‘Just a really disappointing loss.’ USM falls to Troy before visit to top-ranked Alabama

There was one word that pretty much summed up the night for Southern Miss — ugly.

The Golden Eagles never got going on offense, and the defense finally broke down in the second half, as Troy defeated USM 21-9 in front of an announced crowd of 24,242 at M.M. Roberts Stadium.

Southern Miss dropped to 1-2 for the season, with a visit to top-ranked Alabama coming up next week, while the Trojans improved to 2-1.

“Just a really disappointing loss,” said Southern Miss coach Will Hall. “We had a great crowd, a lot of enthusiasm. We started with great energy. We played really, really well on defense for a long time that gave us a chance to win.

“It’s just disappointing that we couldn’t generate any offense. It was just a bad loss, and that’s on me.”

Some of the final offensive statistics were simply brutal for the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss was held to a net of 156 yards, including minus-1 yard rushing, thanks to nine sacks for 70 yards in losses.

It was the first time Southern Miss finished with negative yards rushing in a game since 2014 against Louisiana Tech.

Even without the sacks, Southern Miss didn’t run the ball effectively, as freshman Frank Gore Jr. was held to 31 yards on 15 carries, and he was the Golden Eagles’ leading rusher.

“We just couldn’t generate anything in the run game,” Hall said. “We knew what they were doing, we had answers, we just didn’t block them up very well.”

Keyes was decent when he had time to throw, completing 16 of 27 passes for 157 yards. But he and his receivers weren’t always of the same page in the playbook, and that was a problem, especially on key downs.

“We didn’t execute well on offense,” Keyes said. “We had a great first quarter. We were moving the ball, and they couldn’t stop us on that first drive. There’s a lot of things we need to fix. I’ve got to put the offense in a better position to succeed.”

The Golden Eagles did get off to a good start after taking the opening kickoff of the game. Keyes completed a 27-yard pass to Antoine Robinson to the Trojan 34-yard-line.

But two runs only picked up 2 yards, and Robinson was stopped short of a first down after a 3-yard pickup. And the 27-yard play to Robinson would be Keyes’ longest pass of the night.

Brooks Bourgeois converted a 46-yard field goal to give Southern Miss a 3-0 lead, and it would maintain that lead through the remainder of the first half.

Keyes was again effective after stopping the Trojans at the Golden Eagle 40 on a sack by senior defensive end Eriq Kitchen.

Starting at their own 2-yard-line, Keyes converted a third-and-5 from the USM 19 for a 26-yard pass play to Gore to the USM 45.

But the drive stalled out at the Troy 46, and that was when things started turning against the Golden Eagles.

“We had a young guy making his first start at quarterback,” said Hall. “I’m sure there are a lot of things he’d like to have back. But we’ve got to help him more. We did not play well in the offensive line at all.”

Early in the second quarter, Troy linebacker Richard Jibunor picked off a Keyes pass and rambled to the USM 13.

But Kitchen powered through to sack Troy quarterback Taylor Powell for a 10-yard loss and the Trojans botched a 35-yard field goal attempt when the snap sailed over the holder’s head.

“I wouldn’t say we played great,” said Kitchen. “We gave up some touchdowns on some key plays where we didn’t tackle very well. We’re a team and we’re going to stick together and keep fighting.”

Southern Miss had a chance to add to its lead at the end of the first half, when the Golden Eagles got the ball at the 43-yard-line and drove to put Bourgeois into position for a 41-yard field goal. But the kick sailed wide right.

And Troy came out for the second half with renewed purpose, taking the opening possession of the third quarter 75 yards in just five plays, with Powell finding Jabre Barber in the left flat, and Barber got to the end zone for a 17-yard scoring play.

“They didn’t do anything particularly different,” Kitchen said. “We just had some mental mistakes that we’ve got to fix.”

After holding Powell to 7 of 10 passing for 60 yards, the junior transfer from Missouri finished with 27 completions in 39 attempts for 255 yards and two touchdowns.

Troy increased its lead late in the third quarter, driving 80 yards on 12 plays, scoring on a 16-yard pass play from Powell to Deyunkrea Lewis. The touchdown came two plays after a pass interference call on a third down kept the drive alive at the USM 20.

“We played phenomenal on defense,” said Hall. “We just got tired. I thought we played great in the kicking game. Our punter did a great job, we had some good returns, coverage units were good. So, there were some positives.”

The fourth quarter was just a mess for the Golden Eagles.

After stopping he Trojans near midfield, a 44-yard punt, followed by a block in the back penalty set Southern Miss up at their own 5-yard-line. What followed were penalties for holding and intentional grounding, along with three sacks.

“It’s hard to win when you give up sacks,” said Keyes. “But we’re going to fix that.”

The Trojans took over at the Golden Eagle 24 and put the nail in Southern Miss’ coffin with a five-play scoring drive, getting the touchdown on an 8-yard run by Kimani Vidal.

The Golden Eagles got a consolation touchdown when redshirt junior nose guard Tahj Sykes forced a fumble that reserve linebacker Everett Cunningham picked up for a 47-yard scoop-and-score.

However, the Trojans blocked the PAT kick, a fitting end to a disastrous night for Southern Miss.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but we’re not building Rome fast enough,” said Hall. “At the end of the day, we know we’ve got to get better on offense. We’ve got to keep pushing and keep getting better.”

Next week’s game against No. 1 Alabama has been set for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.