MOBILE – For weeks, inconsistency had been Southern Miss’ biggest issue, but for the first time this season, the Golden Eagles were in fact, consistent – that is consistently bad in a 55-3 loss to South Alabama on Tuesday night’s nationally televised game.
And yet it was only 10 months ago that Southern Miss celebrated a bowl win at Hancock Whitney Stadium, but that now seems more like a distant memory more than ever as the Golden Eagles suffered their worst conference loss in program history. The previous mark was a 48-point loss to Marshall back in 2013.
“We lost some older guys last year that were good players,” said Southern Miss coach Will Hall as to why his program has taken steps back this season. “We have been really banged up in the secondary. South Alabama did a great job of taking advantage of that. We have guys playing over there that weren’t even playing on defense a few weeks ago.
“We are not as far away as what I think it seems. We have to keep recruiting and keep going…I want to represent Southern Miss better than what was represented right now.”
Adding to the sting of the defeat, across the sideline was Southern Miss’ previous head coach, Jay Hopson, who is now South Alabama’s cornerbacks coach, as well as USA’s head coach, Kane Wommack, who is a USM alum. But for Southern Miss’ 2023 season, it was the same story: an ineffective offense with untimely penalties killing any momentum, along with a depleting Golden Eagle defense having no answers for South Alabama’s offense.
By the end of the first half, the Golden Eagles had netted just one positive yard. The Jaguars scored on their first five drives, with South Alabama (4-3, 2-1 SBC) outgaining USM in total yardage at 402-26, while the Golden Eagles totaled 25 penalty yards.
“We have had two games in a row where we didn’t move the ball offensively,” Hall said. “We had some things there and drops at critical times that would have been big explosive plays. We had some plays where we didn’t hit them as good or read them correctly. I thought they kicked our butt in the trenches on both sides of the ball.”
Southern Miss’ defense couldn’t stop the run as South Alabama’s running backs ran freely through wide-open wholes. As a result, the first three touchdowns all came from South Alabama running back La’Damian Webb, a Jones College alum, who finished the night tying a USA record for touchdowns in a game with four.
“We didn’t tackle well first of all,” said linebacker Swayze Bozeman, who had had a career-high of 12 tackles. “It seemed like there was one guy out of the gap almost every play. It's kind of the theme of our season is that we have 10 guys do it right, and when one guy doesn’t, we get exposed. That’s what happened a lot tonight and with what’s happening.”
South Alabama’s drives lasted an average of three minutes and 30 seconds through the first half. Not aiding the effort was Southern Miss was without star safety Jay Stanley and starting defensive lineman Jalen Williams. For USM, that figure stood at just one minute and 37 seconds as the Golden Eagles converted only two first downs in the half, which didn’t occur until just over six minutes left in the second quarter.
“I have every bit of confidence in Coach Hall,” Bozeman said. “Coach Hall isn’t the one missing tackles. He’s putting us in the position that we need to be in on offense and defense. We are not playing up to our potential. Don’t put it on Coach Hall. Put it on us.”
The only momentum Southern Miss (1-6, 0-4) seemed to have come late in the first quarter as the Golden Eagles trailed 14-0. On fourth and one, USM called a fake punt, which seemed to convert a first down, but an illegal formation penalty killed the conversion.
Midway through the second quarter, Southern Miss pulled starting quarterback Billy Wiles in favor of Holeman Edwards after trailing 28-0.
“I thought it was something that we needed to do,” said Hall on the decision to go to Edwards. “We lost several games in a row. Not that Billy was playing, but I thought we needed to change it up and see what we can get and if it could spark us.”
Edwards managed to provide a small spark for Southern Miss in the second half as an 18-yard scramble helped USM cross the midfield for the first time in the game and set up a 32-yard field goal by Andrew Stein.
“Rock bottom is kind of a hard thing to say,” Edwards said. “I wouldn’t say we have a missing link. We just haven’t made the big plays. You can’t win football games, and you can’t win hard football games if you can’t make plays. We just haven’t made them, and the other team has. That’s what has hurt us.”
However, Edwards’ spark was short-lived as South Alabama 24 more points in the second half with just as much as ease. Edwards finished the game 5 of 15, throwing for 41 yards and an interception, while Wiles was 2 of 5 and threw for five yards. By the end of the game, South Alabama outgained Southern Miss in total yards, 647-149.
“Tough night for us, obviously,” Hall said. “They kicked our butt in every way. We didn’t do much of anything in any phase.
“We have a lot of season left. We have to keep working and recruiting. This recruiting class will be our third class. We are excited about it, and we have to keep adding to it and keep building the roster.”
Southern Miss will have a bye next week and then go on the road to face Appalachian State on Oct. 28.
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