Southern Miss football stays close early, but offense struggles in road loss at Miami
An encouraging first half in Miami quickly fell apart for Southern Miss.
The Hurricanes routed the Golden Eagles, 30-7, behind a dominant second half by the AP’s 15th-ranked team.
Southern Miss true freshman quarterback Zach Wilcke threw for 207 yards in his first career game and tossed a 32-yard touchdown to Jason Brownlee for the lone Golden Eagles score of the game.
Will Hall’s team was down just a field goal at the half, 10-7, and got an encouraging opening 30 minutes from Wilcke and the defense.
Malik Shorts intercepted Tyler Van Dyke and the front seven held the Hurricanes to just 2.8 rushing yards per carry through the first two quarters.
Wilcke completed nine of his first 14 pass attempts for 120 yards while leading the offense to 5.4 yards per play. He showed no signs of fear throughout the game, either, taking numerous deep shots to a variety of targets.
The wheels of the upset wagon fell off near the end of the first half when Miami used a late touchdown to spur a dominant, game-controlling third quarter.
Miami found the end zone twice in a six-second span and forced USM into two punts and an interception in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.
Southern Miss returns home next week to face FCS opponent Northwestern State.
