‘Same song, another verse.’ Here’s what Coach Will Hall said after USM’s loss to UTEP

The Golden Eagles played well enough on defense and special teams to win Saturday night against UTEP, but like so many games already this season, the offense couldn’t keep up its end of the bargain.

The result was USM’s fourth consecutive defeat, 26-13 at the hands of the Miners in Conference USA action in front of an announced crowd of 26,049 at M.M. Roberts Stadium.

Southern Miss fell to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in C-USA play. The Miners improved to 5-1 and 2-0.

“Same song, another verse,” said Southern Miss head coach Will Hall. “That’s the way every game is going to be for us. We’re going to be in a lot of one-score games, games that we can win, and we’ve just got to find a way to get it done.”

Indeed, the Golden Eagles only managed a net of 15 rushing yards, thanks to five sacks for 47 yards in losses, plus another seven tackles for loss, for a total of 67 yards on the 12 negative plays.

“It’s been like that most of my life,” said Southern Miss freshman Frank Gore Jr., whose net of 43 hard-earned yards led the Golden Eagles on the ground.

“I’ve just got to take what they give me and try to make big plays. We’ve got to come back to practice and continue to work hard and get better.”

Both teams started the night like it would be an offensive outburst. UTEP took the opening kickoff of the game and drove 70 yards on 11 plays, scoring a 17-yard run by Ronald Awatt.

Southern Miss answered with a scoring drive of its own, a nine-play, 75-yard march, with the touchdown coming on a 31-yard pass from Jake Lange to Jason Brownlee.

On the Miners’ scoring drive, quarterback Gavin Hardison was 3 for 4 for 36 yards passing. But he was just 4 of 13 the rest of the way.

“Every time we come off the field, we talk to the coaches about what’s the concept, what’s happening on the back end, what routes they’re running and what we’re thinking,” said Southern Miss defensive back Malik Shorts.

“We tried to do some things to make their quarterback uncomfortable. But it’s just coaching.”

The Golden Eagles offensive woes really began to show up on next series, after a UTEP punt.

On the first play of the second quarter, Lange was picked off on a pass over the middle, the first of two critical mistakes by the Southern Miss freshman quarterback.

“I thought our defense played really well,” said Hall. “I thought they had a good plan for us, slowing the game down, and they had some good run schemes that allowed them to pop some runs.

“I thought we made some plays in the kicking game. But we’re just a really bad offensive football team right now. We just don’t generate any consistency, and when there’s a play to be made to get us over the hump, we don’t make it.”

Southern Miss showed its mettle midway through the second quarter after Hardison drove the Miners to the Golden Eagle 5-yard-line, mostly on a 55-yard pass to Tyrin Smith.

After a first-down run gained nothing, a high snap cost the Miners 10 yards and a third-pass was broken up in the end zone by Camron Harrell. Gavin Baechle’s 32-yard field goal attempt was wide left.

But a three-and-out gave UTEP the ball right back, and this time the Miners cashed it in, as sophomore wide receiver Jacob Cowing took a reverse around left end and dashed 53 yards for a touchdown and a 14-7 lead.

The Golden Eagles went nowhere with the opening possession of the second half, and Mason Hunt’s 60-yard punt was downed at the UTEP 1.

It was part of a big night for Hunt, who had six punts for an average of 51.7 yards and he dropped four of them inside the 20.

“No question, he’s been a big weapon for us,” said Hall. “When you can pin teams down inside the 20 or on the goal line, it definitely helps our defense.”

On the first play of the Miners’ drive, Hardison threw a pass into double coverage down the right sideline and Shorts was the underneath man who benefited by intercepting the pass at the UTEP 38.

But on third down, Lange was hit as he was passing, the ball came loose and after a few hot-potato moments, it ended up in the hands of UTEP linebacker Breon Hayward, who rumbled 55 yards for a back-breaking score.

“That was devastating,” said Hall. “We had the right play called, Brownlee had beaten his man and it was going to be an explosive play for us. Instead, it was a big play for them.”

If anything, however, what happened next was even more devastating. Undaunted by the turnover touchdown, Lange converted passes of 30 yards to Jakarius Caston, 32 yards to Gore and another to Caston of 16 yards to put the Golden Eagles at the UTEP 3.

Gore could only get a yard on two tries, then reserve quarterback Jack Walker came on for a pair of running plays. The first got nothing and Walker was stopped inside the 1 on fourth down.

“It was embarrassing,” said Hall. “We had two good leveraged runs on first and second down and got nothing. We went into the I-formation, with Jack Walker in there, because he gives us a little better presence running.

“We probably should have put it in right from the start of that series, but we thought we could get it in with Frank. We get that in right there and we’ve got a chance.”

That Gore was unable to dent the end zone exemplified his night. The talented freshman did have four receptions for 54 yards.

“I hope that’s going to continue,” Gore said. “Whatever I can do to help my team to try to get a win, that’s what I’m going to do, whether it’s running, blocking, catching, passing, whatever it takes.”

Despite running for his life most of the night, Lange had another solid game at quarterback, completing 20 of 31 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns.

“It’s everything,” said Hall about the Golden Eagles’ offensive line issues. “I said from the outset, we’re going to base this offense on what our quarterback can do and what our O-line can do.

“We’ve had a lot of injuries at quarterback, but also on our line. We’ve had a lot of moving parts on offense, guys that have had to step up and play, and we’re not playing well.”

The pity of it was the Golden Eagles were outstanding on defense in the second half, holding UTEP to just 85 yards of offense after halftime.

But it was too little, too late.

Backed up at their own 15 to start a drive early in the fourth quarter, Lange was sacked end zone on third and 13 from the 12 to give UTEP a safety.

And Awatt capped a fine night’s work after the free kick, dashing 44 yards to set up Baechle for a 34-yard field goal to put the game out of reach. Awatt finished with 159 rushing yards on 18 carries, and the Miners as a team ran for a net of 265 yards.

“I love the way the defensive guys came to fight tonight,” said Shorts. “But we missed some tackles tonight, and we don’t usually give up that many rushing yards, and tonight, we gave up 250.”

The Golden Eagles managed a consolation touchdown, as they drove 75 yards on seven plays, scoring on a 3-yard pass from Lange to Demarcus Jones.

But UTEP recovered the Golden Eagles’ onside kick attempt and ran out the clock.

Southern Miss will be back home next week for another C-USA outing against UAB. Kickoff next Saturday is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

“It’s not necessarily about confidence,” said Hall. “It’s about daily improvement from each individual in the program. Confidence will come when preparation meets opportunity. Preparation plus talent meets opportunity.

“We’ve got to take the players we have and consistently improve with our on-the-field performance. We’ve got to coach these kids and they have to get better individually. If we do that, we will get better collectively.”