LA Tech tops Illinois in Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl

Louisiana Tech ended the 2014 season as champions, earning a 35-18 win against the Illinois Fighting Illini to take home the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl trophy Friday afternoon at Cotton Bowl Stadium.
Senior defensive end and former Illini Houston Bates earned Most Valuable Player honors with an NCAA Bowl and stadium record 5.5 tackles for loss, including 4.5 sacks, which is the second most sacks in history in bowl games.
With the win against Illinois (6-7), LA Tech (9-5) becomes the first Conference USA team to beat a team from a Power 5 conference this season. It marks the first bowl victory for the Bulldogs since winning the Independence Bowl in 2008, and it is the second time in three years LA Tech has tallied nine wins.
It was a 28-yard rush from Kenneth Dixon on Tech’s second play that sparked the offense, giving Dixon the school record for career rushing yards as he surpassed Daniel Porter’s previous mark of 3,352 career rushing mark. Dixon, a junior, finished the season with 1,299 rushing yards and 3,410 for his career.
The Bulldogs capitalized on Dixon’s 28-yard gain when Jarred Craft broke off a 16-yard rush to the end zone midway through the first quarter to put LA Tech up 7-0.
llinois got on the board on the following drive to make it a 7-3 contest when Mike Dudek’s 50-yard rush put the Illini at the Tech 22, but the Bulldog defense stood tall and forced a field goal thanks in part to a Bates sack on first and goal.
Dixon needed just one play to respond as he caught an 80-yard pass from quarterback Cody Sokol to put the Bulldogs up 14-3 with just over three minutes remaining in the first quarter.
After the Fighting Illini missed a field goal, they followed up by scoring their first touchdown of the game with 11:15 remaining in the second quarter, but a missed extra point made it a 14-9 game.
The Bulldog defense got in on the scoring action on Illinois’ next drive, as defensive back Xavier Woods picked off his sixth pass of the year and returned it 69 yards for a score to put the Bulldogs on top 21-9 heading into the half.After a touchdown and failed two-point conversion in the third quarter, the Illini pulled within three at the beginning of the fourth quarter thanks to David Reisner’s 43-yard field goal.
On the ensuing drive, Louisiana Tech’s Sokol fumbled but Sokol recovered the ball after Dixon forced the Illini to fumble on the same play.
With the ball again at its own 16-yard line, Louisiana Tech once again found the end zone after Carlos Henderson’s 70-yard catch moved LA Tech to the three-yard line before Dixon punched it in for the 28-18 lead. With that rushing touchdown, Dixon broke the school record for career rushing touchdowns (53).
The Bulldog defense then forced a three-and-out by Illinois, and the offense tacked on another touchdown with 3:43 to go, this time with Blake Martin rushing for 28 yards into the end zone for his first touchdown of the season to seal LA Tech’s 35-18 victory.
Locally, Central Catholic alum Lloyd Grogan saw time on defense for the Bulldogs and recorded three solo tackles. The redshirt sophomore safety finished the season with 40 total tackles (26 solo and 14 assists) in 13 games. He recorded one tackle for a loss of seven yards and had two pass breakups, one pass defended, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick.