ULM Warhawks

ULM started the wild finish thanks to a pair of touchdowns from Kolton Browning with the Warhawks trailing 20-7. Browning pulled the Warhawks within six on a 22-yard strike to Colby Harper with 4:49 to play in the quarter. The sophomore signal caller completed six passes and had one rush for 11 yards on the drive.

Browning completed 29-of-59 passes for a career-high 365 yards and two touchdowns in the game. His attempts were the third most in school, his completions were the sixth most in school history, and his passing yards were the 18th most in school history.

Harper had a career night with eight catches for 110 yards and Brent Leonard added six catches for 80 yards. Leonard moved into a tie for 10th on the ULM single-season receptions list with 54.

Following a defensive stand, the Warhawks took over possession on their own 6-yard line with just over three minutes to play and no timeouts. Browning led the Warhawks on a 14-play drive that took 2:13 off the clock. He called his own number on 3rd-and-goal from the six and rushed up the middle for the score.

John Evans returned the ensuing kickoff 79 yards to the ULM 9-yard line with a minute to play in the contest. Two plays later Bobby Rainey rushed in from four yards out to give WKU the lead 26-21; a two-point conversion erased an earlier missed extra point to push the score out to 28-21.

Not to be outdone by the drama in game six of the World Series, the Warhawks marched the length of the field in 32 seconds to tie the game. Browning opened the drive with a 19-yard pass to Leonard and then found a wide open Tavarese Maye for a 56-yard pass-and-catch down to the WKU 7-yard line.

With just six seconds remaining, Browning found Anthony McCall in the front of the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown. Justin Manton added the extra point to send the game into overtime.

ULM took possession of the ball first in overtime and quickly got the ball down to the WKU 3-yard line on an 11-yard run by Jyruss Edwards and a 12-yard catch by Leonard. However, on the next play Derrius Brooks intercepted Browning's fade pass in the end zone.

Rainey carried the ball four straight times for the Hilltoppers before Roy booted his 24-yard attempt through the uprights for the game winner.

Rainey rushed for 104 yards on 30 carries and Kawaun Jakes finished 13-of-22 for 155 yards and two touchdowns.

The Warhawks dominated the stat sheet as they out-gained the Hilltoppers 456-283 in the game. ULM defensive end Ken Dorsey finished the game with 2.0 sacks, 3.0 tackles for loss; he was responsible for 43 negative yards in the contest.

ULM opened the scoring early in the second quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run by Mitchell Bailey to cap an 8-play drive.

WKU then rolled off 20-unanswered points to take the 20-7 lead. Jakes had touchdown passes of 13 and 15 yards to Mitchell Henry and Rainey, respectively, and Kadeem Jones added a 1-yard touchdown run.

The Warhawks travel to in-state rival UL-Lafayette next week for the Sun Belt Conference game of the week. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. and will be televised live on the Sun Belt Network.

Scoring Summary
ULM - Bailey 5-yard run (Manton kick), 13:50, 2^nd                                            7-0
WKU - Henry 13-yard pass from Jakes (Roy kick blocked), 8:48, 2^nd                 7-6
WKU - Jones 1-yard run (Roy kick), 3:21, 2^nd                                                  7-13
WKU - Rainey 13-yard pass from Jakes (Roy kick), 2:40, 3^rd                            7-20
ULM - Harper 22-yard pass from Browning (Manton kick), 4:49, 4^th                  14-20
ULM - Browning 6-yard run (Manton kick), 1:00, 4^th                                         21-20
WKU - Rainey 4-yard run (Brand pass from Jakes), 0:38, 4^th                            21-28
ULM - McCall 7-yard pass from Browning (Manton kick), 0:06, 4^th                    28-28
WKU - Roy 24-yard field goal, OT                                                                  28-31

Coach Berry

"We didn't play very well and we didn't play a very clean game. I told our football team that we should have had that sense of urgency (in the fourth quarter) the whole game. There were a lot of people that counted us out, and still do, but this group has great heart. And this group is going to be around for a while so you might as well get used to it. We have got to play better than we did today; we had too many mistakes. Third down conversions, missed tackles, the kicking game was atrocious and it obviously cost us tonight. Those are things we've got to keep working on and keep getting better

"Some of our goals that we set at the start of the season probably aren't attainable at this point in time so this is this (the rest of the season) is really going to be a measure of our football team. While those goals have significance, I told them that the most significant thing is that opportunity for them to play together for the next five weeks. Those are the things they are going to cherish for the rest of their lives because they believe in each other and they are going to play hard for each other."

