score.
Illinois missed another field goal a few minutes later and the Bulldogs went into the half up 21-9.
The second half was a different story – at first. The Illini were able to cut the lead to three early in the fourth quarter after a Donovonn Young 3-yard touchdown run (two-point conversion failed) and a David Reisner (filling in for Zalewski) 43-yard field goal.
Following the field goal, Illinois looked like it had forced a turnover of its own when LaKeith Walls sacked and stripped Sokol near midfield. Defensive lineman Jihad Ward scooped up the fumble and scampered the other direction, only to have the ball knocked loose. Sokol picked himself up and sprinted down the field and recovered the fumble at the Bulldogs’ 16-yard line.
That hustle paid off for Sokol. Three plays later, he hit Carlos Henderson for a 70-yard gain down to the Illinois 3-yard line which set up a Dixon touchdown run that gave the Bulldogs a 28-18 lead with 6:15 to play.
The La. Tech defense, including two more sacks from Bates, sealed the win from then on out. Blake Martin added the exclamation point in the form of a 28-yard touchdown run with 3:43 to go, giving the Bulldogs their first bowl win since 2008.
After going 4-8 in 2013, the win gave the Bulldogs a 9-5 record in their second season under Skip Holtz.
The Illini finish at 6-7.
For more Louisiana Tech news, visit BleedTechBlue.com.
For more Illinois news, visit OrangeandBlueNews.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
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