Ole Miss Football: Review of week 12 opponents ULM Warhawks

With the week 11 loss behind them, Lane Kiffin will have his players focused on the next game. That match-up will be against ULM Warhawks from the Sun-Belt Conference. Let’s take a look at what to expect from the Rebels opponents.

As mentioned, ULM plays in the Sun-Belt Conference. They have been part of the conference since 2001, winning it once as co-champions in 2005.

The current head coach is Terry Bowden, who’s in his third season with the team. He is the son of the late, great Bobby Bowden.

It’s been tough sledging this season for ULM. They are currently 2-8 on the season. However, they sit bottom of the Sun-Belt West standings, losing all seven conference games.

After winning their first two games, they have lost their last eight. In the ten games they have played, they have given up an average of 35.3 points per game.

On offense, they average 330.3 yards per game and only 17.8 points per game. Those stats look much better with the 41-40 loss to Appalachian State.

The quarterback play for the Warhawks has been more down than up this season. Freshman Blake Murphy looked promising after back-to-back 300-yard passing games. However, the game after, Murphy threw three interceptions against Southern Miss. This result was Jiya Wright reclaiming the starter’s job. He will likely start the game in Oxford this Saturday.

Looking at the defensive struggles, it’s defending against the pass. ULM have the seventh-worst defense against pass plays, allowing an average of 276 pass yards per game. Surprisingly, they have a total of 18 takeaways on the season.

The big concern this season for the Louisiana-Monroe defense is third-down conversions. They allow just under 50% of third-down completions, the third worst in the FBS.

The last game against Southern Miss was one of their worst performances this season. The offense inly managed 260 yards, while turning the ball over four times. This was against a Golden Eagles team that hadn’t won in seven games.