Southern Miss football powers to fifth win after wild first half against Louisiana
Never judge a college football game by its first play.
Southern Miss quarterback Zach Wilcke threw his eighth interception in four games on the first play from scrimmage against the visiting Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. It would be his only turnover in a 39-24 win over the Golden Eagles’ longtime rival.
Rocking all-black uniforms, USM sent the Cajuns into the Mississippi night with four first-half touchdowns and the best opening-half performance the team has had since dropping 38 in 30 minutes against Charlotte in 2017.
Mixing Wilcke with the Frank Gore Jr.-led super back formation, coach Will Hall’s offense clicked in the red zone and hit on big plays in the most fluid and complete offensive outing the Golden Eagles have displayed in an FBS game to date.
“To beat (Louisiana) is a big deal,” Hall said after the game. “Because they are a great football program, not just a great team. To do it the way we did it, getting out in front early, I thought we made some huge strides, offensively.”
Gore Jr. lofted a ball deep down the middle to Ty Mims in the first quarter for a 52-yard touchdown. That was followed minutes later by Wilcke hitting Jason Brownlee in the middle of the field, who outmaneuvered and outran the Louisiana defense for a 76-yard house call.
Those scores were sandwiched by a one-yard plunge by Janari Dean and a 12-yard lob to Brownlee that built a 29-11 halftime lead.
The “Nasty Bunch” forced the Sun Belt’s leader in turnover margin into four giveaways and turned the Cajuns over downs five times.
Natrone Brooks intercepted Louisiana quarterback Ben Wooldridge inside the final two minutes of the game and took it back the house to put USM’s win on ice.
Wilcke’s response
If there was ever a time worse than any for Wilcke to throw an interception, it may have been in the moments shortly after jogging onto the field for the first time.
Wilcke was pulled from each of the last two games in favor of Jake Lange due to mounting turnovers from the young Hernando, Miss. native.
According to Hall, Wilcke has been in his own head in recent weeks and just needed to get back to being himself.
On Thursday, Wilcke did just that.
“I thought Zach played phenomenal from that point on,” Hall said. “I thought he had his best game. I think he continues to grow.”
Wilcke connected on his next four passes following the pick, one of them the long score to Brownlee. The 6-foot-3 receiver reached fourth on the all-time list for career receiving touchdowns in school history during the night.
Brownlee had three grabs for 102 yards and was the target on 10 of Wilcke’s 17 pass attempts.
“I think (Wilcke) responded well,” Brownlee said. “I think he calmed down and just started playing ball. That’s all you got to do really, is just calm down and see the play and take what they give you.”
Wilcke was also kept relatively clean in the pocket, as well, only being sacked once for a one-yard loss. He wasn’t the only touchdown-slinger, either.
One of the three catches made by Ty Mims came from Gore, Jr, who knew the pass was on target the moment he released it.
“I knew it was money,” Gore, Jr said. “I saw Mims, I knew (the defender) couldn’t run with Ty Mims and I put it out there. I knew I couldn’t overthrow him because of how fast he is, so I put a nice hang time on it and let him run under it.”
Defense returns to form
Not that it was out of shape after holding Arkansas State and Texas State to 19 and 14 points, respectively. But the typically disruptive unit forced only one takeaway over those two contests.
Against a team that entered the contest with a plus-nine turnover margin, USM forced turnovers in the first, third and fourth quarters. On top of that, it held the Cajuns short on fourth down five times, including once after a six-plus minute drive.
“I lot of times we are smothering you down, so we create tackles for loss and loss yardage plays,” Hall said. “A lot of times we’re not getting hands on balls because we’re tackling people and tonight we were able to do that. We were able to create some turnovers and they were big. But a fourth down stop is really a turnover and we’ve done that a lot this year. Our defense is playing phenomenal.”
Southern Miss has now allowed a fourth down conversion just three times in 17 tries. The 17.6 percent opponent success rate is the lowest in the country.
The last team to successfully convert on fourth down against the Golden Eagles was Tulane on Sept. 24.
“It really ain’t no secret, just the ‘Nasty Bunch,’” Malik Shorts said, who had an interception in the first quarter and nearly returned a two-point try back the other way when he picked off Wooldridge again in the third. “That’s just how we play. Coach (Austin) Armstrong always tells us, keep the main thing the main thing. Be physical, communicate, talk about what we get and get it... That’s just what we do and that’s our DNA.”
Southern Miss’ bend-but-don’t-break defense was put on full display in the contest. Wooldridge threw for 370 yards, but completed only 46.8 percent of his throws and was intercepted three times.
The pressure from the front seven came through with four sacks and six quarterback hurries.
Eagles in the mix
Southern Miss now finds itself in a position it hasn’t seen in several years. The Golden Eagles have won three straight conference games and is knocking on the door of bowl eligibility.
Beyond that, they’re also remaining in the hunt for a West division crown with still a month of football still to play.
“It’s very exciting because we haven’t seen the grass being green in a long time,” Gore, Jr said. “I feel like it’s our time and we’re ready for it.”
Southern Miss has not played in a bowl game since 2019, the last of a five-year streak of winning seasons.
The Eagles are now just a half-game back from division-leader Troy, who USM lost to earlier this season.
“It can change at any point of the season,” Shorts said. “We’re going to keep our head down and keep going and fight until the clock hits zero.”
Southern Miss will host Georgia State next week for a shot at a sixth win.
This story was originally published October 27, 2022 at 10:20 PM.
