Charlotte, NC — It wasn’t 49 first half points like LSU, but the Saints followed-suit in that they had a significant 35-3 lead over Carolina at halftime. Alvin Kamara scored on their first drive of the game on a 15-yard touchdown run, and then added his second score of the day on a 1-yard run later in the first quarter. While the Saints held a 14-0 lead through the opening quarter, the Panthers contrastingly had just 14 total yards and no first downs in their 3 first quarter drives.
In the second quarter, the Saints added three more touchdowns– two on offense and one defensive score. The Panthers turned the ball over on back-to-back drives in the second– first on a fumble recovered my Malcolm Brown, then A.J. Klein came-up with the 14-yard pick 6 against his former team.
Tre’Quan Smith then scored on a 1-yard touchdown reception with 6:27 to play in the half and then about 4 minutes later, Jared Cook hauled-in a 21-yard touchdown catch on a one-handed grab in the end zone.
Joey Slye made a 23-yard field goal for Carolina with :32 to play before halftime to get the Panthers on the board for their only points of the first half.
The Panthers will get the ball to start the second half.