ULM limited dual-threat Auburn quarterback Cam Newton’s legs with just one carry, unfortunately for the Warhawks, his right arm burned the team.
Newton threw a season-high 245 yards en route to No. 10 Auburn’s 52-3 blowout win against ULM on Saturday.
The junior transfer from Florida and Blinn College threw three touchdowns including a 94-yard pass to Emory Blake, the longest play from scrimmage in Auburn’s storied history.
“I was really confident going into that play,” Blake said. “I knew I was going to catch it and I knew there was no one around me, so I just caught it and ran into the end zone.”
Auburn’s (5-0) running game thrived also, thanks to 233 yards on 33 carries. On Auburn’s second play of the game, sophomore running back Onterio McCalebb broke free on a 50-yard run to start a streak of five straight scoring drives.
ULM’s (1-3) lone score came on a 35-yard field goal by Radi Jabour, but redshirt freshman Kolton Browning continued to show improvement in only his fourth game of his career.
The reigning two-time Louisiana Offensive Player of Week completed 25 of his 33 passes for 203 yards and did not throw an interception in the contest.
Unlike Newton, the Warhawk running game failed to compliment, earning a measly 38 yards on 33 carries. The Warhawks’ longest run was nine-yard run from backup quarterback Cody Wells, and the longest play from scrimmage was 21 yards.
“We knew we were not going to be able to push their defensive front so I put a lot of emphasis on our passing game this week in practice,” Warhawk head coach Todd Berry said. “We have a young quarterback that continues to mature. Most of the time we tried to get the ball out of our hands quickly in order to make sure that the defensive line was negated. This worked at times and sometimes it did not.”
Auburn jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the game’s first five minutes, until Jabour’s field goal narrowed the deficit to 14-3. Following a Tiger field goal, ULM reached into its bag of tricks to attempt a fake goal. However, Cody Wells’ errant pass was intercepted by Zac Etheridge and it led to a halftime score of 31-3 in Auburn’s favor.
The second half looked promising following Otis Peterson’s interception of Newton at ULM’s one-yard line, but the final four Warhawk drives ended with a fumble. Auburn, given a short field each time, turned the miscues into three touchdowns and allowed Auburn to knock off ULM for the eighth straight time.
This loss to Auburn comes after a 21-20 victory against Southeastern Louisiana University on Sept. 25.
The Warhawks won the homeopener with young quarterback Kolton Browning throwing for 249 yards and junior wide receiver Anthony McCall catching eight passes for 69 yards.
The matchup between ULM and SLU was the first since the schools’ last meeting 25 years ago. Southeastern won that game by two points.
ULM will head back to Malone Stadium to play conference rival Florida Atlantic at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
