MONROE, La. -- The ULM football team will close out the 2014 season on Saturday when it faces Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Ga. The contest is set for a 6:05 p.m. ET [5:05 p.m. CT] kick-off and the game will on ESPN3 with Matt Stewart (pxp), Rocky Boiman (analyst) and Danielle Percival (sideline) on the call.
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 5:30 p.m. ET [4:30 p.m. CT].
First and Ten...
• ULM will close out the 2014 season on Saturday evening when they battle Georgia Southern at 6 p.m. (ET)... Saturday's contest will be the fifth meeting all-time between the Warhawks and Eagles, but the first of either program's FBS-era... The two teams met four times in a five-year span from 1987 to 1991... The all-time series is even at 2-2, with the home team winning all four meetings.
• This weekend's trip to Statesboro, Ga., marks the first trip to the state of Georgia for the Warhawks since the 2005 season when they played at No. 7 Georgia on Sept. 17, 2005.
• ULM looks to pick up a win in its regular season finale for the fourth straight season... ULM has defeated Florida Atlantic (W, 26-0, Dec. 3, 2011), Florida International (W, 23-17 [OT], Nov. 24, 2012), and Louisiana-Lafayette (W, 31-28, Nov. 30, 2013).
• Saturday's regular season finale marks the fourth straight season that the Warhawks will close its regular season on the road... (2011 at Florida Atlantic; 2012 at Florida International; 2013 at UL-Lafayette).
• In ULM's last outing, it picked up a 30-17 win at New Mexico State... The win over the Aggies was the first for the Warhawks as New Mexico State won the first three meetings in the series (2001, 2002, 2003)... Saturday's win at Aggie Memorial Stadium was also the first for the Warhawks in the state of New Mexico.
• The ULM defense was active all game at New Mexico State... In all, the defense tallied 13 tackles for loss (42 yards), three sacks (15 yards), one interception, one fumble recovery and one blocked punt returned for a score... New Mexico State had allowed just five sacks on the season prior to the ULM game... ULM's sacks were also the first allowed by the Aggies since Oct. 18, 2014 (at Idaho).
• The 35 sacks by the ULM defense in 2014 are the most since of the Sun Belt era (2001-pres.) and ULM has 19 sacks more than it did a season ago... The sack total of 35 is just four shy of the ULM FBS-era (1994-pres.) record of 39 in the 1997 season.
• Linebacker Michael Johnson was named the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week after setting career highs in tackles (13), tackles for loss (4.5) and sacks (2.0) in Saturday's win at New Mexico State.
• Specialist Justin Manton was named the Sun Belt Conference Co-Special Teams Player of the Week after tallying 12 total points (3 FGs, 3 PATs) at New Mexico State... He also punted seven times (four of 50+ yards) with three touchbacks and two inside the 20... Manton also kicked off six times and all six landed in the end zone without a return.
• Justin Manton now has 252 career points thanks to his 12 points at New Mexico State on Saturday... With his eight first half points, he claimed the top spot in ULM history for career scoring as he moved ahead of Teddy Garcia who had 246 points during his four-year career (1984-87).
• Kenzee Jackson set career highs in both receptions (13) and receiving yards (108) in the 30-17 win at New Mexico State... Six of Jackson's 13 receptions gave ULM a first down and he is the first Warhawk to tally 13 receptions in a game since Brent Leonard snagged 13 passes on Nov. 24, 2012 at Florida International.
• Over his last two contests, Pete Thomas has completed 73 passes on 104 attempts for 822 yards with three TD passes... On the season, Thomas is 273-of-456 for 2,874 yards and 12 TD tosses... His 273 pass completions are tied for the school record (Kolton Browning, 273, 2012), while his 456 pass attempts are just five shy of tying John Holman's mark of 461 (1982)... Thomas also needs just 126 passing yards to become the third player in school history to throw for 3,000 yards in a season (Kolton Browning, 3,049, 2012; Robert Cobb, 3,008, 1993).
• Mitch Lane has two defensive TDs on the season (INT for TD vs. Wake Forest, Blocked Punt Return at New Mexico State)... Lane is one of two Sun Belt players to have 2 defensive scores in 2014... Lane is also one of 14 players in FBS to have 2 defensive TDs this season.
#ULMvsGS
ULM and Georgia Southern will meet for the fifth time on the gridiron on Saturday in Statesboro, Ga... The match-up will be the first time the two squads have played as FBS members... The Warhawks and the Eagles met four times over a five year span (1987-91) with the home team winning all four meetings... Georgia Southern is in its first season at the FBS level after joining the Sun Belt Conference in all SBC sponsored sports on July 1, 2014.
#ScoutingTheEagles
Georgia Southern enters Saturday's game with an 8-3 overall record and a 7-0 mark in league play... In its last game, Georgia Southern fell on the road, 53-19, at Navy on Nov. 15, 2014... During league play, the Eagles have won on the road at South Alabama, at New Mexico State, at Georgia State and at Texas State and the squad has won home games against Appalachian State, Idaho and Troy.
The rushing attack has keyed the Eagles to their 8-3 record as they have amassed 4,240 yards on the ground (583 attempts; 385.5 ypg)... Matt Breida and Kevin Ellison lead the team in rushing with 1,434 and 992 yards respectively... The two have also tallied 27 rushing scores between them (Brieda, 16; Ellison, 11)... L.A. Ramsby has 11 rushing TDs as well and in all, the rushing attack has 52 total rushing TDs on the season.
On defense, the Eagles have tallied 62 tackles for loss (243 yards), 21 sacks (162 yards), 13 interceptions, 11 forced fumbles and six fumble recoveries... Edwin Jackson leads the team with 95 total tackles on the season and he also has one interception and one forced fumble... Antwione Williams is the team leader in tackles for loss at 7.0 and he ranks second in sacks at 3.0... Mat Dobson and Deion Stanley have each recorded three interceptions on the season and Dobson has 153 interception return yards including a 100-yard interception return against Texas State that proved to be the difference in a 28-25 win on Nov. 8 in San Marcos, Texas.
Alex Hanks has connected on 47 of his 53 PATs this season and 9-of-12 field goals as he ranks second on the team with 74 points... Since a three field goal performance at New Mexico State, Hanks has attempted just two field goals over the last five games (a 26-yard miss against Idaho, Oct. 11; a 44-yard miss at Navy, Nov. 15).
