‘We’re getting closer.’ USM looks to snap losing streak in homecoming game against UTEP
Southern Miss football returns to M.M. Roberts Stadium for homecoming this weekend, and the Golden Eagles are working to snap a three-game losing streak.
UTEP will be the opponent in the Conference USA game, scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday. The Miners come in 4-1 overall and were successful in their C-USA debut last week against Old Dominion. USM is 1-4 and 0-1 after last week’s 24-19 loss at Rice.
“We’re getting closer as a program to getting some results on the field,” said first-year Golden Eagle coach Will Hall. “Our culture is going great. We’re doing the good things off the field; we’ve just got to keep going.”
The Golden Eagles will keep going with the third starting quarterback of the season after true freshman Ty Keyes went out early against Rice. Second-year freshman Jake Lange came in to play the rest of the game and is the listed starter for UTEP.
“Ty is out,” Hall said. “He’s going to be out for some time. I’m not ready to give a definite yet, but he’ll be out for an extended period with a lower extremity injury.
“We’ve lost three quarterbacks. We lost Jack Walker (in preseason), then we lost Trey Lowe (against Grambling), now we lost Ty. It is what it is. Nobody’s feeling sorry for us. I’m not feeling sorry for us; we’ve just to find a way to get it done.”
Hall said a decision would have to be made about Keyes at some point, whether he can come back later in the season, or whether he might be made a medical redshirt if he cannot.
“He’s played in four games,” Hall said. “We’ll get him back at some point, and we’ll assess it then whether we’re going to play him or redshirt him. It just depends on what’s happening and when we do get him back.”
Lange acquitted himself nicely in his college debut under emergency duty, and Hall is confident in Lange moving forward. Lange completed 23 of 37 passes for 304 yards and a touchdown, although he did give up three interceptions against the Owls.
“Jake has a ton of charisma,” said Hall. “He has a ton of leadership. He was in the office until three in the morning watching film when we got back home the other night. He’s a gym rat; he maximized everything God has given him.
“Our players love him and we’re going to gear the offense around him and keep charging forward.”
The most important job is keeping Lange healthy, because there is only freshman Tee Webb behind Lange.
“Not a lot of other options,” Hall said. “We’re on our fourth quarterback in six games. We’ve got to find a way to take what we’ve got and win. I just go in (to the quarterback room) and coach Jake and Tee and the guys that are available.”
It will be a different offense than what the Golden Eagles were running under Lowe and Keyes. Lange is more of a classic drop-back passer and lacks the mobility of the other two.
“He had a few mistakes that we can clean up,” Hall said. “Having a week of practice with gearing the offense – obviously, we had geared the offense toward Ty’s skill set, which is way different than Jake’s.
“Now we’ll gear it toward Jake’s, which will allow him to hopefully have more success.”
Lange quickly developed a rapport with junior wide receiver Jason Brownlee, who caught eight passes for 127 yards, both career highs, against Rice.
The Golden Eagles will also look to more production from the running game, led by freshman Frank Gore Jr. Gore has run 81 times for 360 yards (4.4-yards per carry) and a touchdown.
Southern Miss will look to replicate its special teams performance from last week. Junior defensive back Camron Harrell was named C-USA Special Teams Player of the Week after returning a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and recovered an onside kick.
Punter Mason Hunt had another solid game against Rice, kicking four times for a 36.0-yard average, including two inside the 20. For the season, Hunt has an even 44-yard average on 34 punts, eight over 50 yards and a long of 60.
USM also had a good game on defense, allowing the Owls 325 yards. Sophomore Malik Shorts led the Golden Eagles with 12 tackles, and he leads the team with 39 tackles.
This is the 13th meeting in the series between USM and UTEP, the first coming at the Sun Bowl Game on New Year’s Day in 1954, won by then-Texas Western 37-14.
Southern Miss has won the last five meetings in the series, including the most recent, a 31-13 victory at Hattiesburg.
UTEP’s only loss came at Boise State. Dana Dimel is in his fourth season as the coach of the Miners, and he appears to have finally turned the corner after two 1-11 seasons (2018-19) and a 3-5 record (0-4 in C-USA) in 2020.
“4-1, man, they’ve done a great job building that program,” said Hall. “I’ve got a lot of respect for their coaches, a lot of successful coaches that have done a lot of great things and they’ve got it going on right now. It will be a tremendous challenge for us.”
Saturday’s game will be streamed on ESPN3 and can be heard on the Southern Miss Sports Network from Learfield Sports (WBUV-FM, 104.9 in Gulfport).