USM looks for first conference win in Saturday game with UAB
If Southern Miss football coach Will Hall is feeling stressed by his team’s four-game losing streak, he sure doesn’t show it.
Hall remains upbeat about his team as the Golden Eagles prepare to take on UAB in Conference USA play at Roberts Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
“Everything is going good in this program except one thing,” Hall said when he addressed the media after Tuesday’s practice.
“Recruiting is going great. The kids are doing a great job in the classroom, on the field and lifting. We are improving. You can see these young guys getting better, and that’s what you should do. Every day you practice to get better. Our mentality is right.”
But the exception is the elephant in the room. Southern Miss is 1-5 overall and 0-2 in C-USA, and is hosting one of the co-leaders in the West Division. The Blazers come in 4-2 overall and 2-0 in conference, tied with UTSA and UTEP.
The Golden Eagles are still smarting from their encounter with UTEP last week, a 26-13 defeat in which the margin between victory and defeat was a lot thinner than the final score indicated.
“Outside of the Alabama game, every game that we’ve been in has been a one-score game at halftime,” Hall said. “We’ve been right there to do it.
“We just need everybody doing their job. Our bad plays, our devastating plays, there’s 10 guys doing good, one guy’s not. We’ve got to get over that hump if we’re going to win games.”
Freshman Jake Lange will once again get the start at quarterback. Lange’s first career start last week wasn’t what he had hoped it would be, especially the sack-fumble that turned the game around in the Miners’ favor in the third quarter, as well as an earlier interception.
But he hung in there and had a solid game for the second week in a row, completing 20 of 31 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns.
Hall said that he’s brought in some help for Lange in the form of Jake Smithhart, who had been a student coach for the Golden Eagles.
Smithhart quarterbacked Pearl to the Class 6A state championship in 2017, went to Hinds Community College on a baseball scholarship, then played football as a sophomore in 2019.
He transferred to Delta State, but the Statesmen cancelled their 2020 season due to Covid-19, and he chose to come to USM.
“We claimed him off waivers, if you will,” Hall said. “We got him cleared through compliance last week and he is on the team now. He’s our third quarterback now. That’s what we’ve got. We’re down to Jake Lange, Tee Webb and Jake Smithhart.”
Injuries have been an issue with the Golden Eagles, but Hall has refused to use that as a crutch through this losing streak.
“We wake up every day and control what we can control,” Hall said. “It’s coaching these kids and improving them, helping them develop.”
UAB will bring a team that would like to atone for its last visit to The Rock, in 2019, a resounding 37-2 Southern Miss victory.
“They’re a really good football team that is well-coached,” Hall said. “I have a lot of respect for (Blazers head coach) Bill Clark. He and I both came up in small-college football together. He’s done a phenomenal job there. He’s resurrected that place.”
Southern Miss leads the series 11-7. The two teams first played in 2000 and the Golden Eagles won the first nine meetings.
Hall believes in his team, in what he’s doing, and he thinks the Golden Eagles are on the verge of putting it together.
“You have to quit doing the things that cause you to lose before you start winning,” Hall said. “Our kids are pressing and doing everything right. It’s going to happen eventually. I hope it starts this week.”
Saturday’s game will be televised on the Stadium network and can be heard on the Southern Miss Sports Network from Learfield Sports (WBUV-FM, 104.9 in Gulfport).