As Southern Miss players stepped off the field, heads were raised, and smiles were cracked after Saturday's game. It was a sight that hadn't been seen in just over two months as the Golden Eagles defeated Louisiana-Monroe 24-7 to end their seven-game losing streak.
Like his players, Southern Miss coach Will Hall couldn't hold back his smile after the win in the postgame press conference.
"Our culture never wavered," Hall said. "Our kids know, and they see the facts. There is a lot of outside noise that doesn't know. We are in the arena and know, and look, I accept the responsibility for our shortcomings this year. We should have a better record than we should, and that's my fault.
"There are a lot of things that we are doing well. We have fixed this program from the inside out. The internal part is as solid as it could. The outside is going to show. It hasn't shown as fast as everybody wants it to. I respect and understand that. Nobody is more disappointed in that than I am. It's going to continue to show as the season ends, and it's going to show throughout our future."
FAST FIRST QUARTER
After the Golden Eagles' opening drive, Southern Miss (2-7, 1-5 Sun Belt) then scored 14 points in two plays. The spark originated from the defense, with linebacker Hayes Maples intercepting starting ULM quarterback Blake Murphy at the Warhawks' 42-yard line.
USM ran a double pass trick play on the next play, which resulted in running back Chandler Pittman, a former high school quarterback, connecting with Latreal Jones for a 32-yard touchdown.
"We have gotten to where we have started fast," Hall said. "We have gotten consistent in that. That's growth. That's fixing things and issues. We started fast again today. The trick play was awesome."
ULM (2-7, 0-6) looked to respond as the Warhawks drove to the Southern Miss 15-yard line but failed to capitalize after missing a 32-yard field goal. Wiles then connected with Jakarius Caston on a slant, who broke away for an 80-yard touchdown.
The Golden Eagle defense forced a second interception with Zay Franks, a recently converted wide receiver to corner, coming down with an interception, which set up a 31-yard field goal for Andrew Stein.
"When I saw it, I thought this might be the only one you get," Franks said. "You have to take it. But then I thought I play receiver. I can go attack this ball. The receiver instincts came in."
DEFENSE FORCES FOUR TURNOVERS
Southern Miss' defense delivered four turnovers, three of which were the interceptions that came from Murphy.
"It was great to see us play defense like that again," Hall said. "We leveraged the ball better than ever have.
"I thought our backend tackled the best they have all year."
The Golden Eagle offense slowed down in the second quarter, with Stein having a 32-yard field being blocked. Yet defensive back MJ Daniels intercepted ULM on the following drive and returned it to the Warhawks' 25-yard line. However, Southern Miss couldn't take advantage of the opportunity after Wiles threw an interception in the end zone.
"We expected them to (switch quaterbacks)," Hall said. "They have played two all year, and we were able to get some turnovers on the young kid, so they went back to the old. It kind of felt like that was going to happen at some point of the game."
The Golden Eagles' defensive performance forced ULM to swap quarterbacks at the half, which briefly paid off. On the second drive in the third quarter, Jiya Wright connected with Dariyan Wiley for a 68-yard touchdown to narrow the score to 17-7.
The Warhawks tried to build on the momentum as ULM drove inside the Golden Eagles' 15-yard line, but Quentin Bivens recovered a fumble.
By the night's end, Southern Miss held ULM to 260 total yards and 73 rushing yards.
TWO QUARTERBACK SYSTEM
Southern Miss regularly flipped between Wiles, who was 9 of 20 and throwing for 200 yards, and freshman quarterback Ethan Crawford.
"It's plus one in the run game," Hall said. "You get a blocker back when you are running the quarterback, which we need at this time, especially when the field gets restricted in the red zone. We have had our issues down there. Being able to run the quarterback down there really helps."
Crawford's numbers were nothing special as he went 0-for-2 in passing and ran for just 38 yards. The freshman's ability to use his legs was timely and forced ULM's defense to account for him opening up the run game and setting up the final touchdown of the game for Frank Gore Jr.
Crawford now has only one game left that he can play in before burning his redshirt.
"In four days, we are going to try and beat Louisiana-Lafayette," Hall said. "That's what I know. Outside of Thursday night, I'll get through Thursday night and assess the next day."
GORE CLIMBS RECORD BOOKS
With just under eight minutes left in the game, Crawford's legs helped set up the game-sealing drive that led to Frank Gore Jr. scoring on a direct snap to extend the Golden Eagles' lead. The touchdown capped off the running back's 167 all-purpose yards day and moved him to No. 3 in the program's all-time career rushing yards.
"I didn't know that," said Gore when first asked about his accomplishment. "That's a huge blessing. I'm behind Ito Smith and (Damian Fletcher). Those are two great guys who came here and had tremendous careers. It's a huge blessing to be behind them and be in the top three. There a lot of running backs that have come through this university and to consider myself a top three running back from this university, that's a huge blessing."
Southern Miss returns to action on Thursday as the Golden Eagles travel to play Louisiana. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2.
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