As Ron Brooks crossed the goal line Saturday, deja vu set in.
Brooks dreamed Friday night that he picked off a Louisiana-Monroe pass and took it back for a touchdown. With 7:05 to play in the first quarter, he made that dream a reality.
The junior cornerback hauled in his first career interception and brought it back 32 yards for his first career touchdown.
“It was kind of surreal,” Brooks said. “It happened just like I dreamed about it.”
On a night of firsts, Brooks was one of several Tigers to score for the first time during LSU’s 51-0 win Saturday against ULM.
After three years in purple and gold, Brooks registered his first sack, interception and touchdown within one quarter Saturday night. He halted three consecutive Warhawk drives in the first quarter with an interception, a third-down pass breakup and a sack. Brooks’ five tackles in the game marked a career high.
“This probably has to be my best memory,” Brooks said.
When asked what he was thinking during his dash to the end zone, his answer was simple.
“Don’t get caught,” he said with a chuckle.
Sophomore defensive end Lavar Edwards and freshman running back Spencer Ware also got in on the act.
Edwards scooped up his first career fumble recovery in the third quarter and brought it back 29 yards to paydirt.
“It was awesome,” Edwards said. “Once I picked it up and I saw I had some running room, I was just thinking ‘end zone’ the whole time.”
Ware gave the remaining LSU fans in Tiger Stadium a glimpse into the future as he plunged in to the south end zone late in the third quarter to push the Tiger advantage to 44-0.
“[Michael] Ford, Alfred Blue and Ware, all three of those guys are talented guys and deserving of snaps,” said LSU coach Les Miles. “When you turn and hand them the ball, they can do something with it.”
Another Tiger first came in the fourth quarter when freshman safety Craig Loston nabbed his first career interception and returned it 11 yards.
The cushion LSU created in the second half allowed Miles to substitute freely.
“We played some guys we felt like we had to get snaps to,” Miles said. “We threw it to a couple of receivers that really we were throwing it to this year for the first time. I kind of enjoyed it.”
Freshman wide receiver James Wright made a 13-yard reception to get on the stat sheet for the first time.
Junior linebacker Stefoin Francois recorded his first career sack on the Warhawks’ opening drive of the second half, dropping ULM freshman quarterback Kolton Browning for a 10-yard loss.
Senior defensive tackle Lazarius Levingston fell on a loose ball with a little more than five minutes to play in the second quarter. The fumble recovery was his first as a Tiger.
The Tiger defense pitched a shutout for the first time since LSU blanked Tulane a year ago, 42-0.
“We’ve been wanting that all year,” Edwards said of the shutout. “We feel like we have a pretty good defense, and all that was missing was the shutout.”
With the game effectively won, a shutout was the only question remaining. Senior linebacker Kelvin Sheppard made sure his defense knew how important the zero on the scoreboard was.
“[Sheppard] rallied us together late in the half when we had put the backups in,” Brooks said. “He was letting us know just because you guys are in doesn’t mean that we’re going to let up on those guys. The message really got through to everybody. As you can see, everybody came back with another level of intensity.”
The two defensive touchdowns marked the first time LSU’s defense has scored multiple touchdowns since Oct. 12, 1991, when the Tigers bested Arkansas State, 70-14.
The 51 points marked the first time LSU topped the 50 point mark since a 58-10 thrashing of Louisiana Tech in 2007.
 
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Contact Hunt Palmer at [email protected]