A look at Louisiana Tech's 2018 football schedule

Cory Diaz
The News Star

Louisiana Tech will play two SEC teams on the road, last season's Conference USA champion Florida Atlantic as well as West Division champion North Texas on the road and will have an early season bye week in 2018.

The league released its 2018 conference schedule Tuesday morning for all 14 teams and in the 13-week regular season, league play begins as early as Week 2 with FIU at Old Dominion and features at least one conference game each weekend after that. The Conference USA Championship Game will be held Dec. 1.

Louisiana Tech head football coach Skip Holtz walks the field while his team warms up before its game versus UTEP Saturday, Nov. 18, 2017 at Sun Bowl Stadium.

How the schedule worked out, Tech gets a bye week during Week 3 before it starts conference play, a month earlier than the mid-season off week in 2017. Once C-USA play begins for Tech in Week 5, it alternates home and away the eight total league matchups. The Bulldogs keep East Division foes Florida Atlantic and Western Kentucky on the 2018 slate from last season.

Louisiana Tech opens league play with a five-game stretch, starting Sept. 29 at North Texas, which won West last year, before hosting UAB in its home conference opener Oct. 6. The Bulldogs travel to UTSA Oct. 13, play UTEP at home Oct. 20 before facing the reigning Conference USA champions Florida Atlantic Oct. 27.

After playing Mississippi State on the road to open the final month of the season, Tech returns home to host Rice on Nov. 10, plays in final conference road game at Southern Miss Nov. 17 and closes out the regular season at home versus WKU.

Last year, Louisiana Tech finished fourth in the West at 4-4, winning three road games at WKU, Rice and UTEP. The Bulldogs beat UTSA, 20-6, at home in the regular season finale to reach bowl eligibility for the fourth straight season. In the inaugural Frisco Bowl, Tech dominated SMU, 51-10, to win its fourth consecutive bowl game and secure its fourth straight winning season at 7-6.

Home opponent records from 2017: (22-39)

Away opponent records from 2017: (47-30)

Toughest stretch: The early bye week forces Louisiana Tech to play 10 straight weekends. That's brutal, especially when the 10-week grind begins in Death Valley at LSU and concludes at home more than two months later versus WKU.

The first four games, three of them on the road, could easily set the tone for Tech for the rest of that 10-game run, with back-to-back away contests at LSU and North Texas before hosting UAB then going back on the road to UTSA the following week. If the Bulldogs could make it out of that four-game stretch 2-2, that would be huge moving forward.

Easiest stretch: Louisiana Tech should open the 2018 campaign 2-0 before having an extra week of preparation before heading down the Baton Rouge. Tech opens the season in Mobile against South Alabama, a team it beat 34-16 in Ruston in 2017, then turns around to host Southern from the SWAC in Week 2. The Bulldogs beat Southern, 62-15, in 2015.

Louisiana Tech 2018 schedule

Sept. 1 at South Alabama

Sept. 8 Southern

Sept. 15 BYE

Sept. 22 at LSU

Sept. 29 at North Texas*

Oct. 6 UAB*

Oct. 13 at UTSA*

Oct. 20 UTEP*

Oct. 27 at Florida Atlantic*

Nov. 3 at Mississippi State

Nov. 10 Rice*

Nov. 17 at Southern Miss*

Nov. 24 Western Kentucky*

Dec. 1 Conference USA Championship Game

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