Louisiana Tech

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The Week 2 Buzz: 10 LSU players we could see more of against Louisiana Tech - 247 Sportsour readLouisiana Tech officially joins the Sun Belt Conferenceour readThe Southern Miss rivalry

Sun Belt · Sonny Cumbie, year 5 (20-32) · Joe Aillet Stadium · 28,019 · 13,108 avg in 2026

The nationunrankedAP / Coaches
The model#80 CFB ZeitgeistSP+ #80 (-3.8) · FPI #94
The marketBaylor by 19.5at Baylor · our model 22% Louisiana Tech · a number, not a pick

LastL 14–45 at LSU · Sat Sep 12 · Alonzo Jackson Jr. 3 sacks, 3.5 TFL, 12 tackles

Nextat Baylor · Sat Sep 19 · 4 pm ET · McLane Stadium · Baylor by 19.5 · series 1-5, lost the last 2 · Game preview

Updated Tue Sep 15 · through week 2

Zeitgeist statureRegional Program IV#129 all-time– holding
one line from Regional Program III
The era · 2014 through 2025

The CFP Era

12 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.

Era record 79-72 12 seasons
Best season 10-3 2019
TRAJECTORY · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program Quality AP Rank (inverted) CFP Appearance
'14'16'18'20'22'24NOW
CHAPTERS · 12 seasons · tap to open the archive
'14 9-5 '15 9-4 '16 9-5 '17 7-6 '18 8-5 '19 10-3 '20 5-4 '21 3-9 '22 3-9 '23 3-9 '24 5-8 '25 8-5

Louisiana Tech's 2014–2025 record is 79-72. The era is still being written; the CFP line is the one the program is arguing for.

Era win %
.523
Ranked seasons (AP)
0/12
Best AP finish
—

Program outlook

Terry Bradshaw went to Louisiana Tech. Four Super Bowls. Hall of Fame. The program won a national title in 1973. None of that gets Louisiana Tech out of Ruston, Louisiana — but the Bulldogs carry it without apology.

Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs

The pedigree is real and the profile is modest, and Louisiana Tech has made peace with the distance between them. Bradshaw came from Ruston, played for Maxie Lambright's Bulldogs in the late 1960s, went first overall in the 1970 NFL Draft, and went on to become one of the sport's most famous faces. The program won the College Division national championship in 1973. By any measure of what a small north Louisiana school should produce, that is an extraordinary history. By the measure of where the program has spent its modern life — Group of Five, Conference USA, the Sun Belt starting July 1, 2026 — the gap between the pedigree and the circumstance is real and generational.

Under fourth-year head coach Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech went 8-5 in 2025 and beat Coastal Carolina 23-14 in the Independence Bowl — a clean, unflashy winning season that describes the program's modern mode precisely. Stability, not glamour. Bowl-eligible, not headline-chasing. The 2025 season also brought a significant change on the horizon: Louisiana Tech leaves Conference USA for the Sun Belt as a full member on July 1, 2026 — a new league, a fresh competitive context, and the first legitimate shot at a conference title since the WAC championship in 2011.

That's the 2026 question in Ruston: can steady football, in a new league, turn pedigree into a present-tense result? The fanbase knows what the program is and isn't. They carry Bradshaw's name like it outranks the standings. A Sun Belt title would let the scoreboard catch up to the history.

On the field

Quarterback-developing, throw-it-around football — a lineage from Bradshaw through Tim Rattay that prizes producing passers and making the game move through the air. Cumbie's modern system fits that tradition: efficient passing concepts, pro-style reads, stability over splash. The defense aims for sturdy rather than spectacular. The fan character is plainspoken north Louisiana pride — people who know what their school produced, wear it without bragging, and show up anyway.

program outlook · as of 2026-06-14

All-time record · Louisiana Tech

Louisiana Tech has won 47% of its games since 1904 — 64% at home, 35% on the road.

301-323-11 all-time · 94 seasons · 1904–2026

Home 167-86-7
Away 124-230-3
Neutral 10-7-1
9 g 1900s
8 g 1910s
7 g 1920s
0% 1930s
31% 1940s
43% 1960s
64% 1970s
40% 1980s
54% 1990s
43% 2000s
60% 2010s
38% 2020s

Coaching Era · Louisiana Tech

Sonny Cumbie

Sonny Cumbie has held the program for 5 seasons — the era is established.