Ken Dorsey

It's frustrating because you play this game to win and when you play as hard as you can and come out with a loss, it hurts. I think I can speak for the whole team that this is hurting. With us having another game next week, the guys look in the locker room look forward to getting out there and playing. We have to get over it, but at the same time we have another chance to fight to get over it.

Kolton Browning

"We started making plays down the stretch like we knew we were capable of the whole game. We can't have that surge at the end of the game; we have to have it for all four quarters. We always feel comfortable going into overtime, but one play can turn the whole game just like that. This one hurts, but we have to move on from this and come looking for next week's game and prepare for them and win that week."

ULM Team Notes

-Kolton Browning, R.J. Young and Brandon Hardy were chosen as the team captains.
-ULM won the opening coin toss, and deferred possession to the second half.
-Darius Prelow earned the start at hawk in his 32nd consecutive game.
-The Warhawks forced an opponent to punt on its opening drive for the sixth time in eight games this season.
-A 23-yard keeper by Browning in the first quarter was the second-longest rush of his career.  He gained 24 yards on a carry against Arkansas State Oct. 8.
-Prelow's interception in the first quarter was his team-leading fourth of the season.  The Warhawks have forced a turnover in 28 of 32 games played under defensive coordinator Troy Reffett.
-Mitchell Bailey's 5-yard scoring run in the second quarter was the third offensive touchdown of his ULM career.
-Ken Dorsey's blocked kick following Western Kentucky's first touchdown in the second quarter was the first missed PAT in any ULM game this season.
-Browning set a career-high with 29 completions and 365 yards passing, and overtook ULM great Stan Humphries for sixth place all-time in yards of total offense with an eight-yard completion to Brent Leonard in the second quarter (4,722).  Browning also moved into solo seventh place in career touchdown passes with 25.
-Colby Harper set new career-highs in receptions and receiving yardage, hauling in eight passes for 110 yards and a touchdown.  Harper is the third Warhawk receiver to go over 100 yards in a game this season (Leonard and Tavarese Maye have each cracked the century mark twice).
-This was ULM's first overtime game of 2011.  The Warhawks are now 5-2 all-time in the extra period.

Head coach Willie Taggart:
Take us through the fourth quarter and those final few minutes:
Oh man, it was crazy. I guess we wanted to make it interesting. I know we were up 20-7 and I told the guys on the sideline "Just remember last year. The same thing happened last year." And then we botched the punt and it gave them life. All of the momentum went to their side and they started believing again. I feel like if we didn't botch that punt they would've gave in.

Speaks to the new breed of the Hilltoppers, usually they would've just given up hope:
No doubt. If you just think about last year, a lot of times we ended up on the other side of the win column when it came to these games.  And our guys now are winning and they're learning how to win in every aspect. It's good to see that they've got it. And more importantly, they're not giving up. They believe, even there at the end with the kick return, they just kept believing and it was good to see for my football team.

The team is .500, you've got to feel happy with the turnaround in the last month or so:
Yeah, it's good. That's four games in a row. Who would've thought Western Kentucky would win four games in a row? And again, our guys are growing up and believing and now we're going into games expecting to win now. It's no more hoping to win. Our guys are going in expecting to win and they're confident. And they're doing it. It's great for our program and what we're trying to build.

Running back Bobby Rainey:
How do you think the offense did?
We did like we did last game. Started off a little sluggish and only made a few plays there, and then in the second half we started to come along and make plays.

Four wins in a row, how does it feel?
It's big. It's another win and we need to keep trucking. Take 24 hours and soak it in and then on to the next one. We're on a mission. We're trying to win the Sun Belt. The Sun Belt Conference championship. That's our goal and we're not getting sidelined by anything.

Defensive lineman Jared Clendenin:
What happened in that fourth quarter?
Oh my. We basically lost it, and they  lost it at the same time. It was just a wild ending, and we're happy with the way it turned out.

What was the big key since Kolton can run and throw?
We wanted to keep him contained, but at the same time rush him. We got a little aggressive at the end and started running on him a little bit, so we had to get back to our plan of keeping him contained.

4-4 on the year, .500 record, 4-1 league mark, what does that say about the turnaround the team has made?
360 degree turnaround. It feel s real good. We haven't been .500 since I've been here. Except for 0-0 before the game started, that's the only time I've been .500 here.It just feels good and is a big turnaround.

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