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Coming off back-to-back nine-win seasons, Louisiana Tech and Skip Holtz expect to compete with the best in Conference USA. The Bulldogs have butted heads with Western Kentucky before, and on Thursday night, their cross-division showdown provided all of the entertainment you could ask for in a college football game.

Western Kentucky brought in a 13-game winning streak and put it on the line in Ruston. The Bulldogs needed this win bad to get right, and Holtz knew it wasn't going to come easy. Western Kentucky trailed by 21 at the start of the fourth quarter, and the Hilltoppers nearly came back in dramatic fashion before the Bulldogs recovered a fumble to seal the 55-52 win.

"They're champions, they bring in the longest conference winning streak. We knew they weren't going to go away easy," Holtz told CBS Sports Network's Taylor Rooks after the game. "It's big for us, we already have one loss in the conference stubbing our toes a couple weeks ago. We can't afford another loss."

The two teams combined for 988 total yards, 794 of it through the air, in a track meet that showcased the incredible receiving talent on both teams.

But the receivers didn't get all of the attention. Louisiana Tech kicker Jonathan Barnes nailed a bank shot from 54 yards in what would be the final Bulldogs score of the game, their only score of the fourth quarter and also the final deficit.

Western Kentucky trailed by 21 to start the fourth quarter but charged back into the game. Among the highlights was this incredible touchdown grab from Nicholas Norris. It was Norris' third touchdown of the game in a ridiculous 10 catch, 108-yard performance for the senior from Miami.

On the next possession, Western Kentucky did something incredible: It forced Louisiana Tech to punt. Sidelined for most of the game while Ryan Higgins was leading touchdown drives, the punting unit allowed the punt to be blocked. The ball bobbled around and finally Kylen Towner controlled it and landed in the end zone. Suddenly, WKU made up 14 points in two possessions and trailed by three.

After the scoop-and-score, it was up to senior quarterback Ryan Higgins to milk the clock. Western Kentucky got the ball back with 2:23 left and no timeouts, but then a fumble allowed the Bulldogs to ice it.

What it means for both teams

Louisiana Tech snaps Western Kentucky's 13-game Conference USA winning streak but most importantly, as Holtz noted after the game, it avoids falling out of the division title race. The Bulldogs are one of the really good teams in the conference but an early loss to Middle Tennessee puts the team in danger of missing the league championship game if it suffered another conference defeat this early in the season.

The Bulldogs picked up a big one here, but the game they'll want will probably be against the Hilltoppers again in the C-USA title game.