Era Sonny Cumbie · 2022–presentPrev: Skip Holtz (2014–2021)OC: Nathan YoungPrev OC: Tony Franklin (2025)DC: Luke OlsonPrev DC: Jeremiah Johnson / co-Jeff Burris (2024)
The full CFP-era story →The full coaching lineage →
5 years · era

Program memory

What this program never forgets

Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.

1970

Terry Bradshaw drafted No. 1 overall

The Ruston QB goes first in the NFL draft, putting Louisiana Tech on the national map

1973 Division II national title

Louisiana Tech wins the College Division / Division II national championship

2025 Independence Bowl win

A 23-14 bowl win over Coastal Carolina caps an 8-5 season and the program's return to stability

Moment of the season — so far · Louisiana Tech · 2026

Lost 14-45 at LSU

Week 2 of 2026. A reckoning loss — the data point the next season must answer.

Decisive Marginvs Top-10 (#8)

More in this tab

Ladder finishHow far up the ladder this season got.

Season standing · 2026 · 1-1

Louisiana Tech is 1-1 and unranked in the season's first weeks.

Even or better through the season's first weeks. The resume is still forming.

Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Coaching historyEvery hire and departure on record, not just the current era.

Coaching history

  • Hired Sonny Cumbie2022
  • Skip Holtz departs64-50, 9 seasons
  • Hired Skip Holtz2013
  • Sonny Dykes departs22-15, 3 seasons
  • Hired Sonny Dykes2010
  • Derek Dooley departs17-20, 3 seasons
  • Hired Derek Dooley2007
  • Jack Bicknell departs43-52, 8 seasons
Coordinator lineageOffense and defense under each coordinator.

Unit lineage

Louisiana Tech’s offense and defense, by coordinator

FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.

Offense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014–2015 · Tony Petersen2016–2019 · Todd Fitch2020–2021 · Joe Sloan2022–2023 · co-Scott Parr / co-Jake Brown2024 · co-Scott Parr / co-Nathan Young2025 · Tony Franklin2026 · Nathan Young
Defense2014–2026
2014201620182020202220242026
2014 · Manny Diaz2015–2018 · Blake Baker2019 · Bob Diaco2020–2021 · David Blackwell2022–2023 · Scott Power2024 · Jeremiah Johnson / co-Jeff Burris2025–2026 · Luke Olson
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customsThe gameday customs unique to this program.

Rituals

Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.

Terry Bradshaw 1968-1969

since 1968

more

Terry Bradshaw played QB at Louisiana Tech 1968-1969 + was drafted #1 overall by Pittsburgh in 1970. Bradshaw's Hall of Fame NFL career (4 Super Bowl rings with the Steelers) + the iconic Steel Curtain era retroactively elevated LA Tech football. Bradshaw's #12 jersey is retired + permanent program identity.

1973 Division II National Championship

since 1973

more

Louisiana Tech won the 1973 NCAA Division II national championship — Maxie Lambright coaching, perfect 12-0 season. The title cemented LA Tech as the dominant North Louisiana football program + opened the path to FBS reclassification (eventually) + Conference USA membership.

Cultural identityWhat college football loses if this program didn't exist.
BowlsEvery bowl this program's played, and how it did.

Bowl / Postseason Ledger

Recent postseason (2014-2025): 7-2

Most recent: 2025 — win 23-14 (home). Last 5 postseason: 3-2.

20252024202020192018
Reddit blowupsThe plays that blew up on r/CFB.

r/cfb moments

430
[Postgame Thread] BYU Defeats Louisiana Tech 45-14
Oct 2020 · r/cfb
259
[Postgame Thread] WKU Defeats Louisiana Tech 28-27 (OT)
Oct 2025 · r/cfb
252
[Postgame Thread] SMU Defeats Louisiana Tech 39-37
Sep 2021 · r/cfb
219
[Postgame Thread] SMU Defeats Louisiana Tech 38-14
Sep 2023 · r/cfb
191
[Postgame Thread] Louisiana Tech Defeats FIU 43-31
Sep 2019 · r/cfb

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