South Alabama thoroughly dominated the third quarter vs. Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday night at Hancock Whitney Stadium, and that was enough for a 41-34 victory.

The Jaguars (5-1 overall, 2-0 Sun Belt Conference) scored on four straight possessions in the third and early fourth quarters after trailing 20-17 at halftime, then held off a late Warhawk charge for the win. Carter Bradley threw for a school-record 420 yards and three touchdowns as South Alabama stayed in first place in the Sun Belt East Division heading into Thursday night’s home showdown with arch-rival Troy.

South Alabama drove 75 yards in five plays to start the second half, with Bradley hitting Jalen Wayne on a 20-yard touchdown to put his team on top to stay at 24-20. Yam Banks intercepted ULM’s Chandler Rogers on the next possession, and the Jaguars again reached the end zone on Bradley’s 24-yard pass to Caullin Lacy for a 31-20 lead.

After ULM (2-5, 1-3) punted, Diego Guajardo added a 29-yard field goal to make it 34-20 after three quarters. The Warhawks again punted on their next series, and Marco Lee’s 5-yard touchdown run put South Alabama up 41-20.

Banner night for South Alabama receivers

Wayne, Lacy and Devin Voisin combined to catch all but one of Bradley’s 25 completions, and all three went over the century mark in yardage.

Lacy caught a school-record 12 passes for 133 yards, while Wayne had five grabs for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Voisin chipped in 141 yards on seven catches to give the Jaguars a trio of 100-yard receivers for the first time in program history.

Lacy also had 103 yards in kickoff and punt returns, giving him 236 all-purpose yards in the game.

Chandler Rogers a nightmare early, and late

A year after throwing for 363 yards and four touchdowns against the Jaguars a year ago, Rogers was great again on Saturday. He completed 20 of 27 passes for 371 yards and four touchdowns, including 12-for-15 for 214 yards and two scores in the first half.

South Alabama sacked Rogers twice in the first quarter, but rarely got to him after that. He hit Tyrone Howell on a 75-yard catch-and-run on the Warhawks’ first series, then again for 25 yards on third-and-7 in the second quarter.

Rogers also hit running back Quincy Ledet for 35 yards to set up ULM’s 40-yard field goal just before halftime, which put the Warhawks up 20-17 at the break. He was bottled up much of the second half before hitting Howell on an 83-yard score with 9:52 left.

Howell had a huge day for the Warhawks, catching nine passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns. The yardage total is the most by a South Alabama opponent in program history.

Rogers then found tight end Drew Rasmussen for a 7-yard score with 5 minutes left, cutting the South Alabama lead to 41-34. South Alabama then ran the clock out, and Rogers never got the ball back.

Red zone, third down a problem for Jaguars in first half

South Alabama scored a touchdown on just one of three trips into the red zone in the first half, when Lee crashed in from 4 yards out to tie the game at 17-17 with 4:01 left before the break. The Jaguars drove to the ULM 16 on their opening series of the game, but had to settle for Diego Guajardo’s 34-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead with 8:51 remaining in the first.

South Alabama botched a red zone series just before halftime, after driving to the ULM 20 with no timeouts. Bradley missed badly on first down — a pass that might have been intercepted — and had to scramble for a total of nine yards on the next two plays.

That made it 4th and 1 from the 11, and Bradley got the snap off but could not spike the ball to stop the clock. He instead rolled to his right and threw incomplete into the end zone, keeping the Jaguars down 20-17 at halftime.

South Alabama’s other touchdown came on a big play, a 64-yard bomb from Bradley to Jalen Wayne in the first quarter. The Jaguars also got Omni Wells’ 44-yard run, which set up Lee’s short touchdown.

Jaguars lose La’Damian Webb on first series

Top running back La’Damian Webb carried the ball on South Alabama’s first two plays of the game, but left after the second due to injury and did not play the rest of the night. With Braylon McReynolds already out with a bad quad, that left Wells and Lee to handle the rushing load.

Wells set a career-high with 85 yards on 17 carries, including the 44-yard run that is South Alabama’s longest of the season. Lee added 93 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, also setting a career-high in yardage.

South Alabama also played without linebacker Quentin Wilfawn (shoulder) for the third straight week, and guard Dontae Lucas, who injured a knee Oct. 1 vs. Louisiana. Cornerbacks Jamar Richardson (arm) and tight end Brandon Crum (knee) played for the first time since getting injured vs. UCLA on Sept. 24.

Next up: South Alabama hosts Troy at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the “Battle for the Belt.” The game will be televised live on ESPNU.