FAYETTEVILLE — This season marks the second time Louisiana-Monroe’s football team is opening with road games against Auburn and Arkansas.

The Warhawks are hoping for better results than they had in 2004, when they lost at Auburn 31-0 and to the Razorbacks 49-20 at Little Rock. But after one game things look about the same in 2008.

Auburn beat Louisiana-Monroe 34-0 last week, and now the Warhawks (0-1 ) again are traveling to Little Rock to play Arkansas (1-0 ) on Saturday night.

“It’s always tough to play an Auburn and an Arkansas,” Louisiana-Monroe Coach Charlie Weatherbie said. “They’re very good football teams with very talented players. We’ve got to go and not make the mistakes we did last week if we want a chance to be in the football game.” Auburn’s offense didn’t get in the end zone the first half, but the Tigers led 17-0 at halftime thanks to two touchdowns on fumble and punt returns.

Louisiana-Monroe had a chance to pull within 7-3 in the first quarter, but Raid Jabour missed a 39-yard field-goal attempt after the Warhawks had driven 41 yards to the Auburn 21.

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The Tigers scored on Louisiana-Monroe’s first snap of the game when defensive end Antonio Coleman hit quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster and forced a fumble, which Michael Goggans recovered and returned 9 yards for a touchdown.

Auburn made it 14-0 later in the first quarter on Robert Dunn’s 66-yard punt return and had to go just 30 yards for a third-quarter touchdown after Luther Ambrose fumbled a kickoff to open the second half.

“Any time you come out and get a turnover on the first play of the game, it is a disheartening experience,” Weatherbie said. “I felt like it should have been 3-3 at the half, if we would have made that field goal and not given up the turnovers.

“ We were going to come out strong in the second half, but we actually gave them 24 of their 34 points.” Weatherbie said he felt the defense played well before wearing down. He noted that Auburn was 5 of 15 on third-down conversions.

“I think we got a little tired stopping the run in the third quarter,” he said. “They had 10 minutes possession time... and we had five. A lot of that was due to three-and-out, three-and-out by our offense.

“ We made it a little tougher on the defense. Of course, the defense has got to get off the field as well, but I thought overall our defense really did some great things.” Louisiana-Monroe’s offense was 2 of 18 on third-down conversions as the Warhawks were shut out for the first time since a 38-0 loss at Wyoming in 2005.

Lancaster completed 20 of 38 passes for 136 yards but played without two players who were projected to be the starting wide receivers. Senior LaGregory Sapp is academically ineligible this season, and junior Darrell McNeal was suspended for the Auburn game for undisclosed reasons.

Weatherbie said he’s hopeful McNeal, who last season had a team-high 54 catches for 502 yards, will play against Arkansas.

Senior tight end Zeek Zacharie was Louisiana-Monroe’s leading receiver at Auburn with eight catches for 61 yards.

The Warhawks struggled to run against Auburn, rushing for 84 yards on 30 attempts.

Louisiana-Monroe junior middle linebacker Cardia Jackson intercepted a pass for Auburn’s lone turnover of the game and tied for the team lead with seven tackles. Information for this article was contributed by the Monroe (La. ) News-Star.