MONROE, La. -- After wrapping up the home portion of its 2014 schedule, the Warhawks will begin a two-game road swing this weekend as ULM travels to Las Cruces, N.M. for a mid-afternoon contest at New Mexico State. Saturday's contest is slated to kick-off at 2:06 p.m. MT [3:06 p.m. CT] and will air on ESPN3.
The game will also air on KJLO 104.1 FM in Monroe and online at KJLO.com. Frank Hoffmann (play-by-play) and will be joined by Scott McDonald (analyst) and Joey Trappey (sideline) beginning with the pre-game show at 1:30 p.m. MT [2:30 p.m. CT].
First and Ten...
• ULM begins a two-game road swing to close out the 2014 season as the squad travels to Las Cruces, N.M. for a Saturday afternoon contest at New Mexico State... The contest in Las Cruces will be the fourth meeting all-time between the Warhawks and the Aggies... The two programs met as Sun Belt Conference foes from 2001-2003 with New Mexico State claiming all three meetings.
• Saturday's trip to Las Cruces will be just the second trip all-time for the Warhawks... ULM fell 34-21 at New Mexico State on Oct. 19, 2002... The other two meetings in the series came in Monroe (NMSU, 31-0, Sept. 29, 2001; NMSU, 21-14, Oct. 25, 2003).
• After the trip to what is labeled “The Land of Enchantment”, the Warhawks will close out the regular season on Nov. 29 when they face Sun Belt Conference newcomer Georgia Southern.
• The Warhawks are coming off of a 34-27 setback to in-state rival UL-Lafayette on Nov. 15... Prior to the contest against the Ragin' Cajuns, ULM honored its group of seniors that played their final home game at the friendly confines of JPS Field at Malone Stadium.
• With the loss to UL-L, the Warhawks finish their 2014 home slate with a 3-2 overall record... ULM defeated Wake Forest, Idaho and Troy; the Warhawks dropped home games to Texas State and UL-L.
• Pete Thomas recorded his first career 400-yard passing game as he finished 38-of-52 for 472 yards and two touchdowns... Thomas also recorded a rushing TD in the contest as he was responsible for all three Warhawk TDs against the Ragin' Cajuns.
• Pete Thomas' 472 passing yards are the fifth most in a single game by a ULM QB... It is the first 400-plus yard passing game for a Warhawk QB since Kolton Browning threw for 412 yards in the 34-31 [OT] win over No. 8 Arkansas on Sept. 8, 2012... Thomas also fell just five yards shy of a tie for fifth in the Sun Belt Conference single game record books.
• Pete Thomas connected with six different receivers against UL-L and each receiver caught at least one pass for 18 or more yards in the home finale... Two receivers hauled in a pass of 45 or more yards against UL-L (Ajalen Holley, 49; Rashon Ceaser, 45 [TD]).
• Rashon Ceaser led the Warhawks with game-highs in both catches (11) and receiving yards (120)... Ceaser's 120 yards were just one shy of tying his season high (121, vs. Troy, Sept. 27)... The junior also hauled in a 45-yard TD with 1:47 to play, pulling the Warhawks within seven points.
• Kenzee Jackson caught eight passes and fell just short of the 100-yard plateau as he registered 95 receiving yards against UL-L... Jackson also caught a TD pass in his final game at JPS Field at Malone Stadium.
• Justin Backus recorded his third career interception against UL-L... The interception by Backus is the second interception he has against the Ragin' Cajuns (had one interception as RS-Freshman in 2013).
• Gerrand Johnson finished with a career-high 12 tackles against the Ragin' Cajuns... His 12 total stops are a season-high and Johnson finished the game with 2.5 tackles for loss and he also tallied 1.5 sacks in the game.
• Justin Manton moved into sole possession of second place in the ULM record book for career scoring with nine points against UL-L... The senior was a perfect 2-for-2 on FGs (34; 47) and 3-for-3 on PATs... Manton, who now has 240 career points, passed Rob Tallent who had 232 points from 1989-92... Manton is now just seven points shy of claiming the top spot in career scoring as Teddy Garcia tallied 246 career points from 1984-87.
• With his two field goals against UL-L, Manton has now hit 11 straight field goals and is now 16-of-18 (.889) on the season... In conference play, Manton is 12-of-13 (.923) on field goals.
#ULMvsNMSU
ULM and New Mexico State will meet for the fourth time on Saturday afternoon in Las Cruces, N.M... The contest will mark the second time the Warhawks have played a game at Aggie Memorial Stadium, the first coming on Oct. 19, 2002... Saturday's game will also be the first time that the two teams have met since Oct. 25, 2003... New Mexico State rejoined the Sun Belt Conference as a football only member on July 1, 2014.
#ScoutingTheAggies
After starting the season with wins over Cal Poly and Georgia State, the Aggies have dropped their last eight contests and enter their final home game of the 2014 season with a 2-8 record and a 1-5 mark in Sun Belt Conference play.
Tyler Rogers has taken the majority of snaps under center and he is 225-of-361 for 2,363 yards with 15 TDs and 20 interceptions... He has also rushed for 141 yards and two scores on the season... Rogers has completed at least one pass to 13 different players this season... Larry Rose III is the teams leader in carries (130), rushing yards (736) and touchdowns (six)... Teldrick Morgan is the teams leading receiver as he has hauled in 71 catches for 862 yards and seven TDs.
Rodney Butler leads the defense with 114 total tackles (54 solo, 60 asst) and he is second on the team with 5.5 tackles for loss... Winston Rose leads the squad with four interceptions on the season... The Aggies have tallied 35 tackles for loss this season, but the defense has just five sacks on the season.
Maxwell Johnson has connected on 30 of his 31 PATs and has hit 6 of 11 FGs with a long of 41 on the season... With his 30 PATs and six FGs, Johnson leads the team with 48 total points.
