The Louisiana Tech–Louisiana–Monroe football rivalry is an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

between the

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and Lady Techsters, commonly abbreviated La. Tech and Dawgs, refer to the sports teams of Louisiana Tech University, in Ruston, Louisiana. The teams compete in Division I of NCAA sports. Since 2013, Louisiana Tech has bee ...

and the

Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks The Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks (ULM Warhawks) are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM). ULM currently fields 15 varsity teams (six men's and nine women's) in 11 sports, and competes at the ...

(formerly the Northeast Louisiana Indians). The two schools are located 35 miles apart from each other on

I-20 Interstate 20 (I‑20) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I-20 runs beginning at an interchange with I-10 in Scroggins Draw, Texas, and ending at an interchange with I-95 in Florence, South Carolina. Between ...

North Louisiana North Louisiana (french: Louisiane du Nord), also known locally as Sportsman's Paradise, (a name sometimes attributed to the state as a whole) is a region in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The region has two metropolitan areas: Shreveport-Bossier Ci ...

. The two teams have met 43 times on the football field, with Louisiana Tech currently holding a 29–14 lead in the all-time series. The game was put on hiatus in 2000, following the Bulldogs' transition to the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

, but future matchups have been scheduled.

History

The matchup began in 1953 as a conference game, following Northeast Louisiana State's move to the

Gulf States Conference The Gulf States Conference (GSC) was an College athletics, intercollegiate athletic college football, football conference that existed from 1948 to 1971. The league had members in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Many of the league's members f ...

. After the Gulf States Conference dissolved at the end of the 1970 football season, Louisiana Tech joined the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

, while Northeast Louisiana remained a football independent school, and the yearly game continued as a non-conference matchup. The game once again became a conference matchup in 1982, when Northeast Louisiana joined the Southland Conference, before once again moving to a non-conference game following Louisiana Tech's departure from the Southland following the 1986 season. The early history of the series was dominated by Louisiana Tech, as the Bulldogs won 20 of the first 25 meetings between the two schools. Following the end of the 1978 season, long-time Louisiana Tech head coach

Maxie Lambright Maxie Thomas Lambright (June 23, 1924 – January 28, 1980) was the head coach of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team from 1967 to 1978 and the Louisiana Tech University athletic director from 1970 to 1978. He led Louisiana Tech to three D ...

resigned, and Tech decided to hire

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

assistant coach

Larry Beightol Larry Beightol (born November 21, 1942) is an American football coach. He has been inducted into both the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (Western Division) and the Catawba College Hall of Fame. Early years Beightol played high school football ...

as their new head coach, instead of promoting long-time Lambright assistant coach (and Louisiana Tech alum), Pat Collins. Collins was subsequently hired as an assistant coach at Northeast Louisiana, before being promoted to head coach following

John David Crow John David Crow Sr. (July 8, 1935 – June 17, 2015) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1957 as a halfback for the Texas A&M Aggies. After college, he played professional f ...

's resignation at the end of the 1980 season. Prior to Collins' first game against Tech as a head coach, he drew the ire of Tech fans by using insider information gleaned during his time as a Tech assistant to complain to Southland Conference officials and have the Bulldogs' star linebacker, Ed Jackson, declared ineligible to play. The game, dubbed the "Ed Jackson Bowl," quickly turned into a rout, as Northeast Louisiana dominated the Bulldogs en route to a 35–0 victory in front of 23,500 fans at Tech's

Joe Aillet Stadium Joe Aillet Stadium (formerly Louisiana Tech Stadium) is a college football stadium in Ruston, Louisiana and the home field of the Louisiana Tech University Bulldogs football team, which competes in Conference USA. The football stadium replaced the ...

. Collins spent eight seasons as coach at Northeast Louisiana and went 6–2 all time against his alma mater. Following Collins' tenure, however, Louisiana Tech once again began to dominate the matchup, winning 7 of the last 8 meetings, with a 1989 game that the Bulldogs initially won on the field, but later forfeited the victory, as the only blemish. In 2000, the matchup came to an end, with a 42–19 Tech victory in Monroe. Following the 2000 season, Louisiana Tech became a member of the

, while Louisiana–Monroe became a member of the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

in 2001. Since then, both teams have played in different conferences, and the game has not been scheduled. In 2013, Louisiana Tech left the WAC and joined

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

2012–2013 Bowl Season

Following the 2012 season, Louisiana–Monroe was invited to play in the

Independence Bowl The Independence Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually each December at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bowl ...

Shreveport, LA Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is ...

. Louisiana Tech was also invited to play in the game but instead chose to let the Independence Bowl's time deadline pass in hopes of an offer from another bowl that never materialized. The Bulldogs did not end up playing in any bowl game despite boasting the nation's top scoring offense. Several members of the media have speculated that Louisiana Tech's reluctance to play in the Independence Bowl may have been based on their reluctance to renew their rivalry with ULM, though Tech officials have denied that this was their motivation in seeking a different bowl game.

Attempted renewal

In the summer of 2013, at his inaugural press conference, Louisiana–Monroe's new athletic director, Brian Wickstrom, announced his intention to play Louisiana Tech in football every year. In a press conference with a local newspaper, Dr. Les Guice, Louisiana Tech's president, indicated that an offer would not be heavily considered, as the future out-of-conference schedule was full. Louisiana Tech's new athletic director Tommy McClelland confirmed that Tech would not pursue any games with Louisiana–Monroe, as they are "grow nga national brand" and that playing Louisiana–Monroe could not help Louisiana Tech accomplish that goal. In 2020, the rivalry is expected to be renewed amid a slew of cancelled games due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On November 16, 2020, both schools announced that the November 21, 2020 game that was scheduled to be held at

Independence Stadium Independence Stadium may also refer to: * Independence Stadium (Bakau) in Gambia * Independence Stadium (Namibia) in Windhoek * Independence Stadium (South Africa) in Mthatha, a football stadium in South Africa * Independence Stadium (Tanzania) ...

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

was canceled due to continuing COVID-19 concerns within the Warhawk program.

Future home-and-home

On March 29, 2023, it was announced that the Bulldogs and Warhawks would resume their rivalry, after nearly 30 years of dormancy. The first game will be played at Louisiana Tech on September 21, 2030; the second game will be played at Louisiana-Monroe on September 13, 2031. No future matchups have been scheduled after.

Game results

Notes:

References