Unexpected, unanticipated, unforeseen the list goes on of how to describe Southern Miss’ 20-19 comeback win over Arkansas State on homecoming night.
For three and a half quarters, the Golden Eagles played as Southern Miss coach Will Hall described, “simply as not pretty.”
“I know it’s not pretty, and I’ll be honest with you, it’s probably not going to be pretty for a little while around here,” Hall said. “Everybody is going to have to understand that we are going to have to dig in and keep battling and keep recruiting. It’s going to be pretty one day, but it probably ain’t going to be pretty for just a little while. We all have to come to grips with that.
“That was a Southern Miss win. When everything is against you, and it wasn’t supposed to happen, we just kept freaking fighting together.”
The victory over the Red Wolves is the biggest comeback since Southern Miss’ 44-35 win over Kentucky back in 2016 and is also the first double-digit fourth quarter comeback since the Golden Eagles’ 34-27 win against Louisiana Tech in 2017.
What makes the victory even more preposterous was that the late surge was predominantly guided by second string running back Janari Dean and backup quarterback Jake Lange.
Hall made the decision to switch the Lange with less than two minutes to go in the third quarter, with Southern Miss (3-3, 1-1 Sun Belt) trailing 19-7.
“I thought it gave us the best chance to win the game,” said Hall on the decision to go to Lange. “Zach is a really talented and really good player. He has turned the ball over a lot here recently. I thought he was a little emotional early. I thought that’s why the ball was high on him. He’s a really accurate passer that was missing high because he was so into it. He wants to do so good. He’s got the weight of the world on him.”
Southern Miss’ offense struggled to score despite driving into Arkansas State’s territory in every single drive in the first half. This was also partly due to USM having the bulk of its game plan centered around wide receiver Jakarius Caston, who left the game early with an undisclosed injury.
After the Red Wolves scored a touchdown on their opening drive to take a 7-0 lead, USM drove to Arkansas State’s 46-yard line before starting quarterback Zach Wilcke threw an interception.
Penalties killed the Golden Eagles’ next two drives, while Arkansas State (2-5, 1-3) added to its lead with a 31-yard field goal in the second quarter. Wilcke managed to put Southern Miss on the board in the second quarter after finding Jason Brownlee for a 23-yard touchdown to narrow the score to 10-7. Just before the half, USM reached ASU’s 32-yard line, but Wilcke was again intercepted.
The Red Wolves extended their lead by scoring on the opening drive in the second half. Arkansas State quarterback James Blackman, who finished 25-for-34 and threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns, extended the lead to 17-7 with a 9-yard touchdown pass. Despite the success in the passing game, USM’s defense came up with four crucial sacks on Blackman and held the Red Wolves’ run game to 50 yards.
“I know they were completing passes, but they weren’t scoring,” Hall said. “You have to score. We completed a lot of passes last week but didn’t score. I felt like we were really getting some good hits on (Blackman). I thought we beat him up. He’s a tough guy. He got hit hard tonight a lot. He stayed in the game and battled.”
Penalties continued to plague Southern Miss’ offense before Hall decided to switch to Lange. After Lange’s first drive, the Golden Eagles went three and out on their own 4-yard line. Punter Mason Hunt then bobbled the snap, which resulted in a safety for Arkansas State.
“Everybody in the stadium thought we were going to lose at that point except for about 115 people on that sideline,” Hall said. “It was just an unbelievable culture win.”
After USM’s defense forced a three-and-out, Lange helped kickstart a 95-yard drive that was capped off by a 50-yard touchdown run by Frank Gore Jr. On the next drive, Southern Miss took advantage of the favorable field position, with Gore and Dean helping the offense drive downfield.
“That’s what we have been wanting all year is for Frank and Danari to be a great 1-2 punch because they complement each other,” Hall said. “We just haven’t had a lot of snaps. Tonight, we had 69 snaps and that’s real college football. We haven’t been over 60 much outside of the Liberty game because we don’t move the ball enough to garnish the snaps. It was great. I think we’ll see more of (Dean).
"(Dean’s) style is different compared to Frank's, so he pops a few, and then he gets tired, then Frank comes in, and boom Frank scores.”
With less than two minutes and thirty seconds left, Lange then executed a successful fourth and three as he Cole Cavallo for a 4-yard pass on Arkansas State’s 7-yard line. Dean then scored on a 4-yard run to give USM the lead.
“That’s a heck of a birthday present,” said Dean on scoring his first touchdown of the season. “My birthday is tomorrow, so I was really excited for that, but it wouldn’t have been done without the offensive line. They did a heck of a job blocking up front.”
Lange finished the game 6-for-12 and threw for 45 yards, while Wilcke finished 11-for-20 and threw for 132 yards, two interceptions and a touchdown.
“I did my job and tried to execute to the best of my ability to help our team,” Lange said. “They are really simple on defense. Their scheme is built for up-tempo offenses that you see in modern college football. When you have a coach like Coach Hall who teaches you how to read and react and see the play before it happens, it was easy to go out there and do my job.”
Southern Miss goes on the road next week to face Texas State.
