Louisiana Tech comes back, beats Virginia, 44-38

The Bulldogs have outscored teams 73-13 in the third quarter and have scored at least 31 points in a row two weeks in a row at a BSC-level school. Last week, they did it in a 52-24 victory at Illinois.

The Cavaliers (2-3) came out seemingly intent on getting into a wide-open game and flourished into the second quarter. Tailback Perry Jones threw a 36-yard touchdown pass, and Rocco made scoring throws of 73 yards to Shepherd and 2 yards to Paul Freedman until the Bulldogs’ defense made some plays.

The first came with a big assist from Virginia wideout Dominique Terrell, who got hit in the hands by a pass from Rocco, couldn’t pull it in and deflected it to Quinn Giles, who returned it to Virginia’s 25.

The play came right after the Cavaliers put on a goal-line stand, denying the nation’s No. 3 scoring team any points after a 94-yard kickoff return by D.J. Banks had set them up at the Virginia 3.

“Every time adversity hits our team, we know how to take it,” tailback Kenneth Dixon said.

Two plays after Giles’ interception, Holley ran it in from the 16 to make it 24-17.

A field goal by Matt Nelson, one of three for him in the game, made it 24-20 at halftime.

The Bulldogs took command in the third quarter, taking the opening kickoff and driving 73 yards in hurry-up mode to Holley’s 11-yard scoring run.

“We got first downs, which gave us a good rhythm,” Cameron said. “When you get first downs, guys started to click and that what we did,”

After an exchange of punts, Dave Clark intercepted Rocco and returned it to Virginia’s 43, setting up a four-play drive capped by Cameron’s 14-yard scoring run.

Two plays later, Rocco hit Hester, who took it 32 yards for a touchdown.

Rocco, who threw for 265 yards in the first half, was replaced by Alabama transfer Phillip Sims. He threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jake McGee, and then a 23-yarder to Adrian Gamble with 2:08 to play, but after Virginia seemingly held and forced a likely punt, the illegal substitution penalty doomed them.

“You can’t have however many penalties we had,” London said.

Cameron finished 23 for 36 for 218 yards and a 3-yard first-quarter touchdown to R.P. Stuart. It was Cameron’s 12th touchdown pass of the season, and he still has not thrown an interception.

Virginia’s halftime lead came despite being penalized 10 times for 95 yards and giving up 10 points in the final 3:02.

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