In the six times that UTSA has faced off against Louisiana Tech, the Roadrunners have won only once. On Saturday evening, UTSA will host the LA Tech Bulldogs at the Alamodome in their week 7 matchup.

UTSA is riding high after three straight wins, but this will no doubt be their toughest conference test so far this season. The UTSA defense is coming off their best performance of the year, and they’ll look to keep improving even more in the game against LA Tech. Despite having lost their last game, LA Tech is still an 11-point favorite over UTSA. The bulldogs are a talented, experienced team, so UTSA has their work cut out for them.

Here are three keys to victory for the Roadrunners.

UTSA vs. Louisiana Tech details

Date: Oct. 13, 2018

Location: The Alamodome in San Antonio

What channel is UTSA vs. Louisiana Tech on? 

UTSA vs. Louisiana Tech will be broadcast on ESPN+. 

How can I buy tickets to UTSA vs. Louisiana Tech?

Click Here to buy tickets to UTSA vs. Louisiana Tech at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

UTSA vs. Louisiana Tech preview

Win the field position battle

All season long, UTSA’s offense has struggled. Last game, even though they earned the victory, they only had 178 yards of total offense and were held to a season low 43 passing yards. They haven’t proven that they’re able to put long drives together this season.

Since the offense isn’t producing much, the field position battle will be critical. UTSA has to set themselves up with shorter fields in order to score. Against Rice, the UTSA defense forced some critical turnovers in opponent’s territory that set the offense up with great field position. With one of the best punters in the conference in Yanni Roustas, the special teams unit will have to come ready to play and consistently pin the Lousiana Tech offense deep in their own territory when the offense stalls out.

Find success in the passing game

Coming into last weeks game, Rice’s defense was allowing over 300 passing yards per game. However, they held UTSA to an ugly total of just 43 yards through the air and also forced a quarterback change midway through the third quarter.

UTSA quarterback Cordale Grundy has still yet to throw for more than 200 yards in a game this season and is averaging just 4.4 yards per pass. Grundy does have 93 completions this year, but the passing game has still been remarkably inefficient. Although UTSA did establish the running game more against Rice, they have to move the ball through the air more effectively if they want to have a chance at winning. 43 passing yards won’t cut it against a tougher LA Tech football team.

Create Turnovers

The key to last week’s win was turnovers. UTSA won the turnover battle 4-0 and that led to the 17-point win over Rice. UTSA has created 11 turnovers this season, including nine over their last three games. Louisiana Tech has an experienced offense that is returning 10-of-11 starters from last season, so the defense has to work hard to make sure they don’t get any type of momentum going.

With a struggling offense, the defense will have to do their best to give their offense the ball in good field position so they’ll have a better chance to score. The secondary was the weak spot in the defense early this season, but it seems like they have been improving. However, LA Tech has a quarterback that has the ability to throw the deep ball well, so they should be tested. We’ll see if they can come up with a couple more interceptions.

Final Score Prediction: LA Tech 24, UTSA 16