Tulane takes down Louisiana-Monroe

• By LES EAST
• Special to The Advocate
• Published: Sep 21, 2008 - UPDATED: 1:20 a.m.

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NEW ORLEANS — After being competitive and losing its first two games of the season, Tulane was dominant in getting its first victory of the season.

The Green Wave outgained Louisiana-Monroe, 454-182, got touchdown runs from Andre Anderson and Albert Williams and a passing score from Kevin Moore to Jeremy Williams, and never trailed in a 24-10 victory Saturday afternoon in the Superdome.

The defense, which had kept Tulane close in narrow losses to ranked teams Alabama and East Carolina, was even better against the Warhawks. ULM averaged just 4.0 yards per play and converted 1-of-10 third downs.

Though the offense had four drives into ULM territory that failed to yield points, it got enough big plays to break the game open.

Even the special teams, which were plagued by several breakdowns in the first two games, were up to par.

“Our team worked hard and finally won a game,” Tulane coach Bob Toledo said. “You need a win after working so hard because if you don’t, eventually players start to wonder why they’re working so hard. This proves that if you continue to work hard and do what you’re asked, you’ll win games.”

Tulane (1-2) has a short week to prepare for its Conference USA game against SMU on Thursday night in the Superdome. The Warhawks (1-3) have an open date before hosting Louisiana-Lafayette in their Sun Belt Conference opener Oct. 4.

The Green Wave defense was stifling in the first half for the third consecutive week. After holding Alabama to 38 first-half yards and East Carolina to 76 first-half yards, it held the Warhawks to 58 first-half yards.

“I’m not sure if we executed anything in the first half offensively,” ULM coach Charlie Weatherbie said. “I think we got a little one dimensional. We weren’t running the ball a whole lot and go to throwing the ball a lot.”

Tulane, which entered the game with the most sacks in the nation (nine), had four for minus-28 yards. Charlie Harris’ interception of ULM’s Kinsmon Lancaster ended Kinsmon’s streak of 173 passes without an interception, second-longest in the nation.

“We have a great scheme and we bring blitzes from a lot of different places,” defensive tackle Julian Shives-Sams said. “I think we rattled them a little bit.”

Tulane’s Andre Anderson, who finished with 157 yards on 38 carries, ended the first possession of the game with a 9-yard touchdown run. Albert Williams’ 37-yard touchdown run made it 14-0 late in the first quarter, and Ross Thevenot’s 24-yard field goal made it 17-0 at halftime.

“I told our team that we were going to pound the rock until the rock cracked in the second half,” Toledo said. “In the fourth quarter a good running back gets stronger and then your offensive team gets stronger. They couldn’t stop us at the end.”