The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs used big offensive spurts in the first and third quarters to beat the Illinois Fighting Illini, 52-24, on Saturday.
After Illinois opened the scoring in the first quarter with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Scheelhaase to Ryan Lankford, Louisiana Tech scored 21 straight points in the quarter on a Colby Cameron touchdown pass to D.J. Banks and rushing touchdowns Tevin King and Kenneth Dixon.
Illinois cut the halftime lead to 21-17 with a field goal early in the second quarter and then a rushing touchdown by Donovonn Young.
Louisiana Tech then went on another run, out-scoring Illinois 31-0 in the third quarter and opening minutes of the fourth. Cameron found Quinton Patton for touchdown passes of 78 and 21 yards, and then Antonio Mitchum recovered a fumbled punt by Illinois for a touchdown. After a field goal late in the third, Cameron threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game, connecting with Myles White for 38 yards.
Illinois tacked on a touchdown in garbage time to make the score 52-24 with Reilly O'Toole ran it in from one yard out with 6:05 remaining in the game.
The Louisiana Tech defense forced 4 turnovers and the offense produced 393 total yards to help the team improve to 3-0. Illinois is now 2-2 on the season.
Box Score Hero: Louisiana Tech quarterback Colby Cameron and his favorite target this game, wide receiver Quinton Patton, proved to be too much for the Illini defense to handle. Cameron completed 15 of 21 passes for 284 yards and 4 touchdowns. Patton caught 6 passes for 164 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Rankings Ramifications: Neither team was ranked, but Louisiana Tech has showed an impressive offense and is undefeated in three games. The Bulldogs could sneak into the bottom of the rankings at some point this season if they keep winning, but probably not this week.
But Did They Cover? Illinois was favored by two. They did not cover.
For More On This Game: For more on Illini football, visit Illinois blog Hail To The Orange, plus Big Ten blog Off Tackle Empire and SB Nation Chicago.
Next Week's Schedule: Louisiana Tech plays at Virginia Sept. 29 at a time to be announced. Illinois hosts Penn State at noon Sept. 29.
This story originally appeared on SBNation.com.
