Louisiana-Monroe tougher than record indicates

TROY — Louisiana-Monroe’s record isn’t fooling anyone, though it’s no secret the Warhawks (2-6, 1-3 Sun Belt) have underachieved.

“Monroe’s got some real good athletes,” Troy safety Tavares Williams said. “They can throw the ball around and their quarterback can move. They’ve got four or five guys on offense that can cause you some problems if you’re not paying attention to them.”

Troy’s final Sun Belt road game will be today at 6 p.m., as the Trojans (5-2, 4-0) try to stay unbeaten in the league. Troy quarterback Levi Brown has thrown for 644 yards in the two games he’s started. He’s hit 58-of-78 passes with four touchdowns, but the most important stat is the zero turnovers.

ULM quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster has thrown for 1,527 yards and 12 touchdowns, hitting 60 percent of his passes with just three interceptions.

Just give him the ball: Troy’s disparity between pass and rush (51-28) against UNT last week was because the Mean Green’s run defense was better than its pass, offensive coordinator Neal Brown said.

“When we did run the ball, we had some success on the night, but it wasn’t as big a part of our plan,” Brown said.

However, running back DuJuan Harris (eight carries, 34 yards) thought the Trojans could have done more on the ground. He hasn’t come close to matching his 148-yard effort in Troy’s season opener.

Four of his 14 carries versus FIU on Oct. 18 came when Troy was milking the clock.

“It matters to me,” Harris said. “Sometimes you’re tired of just blocking all the time and you want to get the ball a little bit. I’m a team player, so whatever I’ve got to do, I’ll do it.

“We could have ran down their throats. We had more yards rushing in the first half against Ohio State and Oklahoma State than we did the whole game against North Texas, and I know their rushing defense is not better than Ohio State or Oklahoma State. We could have broken a record.”

Troy ran for 108 yards against the Mean Green, refuting Harris’ statement, but 60 of those yards came on Troy’s last two possessions as the Trojans ran the clock down.

Looking ahead: Troy’s next two games don’t count in the Sun Belt standings, as Troy hosts Western Kentucky Nov. 8 and travels to LSU Nov. 15. UL-Lafayette, the league’s other unbeaten team, comes to Troy Nov. 22, and the Trojans close the year against Arkansas State Dec. 6 at home.