Daniel Porter Rushes Louisiana Tech Past Hawaii

NFL News - October 1st, 2009 - Written by Scott

Louisiana Tech running back Daniel Porter wanted to make a statement Wednesday night against Hawaii. The Bulldogs came into their game with the Warriors ranked 103rd out of 120 FBS teams in rushing yards per game. This will change after his performance Wednesday night as he rushed for 160 yards and 2 touchdowns and led the Bulldogs to a 27-6 victory over Hawaii. The win gave them their ninth win in their last ten games at home.

“I got my mojo back tonight,” Porter said, adding, “I’m not going to say I was in a slump, but I wasn’t getting my yards."

Hawaii opened up the scoring in the first half on a 36 yard field goal from Scott Enos. Porter scored his first touchdown of the night late in the first quarter on a three yard run. Place kicker Matt Nelson nailed a 28 yard field goal with 5:39 left in the half and the Warriors went into half time with a 10-6 lead. Another field goal from Enos with 8 seconds to go in the first half would be the last time that Hawaii would score.

Porter scored his second touchdown early in the first quarter on a 1 yard run. The rest of the game would be dominated by the Bulldog defense who held Hawaii, the 7th ranked offense in the nation, to -7 rushing yards on the night. Louisiana Tech held Hawaii on a goal line stand late in the second quarter and pressured quarterback Greg Alexander all night which resulted in 5 sacks and 2 interceptions for the Bulldogs defense. They would eventually knock Alexander out of the game late in the third quarter. The Warrioirs came into the game averaging over 500 yards a game, but the Bulldogs held them to just 301 total yards. Hawaii could not find a solution with stopping Tech's rushing attack and allowed the Bulldogs to rush for 352 yards.

“The problem with the run was (it was) the worst exhibition of tackling in football,” Hawaii coach Greg McMackin said. “We were diving and not tackling the way we teach. We’re not that kind of football team.”

Coming into the game, Hawaii had held their opponents to just 126 rushing yards per game. Fatigue could have finally set in on the Warriors as they were in their third consecutive game on the road.

“We didn’t have any energy and didn’t play our best game,” he said. “We’re really looking forward to going home and playing Fresno State in front of our crowd.”

The win brings Louisiana Tech to 2-2 overall and 1-0 in the WAC. They will travel next Friday and play Nevada in another conference game. Hawaii will host Fresno State next Saturday and will look to bring their conference record to 1-1.

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