Dallas, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs look to take down a power five conference team when they take on the Big Tens Illinois Fighting Illini in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, which will be held at the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 26. The Bulldogs finished as the top team in Conference-USAs West Division this season, going 8-5 overall and 7-1 in conference play. LaTech had a chance for the C-USA outright title, but lost to Marshall in the championship game, 33-26, back on Dec. 6. Illinois, meanwhile, is coming into the game thanks to a win in its regular- season finale against Northwestern, 47-33. The victory made the Illini bowl eligible at 6-6 and improved the teams conference mark to 3-5, which was fifth best in the Big Ten. LaTech sits in a good spot to pick up just its third bowl win in its seventh try (2-3-1). The Bulldogs recorded four more wins in 2014 than they did in head coach Skip Holtzs first season at the helm in 2013. The Bulldogs ranked fourth in most-improved scoring offense with a 102.1 percent improvement, going from an average of 19.2 points per game in 2013 to a current average of 37.5 points per game this season. Running back Kenneth Dixon leads the Bulldog offense. He rushed for 156 yards and three touchdowns against Marshall to improve his season total to 1,238 yards and 21 touchdowns. For his career, Dixon has amassed 3,347 rushing yards with 52 touchdowns on the ground in 35 games. As a team, the Bulldogs offense averages 403.8 yards per game, going for 151.2 on the ground and 252.6 through the air. Redshirt senior quarterback Cody Sokol threw for 3,189 yards with 29 touchdowns and 13 picks this season. He was named the C-USAs Newcomer of the Year after transferring in from Iowa. It all starts with Cody Sokol, said Holtz. He came in and did a great job of getting players to buy in, setting a real example as a leader with his toughness and the way he plays the game. Sokols favorite target was sophomore wide receiver Trent Taylor, who hauled in a team-high 62 catches for 814 yards with nine scores. On the defensive side of the ball, Louisiana Tech is the national leader in points off of turnovers. With 14 points off of turnovers in the Marshall game, the Bulldogs have scored 164 points off turnovers in 13 games this season (12.6 points per game). Last season, Louisiana Tech scored only 64 points off turnovers the entire year (5.3 points a game). This will be a nice opportunity for starting defensive end Houston Bates, who transferred to the Bulldogs from Illinois. A fifth-year transfer to the Bulldog program, Bates is a previous All-Big Ten Conference selection. He started all 13 games for the Bulldogs with 28 total tackles to his credit including 10.5 tackles for a loss of 55 yards, 5.5 sacks, an interception, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, two pass break-ups and a team-leading 12 QB hurries. The Bulldogs last bowl win came in 2008 when they defeated Northern Illinois in the Independence Bowl. Illinois had to win three of its last five games to even become bowl eligible and the program had a real gut check to get there. There came a point in time right before we played Minnesota where we gathered up as a team and had to go one direction or the other, said Illinois head coach Tim Beckman. We could either step forward, meet the challenge and attack the Minnesota Golden Gophers or we could just give in. This football team was not going to do that. It was important for Beckmans squad to earn its first bowl bid since 2011, despite the lack of overall success this season. We needed to get to a bowl game, our program needs those types of things to move forward, Beckman added. I cannot tell you the excitement that is in Champaign and in our facility with our athletic department to earn a bowl game down here in Dallas. Offensively, Illinois boasts one of the top passing offenses in the Big Ten, ranking third in the conference in passing yards per game (243.2) and completion percentage (61.2 percent) and fifth in passing efficiency. Beckman has done it with a QB competition approach. Senior Reilly OToole was under center for the last two games, both wins, but Wes Hunt and Aaron Bailey are also getting action in practices leading up to the bowl game. OToole finished the season completing 58.7 percent of his passes for 1,049 yards with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions in 12 games. Lunt completed 63.9 percent of his passes for 1,729 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and three interceptions in seven games. Despite who plays under center, wideout Mike Dudek appears to be everyones favorite target, hauling in a team-best 69 catches for 965 yards with six TDs. The Illini averages 26.6 points per game with Josh Ferguson leading the way on the ground. He has run for 685 yards and eight scores. Donovonn Young has added five TDs on the ground. This is a rematch of a 2012 meeting between the two schools that saw Louisiana Tech roll to a 52-24 win in Champaign, Ill. Louisiana Tech is 2-2 all-time against the Big Ten and has