RUSTON – Just because Northwestern State and Louisiana Tech no longer meet every season in football, it does not mean the rivalry, which renews Saturday at 6 p.m., does not resonate with numerous current Demons.
 
When Northwestern State (0-1) tangles with the Bulldogs (1-1) for the first time since 2017, it will mark a return to a place that helped form a trio of NSU players and a pair of coaches.
 
Chief among them is head coach Brad Laird, who quarterbacked Ruston High School to a 1990 state championship and the No. 1 ranking in USA Today's national high school football poll.
 
Laird grew up attending the Northwestern State-Louisiana Tech State Fair Classic in Shreveport as the son of former NSU and Louisiana Tech assistant coach Billy Laird before quarterbacking the Demons in their 1994 visit to Ruston.
 
"High school in Ruston, you walk across the street and there's Louisiana Tech," Laird said. "I had the opportunity to go back and coach at Ruston (from 2013-16). I was able to watch Tech practice and go with their staff. We had some of their sons on the team at Ruston High.
 
"Go back further to when it was the State Fair Classic. That's the thing I most remember – not as much the game as the fair when I was young – but the rivalry Northwestern State and Louisiana Tech had for so many years. When the State Fair Classic ended, we went through a time where we didn't play. There are two or three times Northwestern has played at Louisiana Tech. It will be a good environment."
 
Laird's time at Ruston High as both a coach and player predated that of current Demon players Jordan McClaine, a sophomore offensive lineman, and true freshman defensive lineman Christian Davis, who made his collegiate debut at UL Lafayette a week ago.
 
For the Demons' Ruston contingent, which also includes Louisiana Tech transfer offensive lineman Stevie Ballard and former Louisiana Tech assistant and current NSU cornerbacks coach Perry Carter, going home may bring a sense of familiarity.
 
"I've been looking forward to playing Tech," Davis said. "I miss home. Hopefully, I'll see some of my coaches like (head) coach (Jerrod) Baugh. I'll probably have some teammates come by."
 
In the same way Davis is settling into his new surroundings, the Demon defense is doing the same.
 
NSU allowed 429 yards in the season opener at UL Lafayette, but 190 of those came on the Cajuns' five touchdowns. Across the other 61 snaps, the Demons limited the Cajuns to 3.93 yards per play.
 
Perhaps most importantly, NSU forced three turnovers and were plus-2 in turnover margin. This came after a 2022 season in which the Demons collected 11 turnovers while finishing last nationally in the FCS with a minus-18 turnover margin.
 
"You were able to see, in all three phases, things we can take from Game 1 and carry over to the rest of the season that will help this football team be successful," Laird said. "One was turnover margin. That's one we talked about for a while and have talked about for a while.
 
"We had three takeways and were plus-2. Now we have to take that next step to convert those takeaways. We got field goals out of them, but we need touchdowns."
 
The Demons twice were unable to dent the end zone despite starting inside the UL Lafayette red zone a week ago. NSU did convert two of their three turnovers into Brett Money field goals, part of a busy debut for the kicker/punter.
 
Northwestern State's lone touchdown – a 47-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Vander Waal to Scooter Adams -- came on its final offensive snap of the game, giving the Demons some momentum entering its second straight game against a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent.
 
Saturday's game marks the first time since 2015 the Demons will face consecutive FBS opponents. That season the Demons played at UL Lafayette and at Mississippi State in back-to-back weeks.
 
"I feel like it's a challenge within ourselves," Adams said of facing two upper-subdivision teams to start the season. "It's about us building confidence and being consistent in what we do. We definitely are taking that into this week, building on the momentum we had going toward the end of that fourth quarter. It's a new week and a new opportunity."
 
Saturday's game will air on ESPN+ with free streaming audio available on www.NSUDemons.com and through the Northwestern State Athletics mobile app, which can be downloaded free for Apple and Android devices.