Wooldridge and Washington lead Louisiana-Lafayette to 23-13 win over Southern Miss

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Ben Wooldridge threw a touchdown pass, Dre’lyn Washington ran for 91 yards and a score and Louisiana-Lafayette beat Southern Miss 23-13 on Saturday night in a Sun Belt Conference opener.

Wooldridge’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Lance LeGendre and Washington’s 21-yard TD run, each in the second quarter, gave Louisiana-Lafayette a 17-7 lead midway through the period.

Kenyon Clay scored on a pair of short-yardage touchdown runs, the second with 1:40 left to play before halftime and Southern Miss trailed just 17-13.

Kenneth Almendares kicked field goals from 30 and 19 yards in the second half for the Ragin’ Cajuns. He also hit a 21-yarder in the first quarter.

Wooldridge completed 22 of 30 passes for 222 yards for Louisiana-Lafayette (4-1, 1-0).

Rodrigues Clark had 61 yards rushing on seven carries for Southern Miss (1-4, 0-1), which was held to 37 yards on the ground and 177 yards overall.

___ Get alerts on the latest AP Top 25 poll throughout the season. Sign up here ___ AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football