Complete Boxscore

MONROE, La. — Grambling State University Head Football Coach Doug Williams saw the danger creeping in during last week's practice. Repeatedly, Williams and his staff warned the youthful Tigers what could happen if they lost focus on the field.

 

Those warnings went unheeded, and now all Williams and Co. can do is hope it will be a learning experience for the G-Men as Grambling State fell 35-7 at Louisiana-Monroe before a crowd of 36,532, the third largest in Malone Stadium history.

 

The final stats tell the story for the Tigers: Ten penalties for 69 yards in losses. Two interceptions returned for 52yards. ULM dominated time of possession 34:56 – 24:04. GSU (now 1-1 overall) went two-of-15 on third down conversions while the Warhawks made good on 12 of 20 of their third down attempts. A blocked punt leading to ULM's first score of the contest.

 

“We made a lot of mistakes – bone-headed plays,” Doug Williams said following the loss. The scoreboard says it all – 35-0. They played a good game and we didn't.

 

“Last week wasn't a good week of practice for us and we kept warning the team the3y were doing the little things that could kill us as opposed to the little things that could help us win. We made too many bone-headed plays and it seemed like (ULM) took advantage of every one of them.”

 

The mistakes started early. After ULM took the opening kickoff and drove down to the Grambling 23-yardline, the Tigers stiffened and forced a 40-yard field goal attempt by the Warhawks' Justin Manton that sailed wide right.

 

GSU could have taken advantage and grabbed early momentum. Instead, the Tigers were held to a three-and-out (with a false start thrown in for good measure) before a high snap was somehow corralled by punter Fabian Carter. But the time Carter spent jumping high to snag the ball was costly, as ULM's Tim Taylor blocked the punt attempt, which was recovered by the Warhawks at the GSU 6-yard line.

 

Three plays later ULM quarterback Kolt Browning hit running back Tavarese Maye on a seven-yard scoring strike that, following Manton's PAT kick, put the Warhawks up 7-0 at the 9:12 mark of the opening quarter.

 

GSU was held to another three and out on the ensuing series, but the Tigers' Robert Bailey hauled in a fumbled ULM punt return that turned the ball back over to the  G-Men at the ULM 46.

 

It would result in one of the few times on the night GSU was able to take advantage of a ULM miscue as a 22-yard complete from freshman quarterback D.J. Williams to Darian Jefferson set up a 20-yard scoring strike two plays later to help tie things up at 7-7 with 6:47 left in the opening stanza.

 

D.J. Williams finished the game hitting on 12-of-21 passes for 118 yards with two interceptions. He was also sacked six times and gave up at least two delay of game calls by not getting  the play off before the clock expired.

 

“It's pretty tough right now, I feel pretty bad,” D.J. Williams said. “There are no excuses. Did I press too much? Maybe, but that's no excuse.”

 

D.J. Williams said it was hard to mention any positives following the game, except for one.

“This is something we can definitely learn from – I can definitely learn from. We just have to go in and look at the tape, learn what we can.