Head coach, Todd Berry, unleashed a high-octane offensive attack Saturday at Wake Forest (1-2) as the Warhawks (2-1) won 21-19 in dramatic fashion.
The Warhawks received the opening kick off and the Kolton Browning show began. On the first drive of the game Browning completed five of eight passes for 43 yards. He also used his legs as a weapon, rushing for 13 yards on the drive.
It took four third down conversions and a fourth down passing touchdown to give the away team an early 7-0 lead.
ULM played solid defense throughout the game but made a mistake and allowed a 65-yard passing touchdown late in the first quarter that tied the game 7-7.
“There were an awful lot of three-and-outs and we were playing on an emotional high. We were playing well,” said Berry.
Saturday, Browning set several career highs as well as a school record. He completed a personal best 43 passes and had a career high 68 passing attempts. Browning passed former quarterback, Steven Jyles, in career completions in school history with 827.
Even though the offense seemed to be clicking as Warhawk fans are accustomed, Berry was not impressed.
“Offensively, the quarterback is still not in sync, and so that was evident,” said Berry. “We’re kind of back to doing what we do on offense for the first time, but we didn’t really execute very well at all.”
The Warhawk defense didn’t allow another touchdown until late in the fourth quarter. They held the Demon Deacons to 325 total yards and forced a fumble. Both touchdowns allowed were through the air due to the shut down ability of the defense on Wake Forest’s option heavy offense. The home team was held to an astonishing 15 rushing yards in the game.
ULM held the ball for what seemed to be the entire game. They ran 104 offensive plays to Wake Forest’s 63.
Wake Forest head coach, Jim Grobe, spoke on the effectiveness of the Warhawk’s offensive display.
“From a defensive standpoint, I thought our kids played hard all day against a pretty talented offensive football team,” said Grobe. “I thought several times, we pressured their quarterback and he made something out of nothing a couple of times.”
The Demon Deacons made a late game rally, scoring a touchdown with four seconds left on the clock. The score was 21-19 and they were forced to attempt a two-point-conversion. The attempt was unsuccessful, securing the win for ULM.
The Warhawks travel to Waco, Texas next Saturday for a chance at revenge for last season’s loss in Malone Stadium. The game will kick off at 3 p.m. on Fox Sports One.
