HATTIESBURG – In a game that seemed the total opposite as last week’s rout of Jackson State, the same issue presented itself in Saturday’s 21-20 loss to Louisiana-Monroe.
“We didn’t run the ball well, ain’t no doubt about it,” Southern Miss coach Jay Hopson said. “That’s about as accurate of a statement as it can be. We have to be better. The bottom line is they stuffed our running game, and as coaches and players, we better come to work next week and get better.
“It’s always a combination. It’s not one person or one man to blame, but it’s always a combination of both.”
Just two games into the season, Southern Miss still hasn’t found its footing running the ball. The two players at the top of the depth chart, seniors Tez Parks and T-Rod Daniels, had less than 35 yards each against Jackson State, then the two followed it up with 42 and 32 yards, respectively, Saturday.
As a team, the Golden Eagles rushed for 202 yards last week, but that was mostly made up of Trivenskey Mosley’s 49 yards and quarterback Tate Whatley’s 41 yards in the second half when the game was out of reach. Against Louisiana-Monroe, Southern Miss rushed for just 58 yards – a 1.7-yard per average.
Neither Mosley nor Steven Anderson saw much action, if any. In a tight game when Southern Miss had to respond to a few ULM scores, Hopson opted not to try other backs.
“Tez was doing some good things and he kind of is our starter,” Hopson said. “He and T-Rod are kind of 1-2. We never got ourselves in position to do a ton of subbing. After the turnover in the end zone, we were behind the rest of the game it felt like. We got up 17-14 right before the half, but we kept our guys in and didn’t do a lot of subbing in the offensive backfield.”
A big-bodied back, like Anderson, seemed like the logical choice for the fourth-and-1 play early in the fourth quarter, but Daniels was stuffed to turn it over on downs while USM trailed 21-20. Hopson didn’t want to call a timeout in that situation, and the rotation of Parks and Daniels fell to Daniels being on the field for the play.
The 5-foot-9, 175-pound Daniels is more than capable of making the shortage, fourth down play, according to Hopson.
“We came up short,” Hopson said. “We have to make those first downs. That’s a critical point in the game. We’re down by 1, we’re on their 36-yard line, we have to make that. The reality is we can’t come up short. If you do come up short, you lose, and that’s what happened.
“We have to be better there. We’ve got to get that yard when we needed it.”
Without a bell cow running back, like Ito Smith last year, Southern Miss was going to be more by-committee this season, so it’s not expected for the team to have a 100-yard rusher every game. The start to the season, however, is still disappointing.
Despite 378 passing yards on 31-of-46 passing from quarterback Jack Abraham, Saturday’s outcome proves a team can’t rely on a quarterback to sling it nearly 50 times and expect a win. It’s tough to sustain drives when a team is averaging less than 2 yards per carry.
“It’s tough, but it’s something we have to work on,” Abraham said. “We have to come back Monday and focus on getting the running game down. Hats off to them, they beat us up front. That’s just the bottom line.”
In the end, though, Abraham and Southern Miss were in a position to win the game. The Golden Eagles had the ball with less than two minutes to go and all three timeouts, and they moved into ULM’s side of the field. But, Abraham threw his second interception of the game, which was his fourth turnover.
“I saw that linebacker blitz to the side of the trips (formation), and the guy who picked it off kind of floated into that area,” Abraham said. “I tried throwing it quick, but he sat under it and made a good play. If I could take it back, I would. But, it is what it is and I just have to move on and play the next play.”
Southern Miss travels to Appalachian State next week for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.
It was the second straight game score on the first offensive play and still lost the game, which happened in the UAB game last season.
