LAFAYETTE, La. – Ja'Marcus Bradley scored on each of his three receptions while Elijah Mitchell added three second-half touchdowns to lead Louisiana to a 48-38 Sun Belt Conference football win over the University of South Alabama at Cajun Field Saturday.

Kawaan Baker countered with three scores — two rushing and one through the air — for the Jaguars (2-9, 1-6 Sun Belt), who recorded 477 yards of total offense.  Cole Garvin was 18-of-28 passing for 254 yards with two touchdowns, Baker had 80 yards receiving while Jamarius Way added 67 on a game-high six catches, and Tra Minter ran for 87 yards and a score.

Mitchell finished with 104 yards on 12 carries as the Ragin' Cajuns (6-5, 4-3 Sun Belt) posted 407 yards of total offense.

The Jags' Nigel Lawrence paced all players with 10 tackles, while ULL was led by Jacques Boudreaux and Justin Middleton with nine stops apiece.

Louisiana 48, South Alabama 38 (final stats)
South Alabama/Louisiana photo gallery

GAME FACTS
-After driving for a field goal on the opening possession of the contest, the Ragin' Cajuns recorded a takeaway on South's first play from scrimmage and led 10-0 at the end of the opening quarter despite gaining just 48 yards.
-The Jaguars scored 17 points in the second quarter, and with three drives of 13 or more plays in the first half recorded 48 snaps compared to 22 for ULL before the break.
-Each team scored on its opening possession of the third quarter, but following turnovers on three straight drives by the two the Ragin' Cajuns added 10 more points for a 41-24 advantage at the end of the period.
-Baker scored twice in the final quarter, but South couldn't pull closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
-Not only did the Jaguars finish with a season-best 477 yards of total offense, their 223 yards on the ground were the most recorded this fall as well.
-In addition to converting 11-of-19 times on third down, South was successful on all five fourth-down conversions attempted by the offense.

NOTES
-It was the third straight win in the series for the Ragin' Cajuns — who now hold a 5-2 edge all-time over the Jags — as they have now claimed all four matchups in Lafayette.
-It was the highest point total by the Jaguar offense against an NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision opponent this fall, with the performance coming after totaling 24 points in the first two games of the month combined.
-Baker's first-quarter score was his first since reaching the end zone in the second quarter of the Jaguars' Oct. 13 win over Alabama State.
-The drive that the sophomore's touchdown wrapped up was the longest in both plays and time used in program history.
-He ended the contest tying a pair of season-high totals with three touchdowns and 124 all-purpose yards.
-Way has now reached the end zone in three of the last four contests; he was without a catch prior to the beginning of the drive that ended with his touchdown, but contributed four receptions for 53 yards on the march.
-It was his fifth touchdown catch of the year, moving him into the top five on the school's season record list as well as into a tie for sixth with Josh Magee in the career record books as he now has eight since the start of last season.
-The 17 points in the second quarter were the most by the Jags since posting 21 in the second period of the Alabama State victory.
-Minter finished the contest with 223 all-purpose yards, breaking the previous school season record in the category while becoming the first individual in program history to post over 1,500 in a year with the effort.
-After making his first tackle behind the line last week, Lawrence — who now leads the team with five performances with 10 or more stops — posted another with one in the third quarter for a loss of two yards.
-Darian Mills' first interception of his career ended a Ragin' Cajun third-quarter drive that had started at the USA-29 following a Jaguar turnover.
-Tyree Turner has been credited with at least one stop for loss in three of the last four contests, and with 20 in his career he moved into a tie for eighth place all-time at USA with Randy Allen.

THEY SAID IT
South Alabama head coach Steve Campbell
On his thoughts on his team and the game: "I was proud of the guys and the way they fought.  Obviously, we are disappointed when you get beat.  We put ourselves in a hole right off the bat and went down 10-0, but the guys fought back and tied it back up twice.  The last two weeks, we had started off well and didn't finish the half.  Defensively, I didn't like the way we finished the first half; we gave up two touchdowns right before halftime right after we had tied it up at 10-10.  Offensively, I liked how we finished the first half, we were able to get some points on the board.  We came back and tied it back up to start the second half after we had challenged the offense to start the second half fast.  We did that and were able to get points, but then we gave up a quick one.  The guys kept fighting though and we had a couple of chances, but we had a turnover that stopped a drive and we had a touchdown taken off the board because we went out of bounds."
On the difference in the game: "The difference in the game was our three turnovers to [Louisiana's] one.  They were able convert those into 10 points and we weren't able to capitalize when the defense did get us the turnover, we gave it right back to them on that drive.  The guys played hard and I liked their fight.  We made some plays offensively and made one or two defensively.  We have to make a few more plays.  We led them in several stat categories and had less penalty yards than them.  Today was about the turnovers though."
On seeing flashes of what this team is capable of: "I did see flashes today, I saw some really good things.  We ran the football well today rushing for over 200 yards, and that was with our young offensive line that is starting to mature.  We also had over 450 yards for just the second time this season, and the first time in conference play.  We were 5-for-5 in the red zone with four touchdowns.  There were some big-time positive things that we can take out of this game and build on.  You're never happy when you get beat, but the guys responded in the way I wanted them to.  I told the guys I wanted them to play four full quarters and I think they tried to do that."

Junior RB Tra Minter
On his performance against the Ragin' Cajuns: "Coming into the game I told myself that I had to run hard and that I needed to break tackles for the team.  The offensive line did their job, they blocked their behinds off, and we had a good rushing game moving the ball down the field.  I was very proud of the offense tonight."
On building on the game for next week: "We just need to keep pounding, that's all we talk about.  We need to get better every day, practice well and practice fast, and execute.  We can get a spark from this game."

Junior DL Tyree Turner
On the effort of the defense in the game: "We gave pretty good effort this game.  It didn't turn out the way we wanted it to, but the effort was pretty good; guys fought the whole time."
On the season finale next weekend: "We have to take it one day at a time starting tomorrow, we need to have a good day on Sunday."

Up next: The Jaguars conclude the 2018 season on Friday with a home game against Coastal Carolina that is slated to kick off at 2 p.m. (CST).

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics.  Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

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