won its last two meetings against Big Ten opponents. Prior to Techs 52-24 win over Illinois in 2012, the Bulldogs topped Michigan State, 20-19, in East Lansing on Sept. 13, 2003. These school have a common opponent this year in Western Kentucky. Louisiana Tech dismantled the Hilltoppers, 59-10, on Nov. 1, while Illinois beat WKU, 42-34, on Sept. 6 in Champaign. Martin Perez Jersey . Gonzalez participated in his final game on Sunday, Atlantas 21-20 defeat at the hands of the NFC South champion Carolina Panthers, having posted four catches for 46 yards. Shin-Soo Choo Jersey . -- Max Gilbert captured his first pro victory at the Tour Championship of Canada. http://www.authentictexasrangersgear.com/rangers-nolan-ryan-jersey/ . Left-handed reliever Boone Logan agreed to a $16.5 million, three-year contract on Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. Elvis Andrus Jersey . Joining him in this years class were Switzerlands Patrick Huerlimann and Norways Eigil Ramsfjell. The announcement was made at the world mens curling championship at Capital Indoor Stadium in China. Carlos Gomez Jersey . On Saturday, the paths of Drew Tate and Kevin Glenn cross again as opposing quarterbacks.My career has seen me do the strength and conditioning for some elite members of Team Quest, Reign MMA, and Black House. Its been a wild ride that has found me on the other end of the microphone and writing. Im now more of a media based personality that trains specialized clients, rather than a strength coach that does media from time to time. So when the opportunity came to do another fight camp, I jumped on it. Well, not exactly a fight camp. I dont intend on sparring. This is me showing fans what goes into the physical prep of a fighter. Its something every fan should experience. Not just MMA fans, but all sports. I always say you cant boo an athlete until youve trained like one. Without the sparring and the training injuries, this still isnt the total experience. If you follow along and try adding some of the treadmill sprint work, different lifting techniques and of course, the stretching, youll soon come to realize that MMA is actually a whole new level of tough. Never mind the technical aspect, lets get an appreciation for the workouts. For this blog, I want to give you the full experience. That means, training with a coach. Can I do it alone? Yes, Ive prepared some of the best of the best. I know that to get the best results, you need the best coaches. So I went where a few of my mentors and role models go. Troy Westwood is one of the fittest guys I know, hes the host of the Morning show on TSN 1290, Doug Brown played CFL and was one of the best of the best, Obby Kahn makes the best shawarma in Winnipeg, He also happens to have come back from injuries and illness that would have crippled lesser men. They all go see Jeff Fisher at Elite Performance in Winnipeg. So I knocked on the door. So far I have been through the testing day and I may be regretting the decision. Here is where the journey starts. I had a full medical work up to ensure no mistakes or simple injuries were caused during training. The worst thing that can haappen to any athlete is to lose technical and tactical days because a Strength Coach caused an injury in the gym.dddddddddddd. A mistake that can be easily avoided with an understanding of the body and making a program designed for the athlete. I now have this thanks to Fish. The next step is finding the athletes starting point, and ensuring you never over train or take steps back. My testing day set out to find my lactic threshold, anaerobic capacity, and over all muscle strength. I did 17 beautiful chin ups. Not bad considering Im 63 and 228lbs. I was proud.Im getting my work done with a professional. If you dont have access to this type of total committed training, try doing this to find your starting point next time you are at the gym. (Always consult a doctor before beginning any exercise program) Work with a spotter/counter/timer Complete as many push-ups as you can without stopping. Rest 3-4 minutes and repeat. Same thing for Chin Ups. Plank once until failure. Run as far as you can in 12 minutes record the distance you go in METERS (not miles or kilometers). This is called the cooper test. Plug the numbers into this equation - Basically I want you to subtract 505 from the meters you run. Then divide it by 45. Thats your VO2 max; feel free to compare it with the normal numbers that can be found on the internet. Its fun to know where you stand. Once you have your numbers, start to make them better. Ill retest at the end of this fight camp, a pro athlete would just get in the cage because the proof is in the punch. For us fans of the sport, we just get to train like a pro, and get better at being healthy. Join along; this will increase your respect for top pros. My hope is to go out and visit a few of my friends competing in the World Series of Fighting and get training beside them. In the meantime, Im going to be grinding out workouts thanks to Elite Performance. Check it out on twitter #Relentless. 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