Preston Stone and Caleb Komolafe lead Northwestern in 42-7 rout of Louisiana-Monroe

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EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Preston Stone threw three touchdown passes, Caleb Komolafe rushed for two in a second straight big performance and Northwestern routed Louisiana-Monroe 42-7 on Saturday.

Stone connected with Hayden Eligon II, Griffin Wilde and Drew Wagner each for scores, and threw for 262 yards on 20-of-31 passing as the Wildcats (3-2) completed nonconference play. Northwestern scored on its first three possessions for the second straight week, led 18-7 at the half and dominated in total yards 515 to 273 at Martin Stadium, its temporary lakefront home.

Stone also rushed for 49 yards including a 30-yard keeper

“I think you're seeing a young man that's starting to find his rhythm,” Northwestern coach David Braun said of his graduate transfer quarterback. “When things were there with the pass, he took ‘em. When things weren’t there, he used his feet to, you know, be efficient or extend plays.”

Komolafe, a red-shirt sophomore, punched in for a 3-yard score in the first quarter then raced 39 yards for another in the third. He finished with 75 yards rushing on 13 caries and has four TDs in his last three games, filling the gap left by Cam Porter who's out for the season with a lower body injury.

“I feel that was extra motivation," Komolafe said. “You know that was our brother going down. So you know he motivates us and ultimately we're dedicating this season to him.”

Wilde caught three passes for 64 yards — including 49-yard throw from Stone for his second TD in two games — and Eligon pulled in three for 80 yards.

Stone distributed passes to nine receivers. Eligon and Wagner led with seven targets.

“We knew on film they were going to show a double-team on Griffin (Wilde) and they bracketed him quite a bit, which was honestly awesome," Stone said. “It just guaranteed opportunities to get guys like Hayden or Drew or Ricky (Ahumaraeze) the ball and those guys definitely stepped up.”

Jack Olsen added a pair of field goals.

Louisiana-Monroe’s Aidan Armenta passed for 129 yards (10 for 19) and a touchdown to Nic Trujillo on the game's opening drive, but the Warhawks (3-2) were shut down the rest of the way.

The Warhawks scored on their first possession, a snappy seven-play, 75-yard drive. Armenta capped six rushing plays with a 34-yard pass to a wide-open Trujillo 4:09 in.

Then it was all Northwestern.

The Wildcats tied it 7-all just over 5 minutes later. Komolafe finished a 13-play, 61-yard drive.

Northwestern struck again 1:03 into the second quarter when Stone lofted a 37-yard throw to Eligon, who scooted in from the left side. A 2-point conversion made it 15-7.

After Northwestern took over on downs, Olsen’s 34-yard field goal with 2 minutes left the half upped it to 18-7.

Komolafe’s second score, on the opening drive of the second half, upped it to 25-7. Then Stone connected with Wilde and Wagner in the final 5:12 of the third quarter to turn it into a rout. Backup QB Ryan Boe entered in the fourth.

Louisiana-Monroe: The Warhawks stalled after the opening drive in their first meeting with Northwestern and dropped to 0-6 against Big Ten opponents.

Northwestern: The Wildcats defense regrouped after Louisiana-Monroe jumped ahead early. Northwestern stopped backup quarterback Hunter Herring when he tried to leapfrog over a pile on a fourth-and-2 in the second quarter. Ore Adeyi and Fred Davis II came through with pivotal breakups of long passes by Armenta. Anto Saka's sack cost the Warhawks 16 yards and helped snuffed a drive.

Braun was happy the Wildcats kept their foot on the pedal to dominate. Northwestern built a 17-0 lead on UCLA last week, then held on for a 17-14 win.

“We challenged out team earlier this week,” Braun said. “We got a team on the ropes. You’ve got to learn how to put them away. I was proud of the way our guys learned a valuable lesson today.”

Louisiana-Monroe: Resumes Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday at Coastal Carolina.

Northwestern: Returns to its Big Ten schedule on Saturday at No. 7 Penn State.

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