For the fourth time this season, Southern Miss came up short in a one-possession game heading to the fourth quarter as the Golden Eagles fell to South Alabama 27-20 on Saturday night.
“It’s another tough loss for us,” Southern Miss coach Will Hall said. “I think we are going to end up playing five teams that have nine games or more. We won one of them and took the other four to the wire, where it either finished a one-score game, or it was a one-score game with minimal time left. That’s kind of where we are.
“We have to continue to develop these young kids and continue to recruit. Close is good in horseshoes and hand grenades, but I didn’t grow up in a household where close was ever good enough.”
Numerous moments could be pointed to as the ‘one play’ that could have been the difference. On offense, it could have been Trey Lowe missing a wide-open Jason Brownlee for a touchdown in the third quarter, or Brownlee dropping a deep ball catch, or the four different three-and-out drives. Despite Southern Miss winning the turnover battle, the defense struggled to stop the Jaguars from coming up with plays as South Alabama came up with eight plays that resulted in 25-plus yards and accounted for 239 of the Jaguars’ 410 yards of total offense.
By comparison, Southern Miss (5-6, 3-4 Sun Belt) had just one play that resulted in 25-plus yards, which was a bad snap that luckily resulted in running back Frank Gore Jr. hitting Brownlee for a 29-yard touchdown. Yet, the Golden Eagles led South Alabama by the end of the third quarter.
“I think it came down to explosive plays,” Hall said. “They made them, and we didn’t. When you think about it, we have two of them that were right there. We had Brownlee late on a deal where he should have caught the ball, and then we had him deep and missed him by an inch. If we hit one of those two plays, then we probably win the game. We didn’t hit either, and then I thought they made some explosive plays. We had more first downs. We were good in the red zone. We were decent on third down. We won time of possession. We were awesome on fourth down. We had opportunities to make some explosive plays and didn’t make them and I thought they did.”
South Alabama (10-2, 6-1) opened the game with a field goal, but after the Golden Eagle defense came up with an interception, Southern Miss got on the board with a 7-yard touchdown run from Gore to make the score 7-3.
Midway into the second quarter, the Jaguars called a fake punt that was short and resulted in a turnover on downs on their 36-yard line. Southern Miss drove to South Alabama’s 5-yard line but failed to punch in a touchdown and settled for a field goal to extend the lead to 10-3.
On the ensuing drive, South Alabama came up with back-to-back 29-yard plays to set up a 5-yard touchdown pass for quarterback Carter Bradly. Then just before time expired at the half, USA kicked a field goal to give the Jaguars a 13-10 lead.
In the third quarter, Southern Miss forced a fumble to kill a potential scoring drive, but with Lowe overthrowing Brownlee, the Golden Eagles failed to come up with points. Lowe finished the game 18-for-33 and threw for 167 yards and an interception.
“It’s a really tough game,” Lowe said. “We were just a few plays here and there. It was difficult. I wish we could have won that. It’s the last home game, and I felt that was really important. It’s tough to go out like that.
“We have to look at the tape and watch it. It’s going to sting a little bit. I know it stung me. We just have to understand that the next week matters, and that’s the most important thing.”
However, on Southern Miss’ next drive, Gore hit Brownlee for a touchdown on a botched play to give USM a 17-13 lead.
Bradley, who was 15-for-22 and threw for 238 yards and three touchdowns, threw a 33-yard touchdown and 26-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to help South Alabama breakaway.
Southern Miss managed to kick a field goal with 17 seconds left in the game but failed to recover an onside kick, which sealed the night for USM.
“(Coach told us) that we need to win the next one so we can go out the right way. It’s important how you finish,” Lowe said. “Obviously, Southern Miss is going to be a good program in the next few years. But right now, we are struggling. This can still be a successful year if we have a winning record and win a bowl game, which hasn’t happened in a while.”
Southern Miss now drops its third straight game and will have to win its final game of the season against Louisiana-Monroe to clinch bowl eligibility. The Golden Eagles will travel to play ULM on Saturday, with kickoff set for 4 p.m.
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