South Alabama throttles ULM 55-7 for program’s first win in Monroe

South Alabama throttles ULM 55-7 for program’s first win in Monroe

South Alabama didn’t allow the ghosts of Louisiana-Monroe to surface this time.

The Jaguars scored on nine of 10 possessions Saturday night, pummeling the Warhawks 55-7 at Malone Stadium. It was South Alabama’s first win in five all-time trips to Monroe, and the largest on the road in program history in terms of margin-of-victory.

Carter Bradley passed for 303 yards and three touchdowns for South Alabama, which evens its record at 3-3 overall, 1-1 in the Sun Belt Conference. Caullin Lacy had his fifth straight 100-yard receiving day, with a career-best 156 yards and a touchdown on seven catches.

The 55 points was the most for South Alabama against a Division I program, surpassing a 52-45 win over Idaho in 2015. It was also the most the Jaguars had scored since 2010, when they won 64-0 over Edward Waters, then an NAIA program.

South Alabama on Saturday outgained ULM 589 yards to 250, limiting the Warhawks (2-3, 0-2) to 13 first downs. Jaden Voisin and Wesley Miller both recorded interceptions for the Jaguars, who won the turnover battle 2-0.

South Alabama scored all five times it had the ball in the first half, including four touchdowns. The Jaguars drove 75 yards in 10 plays after the opening kickoff, with Kentrel Bullock running in from 5 yards out for a 7-0 lead at the 10:57 mark.

Voisin intercepted the ball on ULM’s second offensive play, setting up a 45-yard touchdown drive by the Jaguars. Bradley threw three yards to tight end Brandon Crum for the score, which made it 14-0 with 6:29 left in the first.

South Alabama’s Carter Bradley passed for 303 yards and three touchdowns in a 55-7 win at Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday. (Scott Donaldson/South Alabama athletics)Scott Donaldson/South Alabama At

South Alabama’s Diego Guajardo kicked a 37-yard field goal early in the second quarter, giving the Jaguars a 17-0 lead before ULM picked up its first first down of the game. The Jaguars got into end zone again with 9:57 left in the half, when Bradley hit a leaping Lacy in the end zone for a 44-yard touchdown and a 24-0 lead.

After stopping ULM on fourth down with 4:55 left, Marco Lee ran for a 10-yard touchdown and a 31-0 lead. The Warhawks finally got on the board on the last play of the half, as Jiya Wright threw 14 yards to Tyrone Howell in the end zone to make it 31-7 at the break.

South Alabama missed a field goal on its first possession of the second half to snap its scoring streak, but went up 38-7 later in the quarter on La’Damian Webb’s 1-yard touchdown run. Webb ran for an even 100 yards on 19 carries despite resting the entire fourth quarter, his second 100-yard game of the season.

Bradley threw 30 yards to Bullock for a touchdown with 1:23 left in the third, putting the Jaguars on top 45-7. Freshman quarterback Gio Lopez led the final two South Alabama scoring drives, ending in Guajardo’s 45-yard field goal with 10:33 left and Lopez’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Jeremiah Webb with 1:20 left.

Lopez, regarded as South Alabama’s quarterback of the future, completed 7 of 10 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown in the first significant action of his career. The touchdown catch was the first as a Jaguar for Webb, a South Dakota transfer.

Howell, who torched South Alabama for 233 yards and three touchdowns on nine receptions a year ago in Mobile, was held relatively in check. He did have the one touchdown, but caught just four passes for 41 yards.

South Alabama’s previous largest victory margin as the visiting team was 26 points, 47-21 at Appalachian State in 2014 and 33-7 at Oklahoma State earlier this season. The Jaguars also evened the all-time series vs. ULM at 5-5.

South Alabama has next Saturday off before returning to action on Tuesday, Oct. 17, at home vs. Southern Miss. That game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU.