Louisiana Tech to play in bowl game Saturday

Louisiana Tech and Illinois will meet in Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl Saturday at noon in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl.
The game will be aired on ESPN.
The Louisiana Tech-Illinois match-up will be a rematch of a 2012 meeting between the two schools in which Louisiana Tech rolled to a 52-24 win in Champaign, Illinois.
The Fighting Illini ended the season at 6-6 (3-5 Big 10) and capped the regular season with a 47-33 win at Northwestern.
The two teams had one common opponent in 2014 — Western Kentucky. Louisiana Tech dismantled the Hilltoppers, 59-10, Nov. 1, while Illinois beat WKU, 42-34, Sept. 6 in Champaign, Illinois.
Illinois is the former team of Louisiana Tech starting defensive end Houston Bates, a fifth-year transfer to the Bulldog program. Previously an All-Big Ten Conference selection, Bates has started all 13 games for the Bulldogs with 28 total tackles, including 10.5 tackles for a loss of 55 yards, 5.5 sacks, an interception, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, two pass break-ups and a team-leading 12 QB hurries.
Louisiana Tech is represented locally by Central Catholic alum Lloyd Grogan, a backup safety. In 12 games, Grogan has 37 total tackles (23 solo and 14 assists). He has one tackle for loss, two pass breakups, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick.
In its history, Louisiana Tech is 2-2 all-time against Big Ten Conference schools (2-4 against current B1G teams including Nebraska) and has won its last two meetings against Big Ten opponents.
Prior to Tech’s 52-24 win against Illinois in 2012, the Bulldogs topped Michigan State, 20-19, in East Lansing, Michigan, on Sept. 13, 2003.
The Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl will mark the second time Louisiana Tech has played in the historic Cotton Bowl stadium after facing Army in 2013 in the Heart of Dallas Classic during the Texas State Fair.
This will mark Louisiana Tech’s seventh bowl game in school history since the school moved up to Division 1 status in 1975.
Coincidentally, Louisiana Tech has been the home team in all six previous games and will be the home team for a seventh bowl game as the Conference USA representative in the 2014 Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl is slated to be the home team.
In its six previous bowl appearances, Louisiana Tech is 2-3-1 with wins against Louisville (24-14 in the 1975 Independence Bowl) and Northern Illinois (17-10 in the 2008 Independence Bowl) and a 34-34 tie against Maryland in the 1990 Independence Bowl.