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Bulldogs Ready for First Scrimmage
March 27, 2008
RUSTON, La. - In preparation for their first scrimmage of spring workouts, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs spent Thursday's practice installing the two-minute offense and defense. Head coach Derek Dooley preached being situationally smart to his players heading into Saturday's scrimmage to help steal points or preserve the lead at the end of the first half and fourth quarter. "Everything changes in two-minute," Dooley said. "It's important to understand the time, what you need to win the game. This was the first time we worked on it, and there was some good competition there." Dooley's emphasis on making the right decision by taking the score and time of the game into account proved important Thursday as well. The second string defense intercepted a pass to seal victory, but instead of falling down to keep possession, the defense attempted to run the ball back. An offensive player stripped and recovered the ball to give the offense a fresh set of downs and time left to score and win. Those are the kind of lessons Dooley wants his team to learn during the spring so the Bulldogs can take advantage of opponents' mistakes during the season and come away with more wins through their play in the final minutes. Tech will have its first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday, and Dooley is hoping to see some players step up and show they have what it takes to be a regular contributor on the field. "Scrimmages are always a good opportunity to evaluate players in a game situation," Dooley said. "Generally you see guys elevate their game or they don't perform as well as they do in a regular practice. You begin to see who you can count on." Saturday's scrimmage is closed to the public and marks the two-week countdown until the annual Spring Game on T-Day at 1 p.m. April 12. |
