Louisiana-Monroe Spoils South Alabama’s Homecoming 38-10
Louisiana-Monroe breaks the Jags homecoming win streak at 9 after defeating USA 38-10 on Saturday, November 10, 2018.
South Alabama’s unbeaten streak in homecoming games came to an end at 9 as Louisiana-Monroe defeated the Jags 38-10.
The Jags (2-8, 1-5 SBC) started the game well, but could not muster much after the first quarter as Louisiana-Monroe (6-4, 4-2 SBC) scored 28 unanswered points after the Jags had tied the game.
ULM rolled up 551 yards of total offense, 376 of them through the air. The Jags could only muster 218 yards of total offense, with 129 of them coming through the air and a mere 89 yards rushing.
ULM’s Caleb Evans was 27-of-32 for 367 yards and two touchdowns. His favorite target was D’Marius Gillespie who caught all 7 passes thrown his way for 159 yards and a touchdown. Markis McCray had 5 catches for 41 yards. In total, 11 receivers caught passes with Jonathan Hodoh the other receiver catching a touchdown on his only catch.
Marcus Green led the Warhawks with 68 rushing yards on only two carries with a touchdown. Evans had 12 carries for 54 yards and two touchdowns.
Cephus Johnson started the game and finished 1-for-4 for 34 yards and a touchdown. Cole Garvin played the second and third quarters and went 13-for-19 for 95 yards.
Three Jags caught three passes each with Jordan McCray leading the trio with 45 yards and a touchdown.
Tra Minter led the rushing attach with 12 attempts for 61 yards. Johnson was next in line with 9 carries for 23 yards.
ULM was penalized only once for 15 yards while the Jags were flagged 5 times for 36 yards.
After being forced to punt on their opening possession, the Jags got the ball right back when Marcus Green muffed the punt and DJ Daniels recovered at the ULM 34 yard line. On the very next play Johnson threw a 34 yard touchdown pass to McCray lifting the Jags to a 7-0 lead. ULM would score the next 10 points to take a 10-7 lead into the second quarter.
USA couldn’t put the ball in the end zone early in the second quarter and settled for a 31 yard field goal by Gavin Patterson to tie the game.
The Warhawks took control of the game when they scored 14 points in the final 6:24 of the half. The Jags lined up for a 38 yard field goal attempt with 2:01 left in the first half, but the Warhawks blocked the attempt and would score with just :22 left.
ULM put a bow on it after they forced a three-and-out on the Jags first possession of the second half. Then the Warhawks only needed three plays to put another touchdown on the board with 12:34 left in the third quarter.
ULM would score on their next possession as well to get the final score of 38-10.
“I’m disappointed in the outcome of the game,” head coach Steve Campbell said after the game. “I thought the kids fought hard and that we did some good things in the first half. We had talked about starting faster and I thought we did. I hated that we gave up the touchdown right before the half with 22 seconds left, which really hurt.”
“We didn’t start the third quarter the way we wanted to, we got the ball and wanted to take it down the field and make it a seven-point game; Obviously we didn’t do that,” Campbell continued. “I was proud of our guys for fighting back and keeping them off the scoreboard for most of the fourth quarter.”
When asked about his biggest coaching concern with the way the season’s gone and only two game remaining, Campbell said: “The things that you would be concerned about have already happened. Getting beat by ULM by 28 on Homecoming is what I would be concerned about, but that has passed. What you have to do now is make sure you prepare hard and put together a good plan. We have to be able to go out and execute it against Louisiana-Lafayette and then finish strong against Coastal Carolina.”
The Jags will travel to Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday for a 4pm kickoff against the Ragin’ Cajuns who are 5-5 and looking to get bowl eligible themselves.
Inside the Numbers: