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Football: Records fall, points pile up in Cajuns win over NMSUTim Buckley, The Advertiser, Oct. 14, 2018 It wasn’t perfect. But, on offense at least, it was pretty darn close. UL broke a bin full of records while rolling to a 66-38 win over independent New Mexico State on Saturday night at Cajun Field, including ones for both first downs with 37, four more than reached in three prior games, and total offense yards with 759. "I think … slowly but surely, we’re starting to learn, figure it out," first-year UL coach Billy Napier said after the 3-3 Cajuns won their second straight. "We’re a better team, and I think we’re starting to learn how to play football. We’re starting to develop a little bit of identity and a brand that we want to establish here. “Can we improve from an execution standpoint? Absolutely. Are there things that we didn’t do well tonight? Absolutely," Napier added. "But the No. 1 thing we did was we stayed together. We continued to play well on offense throughout the game, and we made adjustments on … defense and special teams in the second half." More: Strange game comes at key time for Napier’s 2-3 Cajuns UL, which led 45-21 at halftime, really did add some ink to the record book. Quarterback Andre Nunez’s five touchdown passes tied Cajun legend Jake Delhomme’s school mark most in a game, set in 1996 against Northern Illinois. Nunez’s first four were the most thrown in a first half by a UL QB since Terrance Broadway threw four against Georgia State in 2013, and his 315 passing yards were a personal career-high. UL’s 66 points were the most since a 70-7 win over Nicholls in 2013 and its most-ever in a Homecoming game, topping the 49 it had against New Mexico State in 2013. The 104 combined points scored by UL and NMSU were the second-most in school history, two shy of the record set against UL Monroe last season. The Cajuns’ 759 yards topped the previous high of 728 set at ULM in 2008, and they were the third-most by an FBS team this season when Saturday night’s game ended. “Offensively," Napier said, "we played championship football tonight." Related: UL football, what you need to know Two of Nunez’s touchdown completions were to Jarrod "Bam" Jackson on a night nine different Cajuns caught passes and UL compiled 415 of its 759 yards through the air, and Elijah Mitchell added three rushing touchdowns while running for 107 yards on just 12 carries. Nunez’s first four were the most thrown in a first half by a UL QB since Terrance Broadway threw four against Georgia State in 2013, and his 315 passing yards were a personal career-high. UL’s 66 points were the most since a 70-7 win over Nicholls in 2013 and its most-ever in a Homecoming game, topping the 49 it had against New Mexico State in 2013. The 104 combined points scored by UL and NMSU were the second-most in school history, two shy of the record set against UL Monroe last season. The Cajuns’ 759 yards topped the previous high of 728 set at ULM in 2008, and they were the third-most by an FBS team this season when Saturday night’s game ended. “Offensively," Napier said, "we played championship football tonight." Related: UL football, what you need to know Two of Nunez’s touchdown completions were to Jarrod "Bam" Jackson on a night nine different Cajuns caught passes and UL compiled 415 of its 759 yards through the air, and Elijah Mitchell added three rushing touchdowns while running for 107 yards on just 12 carries. "I think it was just our preparation with practice, trusting my offense line and trusting my guys on the outside," Nunez said of all he and the Cajun offense were able to do. "It’s good," Nunez added with reference to tying Delhomme’s record for TD throws, "but, I mean, that’s what happens when you prepare the way you do and you have guys around you who can help." Nunez opened with a 50-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Marcus Bradley, who ran the final 35 yards for his sixth TD of the season. After a Cajun stop Nunez followed that with a 30-yard TD throw on the money to Jackson in the end zone, and Kyle Pfau’s PAT made it 14-0. It was just the sort of start Napier wanted. More: Napier wants UL to open better, and it starts … now New Mexico State answered Jackson’s TD with a 51-yard scoring throw from Josh Adkins to running back Jason Huntly, but UL came right back with an 11-yard TD on a swing pass from Nunez to running Trey Ragas, marking Ragas’ first career TD reception. NMSU responded right away with an 87-yard kickoff return by Huntly, and the Cajuns put up a 79-yard double-reverse TD by receiver Earnest Patterson, marking his first career touchdown as a Cajun. UL led 28-14 with just more than two minutes left in the opening quarter, and with that it had its most first-quarter points since scoring 28 in the 2013 Nicholls game. At times, Napier almost felt as if the Cajuns were scoring too fast. But against a porous NMSU defense, they couldn’t help it. More: Napier looks for ways to help Cajun defense with fatigue “It’s just a product of having really explosive skill players," he said. "Our front played well. Well-designed plan by the staff, and the quarterback did what he was supposed to do.” UL wound up with 13 first downs and 293 yards of total offense in the first quarter alone, then kept the scoring as Mitchell’s 31-yard TD run was followed by Nunez’s fourth TD pass of the game, a 22-yarder to Jackson snagged on the nose of the ball with one hand. "We work hard in practice. We practice extremely hard," Jackson said. "So when it comes to Game Day, Game Day’s a time to have fun, and apparently we had a lot of fun tonight." Did they ever. The first of three Christian Gibson TD runs for NMSU helped cut the UL lead to 42-21 before Kyle Pfau’s 30-yard field goal gave UL a 45-21 lead at halftime. The Cajuns scored on all seven of their first-half drives, including six TDs, and had 534 yards of total offense and 25 first downs in the opening half alone. More: Forget explaining the score — simply relish the execution New Mexico State opened the second half with Dylan Brown’s 26-yard field goal, followed by a 2-yard Gibson run. UL answered with a 31-yard touchdown pass from Nunez to Ryheem Malone, and the PAT gave the Cajuns a 52-31 lead. Gibson’s third TD run came from 11 yards out, helped make it 52-38, but Mitchell’s finished with TD runs from 36 and 9 yards out. Only a botched snap at the 4 kept the Cajuns from topping their modern-era record of 70 points. “We can finish the game a little better," Napier said. "I mean, we put the ball down on the ground and turn it over right there at the end. We had a false start penalty that stopped a drive. But, in general, the execution was much better.”
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