Will Hall era gets rough start as USM falls to South Alabama 31-7. What was their ‘downfall?’

The Will Hall era at Southern Miss got off to a rocky start Saturday night as the Golden Eagles fell apart after a promising start.

South Alabama took command in the second quarter and never looked back, taking a 31-7 victory over USM in front of 20,156 people at Hancock Whitney Stadium.

The Jaguars (1-0) were winners in Kane Wommack’s debut as head coach. Southern Miss dropped to 0-1.

“It was humiliating,” said Hall. “We just didn’t show up, particularly offensively. I thought defensively, we played really well. But we just didn’t execute on offense, and that’s on me as the head coach.”

Things looked to be going as planned for the Golden Eagles after they took their second possession of the game 73 yards on 16 plays, scoring on a 1-yard run by quarterback Trey Lowe.

The key play was a targeting call that kept the drive alive after the Jaguars had stopped Southern Miss on a fourth down at the Jaguar 30-yard-line. Brooks Bourgeois added the PAT kick for a 7-0 lead.

“We were running the football and being physical, which is what we wanted,” said Hall. “Then they made the conscious effort to take the run away, which was smart on their part, and we didn’t execute in the passing game until late in the third quarter.”

The game turned against the Golden Eagles early in the second quarter, when South Alabama senior Jake Bentley started to find the range with the passing game.

Bentley hooked up with his favorite target, junior Jalen Tolbert, for receptions of 17 and 49 yards to the Southern Miss 2. On third-and-goal, Bentley hit tight end Trent Tyre on the right flat for a 1-yard scoring play.

On the ensuing kickoff, junior Camron Harrell was stripped of the football, giving the ball right back to the Jaguars at the Eagle 23. USA needed just four plays to score on a 5-yard pass from Bentley to senior tailback Kareem Walker.

After a three-and-out, the Jaguars were driving again, but this time the Golden Eagle defense made a play, forcing a fumble at the Southern Miss 16.

Trailing 14-7 at halftime, South Alabama came out for the second half with authority, taking the opening possession of the third quarter 75 yards in seven plays with Bentley getting the score on a 1-yard plunge.

Two big pass plays keyed the drive, a 28-yard strike from Bentley to Caullin Lacy on the first play of the drive and a 26-yard catch-and-run to Tolbert, who was ruled out of bounds at the 3-yard line after initially scoring on the play.

For the game, Bentley completed 17 of 22 passes for 268 yards, six of those receptions going to Tolbert for 184 yards.

Bentley and Tolbert connected on a 49-yard pass play to set up a 48-yard field goal by Diego Guajardo that made the score 24-7.

The Golden Eagles shut down the Jaguars the rest of the way, but the offense was unable to capitalize on several good scoring chances.

“Defensively, we were flying around hitting people,” said Hall. “When the game was going bad, they never batted an eye, and they kept us in it.

“I think the only drive they really gave up was the opening drive of the third quarter. Other than that, it was turnovers and short fields. They battled all the way through.

Midway through the third quarter, Southern Miss marched from their own 14 to the Jaguar 4. But on third-and-1, Cole Cavallo was stopped for no gain and on fourth down, Lowe lost the handle on the snap and was stopped for a 1-yard loss.

After a three-and-out, Southern Miss got the ball at the Jaguar 43 and on the first play junior Brad Dennis was wide open down the middle of the field, but Lowe’s pass was overthrown.

Later in the drive, Lowe converted a fourth-and-12 to the Jaguar 19, but two plays later, junior Darius Maberry lost a fumble at the 8-yard line. After another three-and-out, Natrone Brooks took the punt 43 yards for an apparent touchdown, but it was nullified by a holding penalty.

“We just weren’t prepared,” said Hall. “It was issues that were fixable. We dropped passes, we missed throws, we missed reads, we busted routes. We just didn’t get it done in the passing game. That was our downfall.

“Our kids didn’t quit. We drove it down the field in the second half and had two foolish, foolish turnovers. If we get in the end zone there, we’re driving to win the game at the end.”

Indeed, Lowe was just 13 of 27 for 134 yards passing.

South Alabama closed the scoring with 44 seconds to play in the game when Davyn Flenord picked off Lowe and raced 48 yards for a pick-6.

Hall minced no words in his postgame comments, blaming himself for the loss.

“The positive was it’s fixable,” said Hall. “The negative is it was humiliating, and I take full responsibility for it. It doesn’t get any worse from here, because that was about as bad as it gets.

“That’s probably the most humiliating offensive performance of my career as a coach. I’ve been calling plays for 18 years and that one takes the cake.”

A couple of bright spots for Southern Miss were the running of sophomore Frank Gore Jr., who picked up 78 yards on 18 carries, and the punting of junior Mason Hunt, who averaged 48.5 yards on eight kicks, with a long of 58 yards.

Southern Miss will open its home schedule next week when Grambling State comes to M.M. Roberts Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Saturday.