Golden Eagles grounded by Texas State, suffer first conference loss of season
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Southern Miss' five-game win streak ends with 41-14 loss to Texas State.
- Landry Lyddy throws two interceptions, including a 105-yard pick-six.
- Southern Miss keeps Sun Belt West lead despite loss, faces South Alabama next.
Southern Miss’ win streak came to a hard end at five.
The Golden Eagles (7-3, 5-1) fell behind quickly and never recovered in a lethargic 41-14 loss to the West Division’s last-place Texas State Bobcats (4-6, 1-5).
Landry Lyddy started at quarterback for Braylon Braxton, who was a game-time decision with a right knee injury. The UAB transfer faced a Bobcats defense that arrived ranked 13th in the Sun Belt in scoring allowed and missing three defensive starters to suspension.
Texas State chewed through 366 yards of offense in the first half and scored the game’s first 27 points. Southern Miss fumbled inside the red zone on its opening drive and ultimately failed to find points before halftime because of ill-timed penalties and early third-down struggles.
“We’ve been living in this 10, 12-penalty world the last three or four weeks, and we’ve gotten away with it,” coach Charles Huff said after the game. “We’ve been living in this two- or one- turnover offense the last few weeks, and we’ve gotten away with it because our defense comes up with four. Our third-down percentage has been bad the last two or three weeks, and we’ve gotten away with it. I told (the players), it catches up to you when it catches up to you.”
It’s USM’s worst loss since Nov. 30 of last year, when it fell 52-20 to Troy. Southern Miss has lost three in a row to the Bobcats and has allowed 49.7 points a game across them.
Lyddy threw two interceptions, including a 105-yard pick-six in the fourth quarter. Southern Miss lost the turnover battle, 3-0, after entering first nationally in turnover margin.
The Bobcats snapped their five-game losing streak behind a near-perfect afternoon from quarterback Brad Jackson.
Southern Miss remains in first place in the Sun Belt West with two games remaining, beginning with South Alabama on the road next week.
‘Something just didn’t feel right from the jump’
Lyddy was effective leading the offense early in the contest. He completed five of his first six passes and was 6 for 7 in the second quarter.
The junior moved the offense inside the 20 on its first drive, but it came up empty when Jeffery Pittman fumbled at the tail end of an 11-yard run.
Southern Miss faced six third downs the rest of the half and converted only once. In between each failed possession was a Texas State scoring drive.
“When we ran out, something didn’t feel right, honestly,” linebacker Chris Jones said. “I always get a feeling for the team every day and I just felt like when we ran down, something didn’t feel right from the jump.”
Jones led the defense with 15 tackles, but his unit was on the field for nearly 20 minutes over the first two quarters.
Southern Miss has built its winning strategy around getting ahead quickly and forcing opponents to throw into the opportunistic Golden Eagle secondary. But Texas State never had to leave its run-and-screen offense, and it was much too late by the time USM slowed down the Bobcats in the second half.
“It’s unacceptable with the caliber of our defense,” Jones said. “It’s unacceptable. We’re supposed to be able to go out on the field no matter when they get in and just execute. Because that’s the type of mentality we’re supposed to have, but that didn’t happen today.”
Neither Huff nor the players blamed the preparation leading up to the game, as was the case following their last loss to Louisiana Tech in September.
A lack of mental sharpness was cited instead.
“This can’t happen, we can’t get so caught up in the noise and the hype that we lose who we really are and our identity as a team,” Jones said.
Still leading the pack, but a confrontation looms
The margin of error USM has in protecting its lead on the west side of the conference shrank with Saturday’s result. Regardless of next week’s outcome, if Troy beats Georgia State that same day, then the division goes to the winner of the regular-season finale between the Eagles and the Trojans.
That game can become moot before it happens if USM gets its first-ever win over the Jaguars and the 1-9 Panthers swing an upset over Troy.
Southern Miss’ last trip to Mobile resulted in a 55-3 loss in 2023. The sixth game in the series is set to kick off at 2:30 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN+.
This story was originally published November 15, 2025 at 5:42 PM.
