Southern Miss drops homecoming contest 17-13 to Old Dominion

On a dry night in Hattiesburg, the Southern Miss offense was stuck in the mud.

The Golden Eagle (1-5, 0-3) offense failed to find the end zone and were saddled with a 17-13 homecoming loss to Old Dominion (3-3, 2-1).

A first-quarter 82-yard punt return touchdown by Ty Mims was the only time an Eagle stepped into the gold turf on a night where coach Will Hall’s offense averaged just 3.9 yards per play.

Andrew Stein hit a pair of field goals around Mims’ return and the USM defense kept ODU behind on the scoreboard up until the fourth quarter.

A 16-yard touchdown run by Monarch running back Keshawn Wicks gave ODU its first lead with 11:19 to play. Southern Miss followed with a 14-play, 78-yard drive that ended a half-yard short of the goal line when Frank Gore Jr was wrestled down on fourth and goal.

It was the third trip to the red zone without a touchdown during the night.

“For three straight weeks, we’re in a one-score game in the fourth quarter and we’ve lost all three of them,” Hall said after the game. “That’s something we have to get over the hump and fix. We thought we’d be over that this year, but obviously we’re not.”

It was the second time this season USM failed to score an offensive touchdown. The Golden Eagles dropped a home contest to Tulane, 21-3, in September.

According to Hall, ODU dropped eight defenders on most plays and effectively took away the intermediate pass game. At the same time, the Monarchs were able to hold USM to just 2.5 yards per carry and Gore Jr to just 66 yards on 29 attempts.

The 276 yards of offense produced was the fewest in a conference game since Georgia State on Nov. 5 of last year and the 17th time Hall has been held under 300 yards in 31 games.

“We scored 13 times the last two weeks,” Hall said of the 73 points scored between losses against Arkansas State and Texas State. “We just haven’t put it all together. The last two weeks, if we had played defensively and in the kicking game like we did tonight, we would’ve won both games.

“Tonight, we play well on defense and in the kicking game, but we don’t play well offensively... We’re one to two plays away the last three games from winning all three of them. But that’s no excuse. We’ve got to find a way to get it done.”

Defense steps up

An opportunistic defense nearly earned the proverbial pitcher’s win. Despite the struggles of the offense, USM held a lead for over 36 minutes.

Playing against the worst passer-protecting offensive line in the country, the Golden Eagles were able to bring down the quarterback a season-high five times.

Leading the way was jack linebacker Averie Habas, who made his first start of the year and recorded two sacks in the process.

“It was great to see him make those plays,” Hall said. “I thought he played extremely hard and passionate.”

Habas was originally expected to miss the season and was potentially staring at the end of his football career due to an undisclosed heart problem.

The senior was able to return to the field last week against the Bobcats after a test revealed surprisingly positive results.

According to Habas, his doctor told USM assistant athletic director for sports medicine Todd McCall that it was a “miracle” and that there was no reason he could no longer play.

Habas, a Wisconsin native, said his family was even able to fly in before Saturday’s game and watch his first start.

“Making a play for the team is always the goal,” Habas said. “It was pretty special after not playing five or six games. I didn’t expect myself to play this game, even, or the rest of the year... It felt good just to help the team in any way possible.”

Habas’ play helped his defense create 37 yards worth of negative plays. His sacks came in clutch moments, as well. The first on a third down in the second quarter that knocked ODU out of field goal range and the second on fourth and short inside the red zone to preserve the lead in the third quarter.

Backs up against the wall

What was once a promising season just a month ago is now in a state of desperation. Heading into the most difficult stretch of the conference slate, the Golden Eagles will now need to be near-perfect in order to reach the postseason in Hall’s third year.

It’s the first time since 1993 the program opened a season with five losses in six games under a third-year coach. That was Jeff Bower, a coach who would follow that 2-8-1 year with 10 postseason trips and two finishes inside the AP top-25.

The future is very much clouded in uncertainty with the modern era Eagles, though.

“I’m upset about this game,” Wiles said. “It’s really frustrating to be 1-5 at this point of the season. It’s not where I thought we were going to be. It’s not where anybody thought we were going to be.”

A sense of heavy disappointment hung in the air during the postgame press conference, but the prevailing theme was consistent across each guest to visit the podium: there’s still plenty of fight in the locker room.

“We have to find a way, we’ve just got to find a way to win,” Wiles said. “We still have a lot ahead of us this season. It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be a fight. We know that. None of us are going to quit.”

The Golden Eagles will get a Saturday off next week before returning for a Tuesday road game at South Alabama on Oct. 17. Southern Miss will have to win at least five of its next six games to earn bowl eligibility.