Louisiana Tech football can't overcome five turnovers vs South Alabama

MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama got a punt return touchdown from Caullin Lacy, Yam Banks added an interception for a touchdown and a fumble recovery, and the Jaguars defeated Louisiana Tech 38-14 on Saturday.

Lacy's 57-yard dash from the right sideline to the left corner of the end zone gave South Alabama a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

“We did not give our team a chance to win the game," said Louisiana Tech coach Sonny Combie. "We turned the football over five times, and they scored 24 of their 38 points off those turnovers … You have to credit South Alabama. They played veryphysical and created those takeaways. They did a very good job on defense. Credit to Coach (Kane) Wommackand his staff. They did a nice job of handling their bounce-back game. They handled it better than we didas coaches and as a team.”

The South Alabama led 17-7 at halftime, then the Jaguars scored two touchdowns on the first eight plays of the second half. First, Banks intercepted a Parker McNeil pass and returned it 24 yards for a score on the second play of the third quarter. Then Banks recovered a fumble on La Tech's third play of the ensuing possession, setting up Lacy's 19-yard touchdown catch on third down.

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"The third quarter played out the same way it did last week," Combie said. "We have to take care of the football. When you turn the ball over five times, you have absolutely no chance of winning."

Carter Bradley completed 14 of 21 passes for 178 yards with three touchdowns for South Alabama (3-1). La’Damian Webb had 75 yards rushing.

McNeil was 19-of-34 passing for 251 yards and threw four interceptions. Louisiana Tech (1-3) had five turnovers in all.

"I know they don’t have all of the pieces together yet, but they played really hard and have somereally good schemes on both sides of the ball," said Wommack. "And our guys responded again, and that to me was themost exciting thing that I have seen in our program to this point. We came out hot, they (Louisiana Tech)respond and we respond again. At that point, I thought our defense took a huge step forward in termsof creating some takeaways."

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This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Louisiana Tech football can't overcome five turnovers vs South Alabama