By Paul Letlow, ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist
MONROE, La. – Looking for a bright spot from ULM football's 47-37 loss to Georgia State?
Take a closer look at the special teams unit, which provided some of the top performances of the game for the Warhawks (3-3, 3-1 Sun Belt).
"I thought we did kick it good," ULM head coach
Matt Viator said. "We did a great job in the return game. I thought our special teams were actually pretty good for most of the game."
Marcus Green continues to be a must-watch player as he delivered a 93-yard kickoff return in the first quarter that gave ULM its only lead of the night at Malone Stadium.
"It was a right return," Green said. "I saw a gap and a guy fell in front of me. I just tried to get past him. After that, all I saw was green grass in front of me."
Green gave ULM fans a scare in the second quarter when he had to be helped off the field after an 18-yard return. He returned to action and scored on an 80-yard touchdown pass from quarterback
Garrett Smith in the third quarter.
"My helmet kind of got ripped off," Green said. "In the midst of that when I was going down while my helmet was off, I got hit in the back of the head by someone else. But I'm all right. Nothing major."
Green, who accounted for a career-best 271 all-purpose yards against the Panthers, has 12 kickoff returns for 377 yards through six games.
Green also scored on an 82-yard return against Coastal Carolina and ranks second in the Sun Belt Conference with his 31.4 kickoff return average.
In a high-scoring game, ULM returned eight kickoffs for 305 yards.
Brandius Batiste had three returns for 104 yards with a long of 44 and Duke Carter had a 39-yard return.
Punter
Harrison Heim averaged 51.2 yards on four attempts with a long of 56 that was downed inside the 10.
With ULM attempting a late comeback, the unit also successfully executed an on-side kick. Heim bounced the kickoff 11 yards and Austin "Bus" Vaughn recovered at the Warhawks 46. The recovery allowed ULM to score eight plays later and pull within 10 points with 1:34 remaining in the contest.
Placekicker
Craig Ford made his only field goal attempt from 38 yards and was perfect on four PATs. On the season, Ford is 6-of-7 on field goals and 24-of-25 on PATs.
Too many sacks: Georgia State registered seven sacks against ULM, which hasn't been the norm this season. ULM had allowed just two sacks in Sun Belt games and five total coming into the contest.
The Panthers got to Evans three times and dropped back-up
Garrett Smith four times in the second half as he attempted to direct a comeback.
"Getting behind," Viator said. "A couple of them in the first half were on us, but we just got behind. We had to throw it and they know you're going to throw it. I'll look at the film. I remember a couple of times where I saw a guy flat get beat, but a lot of that was just getting behind and getting off schedule."
ULM struggled to run early and had to pass with Georgia State building a lead. The Warhawks netted 117 rushing yards on 37 attempts, a 3.2 average.
"We needed to run the ball more effectively than what we ran it," Viator said. "I don't think they lined up in anything we didn't think they would. We'd get a positive and then we'd get a one. We'd get six, and then we'd get a one or a two. We never got in any rhythm."
Rough night for the defense: After watching Georgia State break team records for total offense (670 yards) and points against an FBS team, Viator was left searching for answers about tightening up the ULM defense.
"I don't know," he said. "We're just going to go back to work. We have to play better on both sides of the ball. I thought (Georgia State) executed pretty good too. We're going to play against good teams, but boy, they threw and caught the ball really well."
Georgia State receiver Penny Hart made 11 catches for 190 yards and three touchdowns and quarterback Conner Manning completed 26-of-35 attempts for 446 yards and four touchdowns. He was sacked once and didn't throw an interception.
"There were several that I thought we had good coverage," Viator said. "On the rail going in with Juwan (Offray), I don't know how you get better coverage. (Manning) just dropped it in. I remember we had good coverage again and he one-handed one up the pipe. It happens but we've got to recover and try to make plays. They are going to make plays and we've got to make a couple also. We just weren't able to do it tonight."
