MONROE, La. – Despite a quarterback carousel, a demanding schedule, red zone issues, and less than ideal weather conditions, Southern Miss obtained bowl eligibility as the Golden Eagles came up with a 20-10 over Louisiana-Monroe to close out the regular season.
“It’s just an awesome win for our players,” Southern Miss coach Will Hall said. “It’s just another classic Southern Miss game this year. We have played 12 of them, and 11 of them were pretty much like this. We play our butt every week for our university to get this program back to where it’s supposed to be. It’s a great step in the right direction in Year 2 to get us to a bowl game.
“We have brought (this program) back to respectability, and now we have brought it back to the postseason.”
It is now the first time in three years that the Golden Eagles have achieved bowl eligibility, which dates back to 2019.
The deciding factor in the Golden Eagles’ win over ULM was a critical three-play sequence that came from each phase of Southern Miss’ team late in the fourth quarter. The sequence opened with Dominic Quewon coming up with a sack to pin ULM back into its territory. The next was Brendan Toles blocking a punt and Cameron Knox recovering the ball. Finally, running back Frank Gore Jr. capped off his career night with a 33-yard touchdown.
Gore ran for a career-high of 199 yards and totaled 238 all-purpose yards. Gore also became the first Golden Eagle to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since Ito Smith back in 2017.
“Going into the game, I knew how much I needed it,” Gore said. “I wasn’t going to let anything stop me. I knew this was history. I knew we had a bunch of great running backs come through this program. I wanted to put my name in that conversation as well.
“We felt pretty good. It was raining, so we didn’t want the game to get away from us, and so we just wanted to run the ball. It worked early, and Coach stayed with it.”
However, by the third quarter against Louisiana-Monroe, it briefly appeared that the Warhawks would prevent USM’s bowl eligibility as ULM tied the game at 10-10
Southern Miss jumped out to its 10-0 lead in the first quarter. On the opening drive, the Golden Eagles drove 75 yards in five plays. Jakarius Caston reached the end zone after scoring on a 29-yard shovel pass from Trey Lowe. On the Golden Eagles’ next drive, Southern Miss had to settle for a 20-yard field goal after failing to score from the 5-yard line. Lowe finished the game 10 of 16 and threw for 170 yards and a touchdown.
In the second quarter, the Warhawks found a spark as ULM drove into Southern Miss’ territory before the end of the quarter. Three plays later, Chandler Rogers threw a 23-yard touchdown pass to narrow the score to 10-7.
The Golden Eagles had a chance to extend their lead before the half. With no timeouts on ULM’s 16-yard line, Lowe completed a 12-yard pass, but the offense failed to get set in time to run one last play.
“We had an unfortunate turn of events there at the end of the first half,” Hall said. “The referee dropped the ball before he spotted it, and then he had to get the ball, and that’s like three seconds off the clock that shouldn’t. We snapped the ball with 16 seconds left, so you should easily be able to complete a pass, spike it, and then decide if you want to run it. We had a lot of things going on there that cost us. We didn’t score some early when we could.”
Midway through the third quarter, ULM kicked a 37-yard field goal to tie it up while USM’s offense struggled as it totaled just 51 yards with less than a minute to go in the quarter. But a 59-yard catch from Latreal Jones gave USM life heading into the fourth quarter.
Although Southern Miss drove to ULM’s 2-yard line, the Golden Eagles’ red zone woes continued. In three plays, USM had a negative 3-yard run, a fumble, and then a dropped touchdown pass from Jason Brownlee, who left the first half with an injury. This forced USM to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Briggs Bourgeous, which was his 16th straight made.
Yet on the next drive, the critical 3-play sequence followed to help the Golden Eagles pull away. Southern Miss’ defense came up with four sacks, 13 tackles for loss and held ULM to just 231 yards of total offense.
“We went on a 3-game win streak, and our defense was playing real good,” said linebacker Averie Habas, who led the team with eight tackles and 2.5 TFLs. “Then we came up against Georgia State and kind of laid an egg. Then we went to Coastal Carolina and let up 17 points real quick. Then last week against South Alabama, we didn’t play our best game. We wanted to come out here tonight to show that we can play good and that we are a good defense, and we’ll continue to support our offense through it all.”
Southern Miss has yet to learn of its bowl destination, but notably, the Lending Tree Bowl in Mobile, Ala., and the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. both have had representatives attend USM’s last two games. The Golden Eagles appeared in the Independence Bowl back in 2018.
“We were not a good football program last year,” Hall said. “We were in no shape, way, or form to where we could be successful off the field or on the field. We have fixed all of that. We have had some success on the field to get us to a bowl game. That’s a huge step in the right direction. We are going to continue to go. We didn’t here just to get to a bowl game. From what we inherited to right now is a great step. We are getting all the support we can get from the administration. Our fans have to hang in there with us and understand that we are building it back right. I’m proud that these kids are going to get to experience this because they deserve it."
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