Koufie’s Career Day Leads Warhawks Past Georgia State

ATLANTA – Sophomore running back Thomas Koufie became the first player in ULM program history to rush for five touchdowns in a single game on Saturday afternoon as the Warhawks won their first road game in nearly two years with a 37-23 victory over Georgia State inside the Georgia Dome.

 

THE BASICS

FINAL SCORE: ULM 37, Georgia State 23

LOCATION: Georgia Dome

RECORDS: Georgia State (2-8, 1-5 SBC)

ULM (4-6, 3-3 SBC)

 

TURNING POINT

-Leading 9-7 at the half, ULM jumped on the back of Koufie, as he scored three touchdowns in the third quarter – from 18 yards out and a pair of one-yard scores – as the Warhawks took control of the game. Koufie recorded 141 of his 201 total yards in the second half.

 

HOW IT HAPPENED

-ULM took the early lead with a safety on a botched Georgia State punt attempt early in the first quarter, and the score would remain that way until the second quarter when Koufie scored his first touchdown of the afternoon – from three yards out – with five minutes remaining in the half.

-Georgia State used a 31-yard touchdown pass right before the end of the first half, and then a 58 yard touchdown coming out of the break, as the hosts took a 13-9 lead.

-Koufie’s 18 yard touchdown helped ULM regain the lead before Georgia State answered with a long 61 yard touchdown pass at the 10-minute mark of the third quarter as they regained the lead.

-Georgia State would not get any closer, with Koufie capping drives of 82 yards and 62 yards with a pair of one-yard touchdowns late in the third quarter before his final score of the night – also a one-yard touchdown – came at the nine-minute mark of the fourth quarter.

-The hosts added a field goal with 5:23 remaining but ULM’s offense iced the game late with third-down conversions.

 

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE

-Koufie notched 201 yards rushing on 31 carries, as the ULM running back group combined for 264 yards on 54 carries.

-Koufie becomes the first ULM running back in program history with five rushing touchdowns. The last time a running back had recorded four touchdowns in a game was Marquis Williams against UL Lafayette on Oct. 25, 1997.

-Koufie finished with 201 rushing yards, becoming the first ULM running back with 200+ rushing yards since Irving Spikes (231 yards – Nov. 20, 1993 vs Idaho), and his 201 yards is now the sixth-most in a single game in program history, and the first over 200 yards since the 1993 season.

-ULM finished the night with 457 total offensive yards, its fifth game this season with over 400 yards of offense and first game on the road with over 400 yards. It was the second week in a row the Warhawk offense was over 450 total yards after amassing 460 yards last week in the win over South Alabama.

-In his second start, freshman quarterback Caleb Evans finished the night 17-for-31 with 193 yards passing, adding 44 yards on the ground across 13 attempts.

-ULM recorded its first road victory since Nov. 22, 2014 at New Mexico State (30-17 win) with the victory over Georgia State.

-Since 2011, the Warhawks are now 21-5 in games scoring 28 or more points (5th time this season they have hit that mark).

-Koufie’s career day came on the same field as ULM running back coach Alan Ricard’s first NFL touchdown – a 19-yard touchdown run for the Baltimore Ravens against the Atlanta Falcons on November 3, 2002.

 

UP NEXT

-The Warhawks will head back out on the road next weekend when they travel to Boone, North Carolina to take on Appalachian State. Appalachian State is coming off of a 28-24 loss to Troy on Saturday afternoon and is now 7-3 overall (3-1 in Sun Belt play).