HATTIESBURG, MS – If you had told Head Coach Will Hall earlier this week that his team would be driving to take the lead late in the fourth quarter, with five turnovers and his starting quarterback injured and on the bench, he probably would have said, ‘ok, let’s do it.’

Well, that’s exactly how the first week went for Hall and Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles took the lead late in the fourth quarter against what has recently been one of the best Group of Five teams in the country. Southern Miss battled tonight, and regardless of the outcome, they looked better than last year in all game phases.

“I told our kids, man, don’t be ashamed of your effort. We spilled our guts tonight. We just didn’t play good enough to win, and we didn’t coach good enough to win. We are going to coach better, and we are going to play better- that’s a learned trait and it’s going to happen.” Hall said.

With one minute left in the second quarter, it seemed like doom for the Golden Eagles when starting quarterback Ty Keyes went down with an injury on a hit to his head from a targeting call, and the Golden Eagles reverted to the super back offense. Keyes’ injury status is not known at this point. Southern Miss started with the ball and gained a few first downs, before stalling around midfield, but the defense played lights out pretty much the whole night and gave Southern Miss the ball back.

Southern Miss threatened to score on the goal line but got stuffed four times for a momentum-killing stop by Liberty. The running game was on point with the super back offense, earning 252 yards on the ground. Frank Gore Jr. had a career night with 32 carries, 178 yards and two touchdowns.

“I’m a ball player. I’ve got to be prepared. Just hike the ball, and run the ball, it’s not that hard…I feel great, and I couldn’t feel better.” Gore Jr. said.

Southern Miss scored on its third possession to take a 3-0 lead after a 38-yard field goal from Briggs Bourgeois.

Keyes threw his first pick of the game on the next possession to senior defensive end Durrell Johnson. The defense stopped Liberty’s red zone field advantage and limited the Flames to a game-tying field goal.

All in all, the most promising part of the team was the defense. Every time that Liberty looked to take control of the game, the defense made a big play. Defensive back Malik Shorts led the Golden Eagles with 12 total tackles and added an interception to the tally.

“I thought they [the defense] played great all the way up until late. We gave up two drives in the end there that we would have like to have back,” Hall said.

Southern Miss gave up a touchdown late in the second half after a second Ty Keyes interception. Liberty’s Johnathan Bennett scrambled for 18 yards, and the score went up 10-3 at the half.

“We had some turnovers in the red zone, Ty had two foolish interceptions, he’ll tell you that. We had two turnovers inside the red zone. Like I said, [it’s] just not good football. [I] feel like we gave one away and [I] don’t want to take anything away from Liberty, but I really do feel like we gave one away,” Hall said.

Last season, it seemed like the team would lose its edge in the third quarter and start falling apart, but Southern Miss came out of halftime and dominated the third quarter. Gore Jr. got it going with a 46-yard touchdown run to tie the game ten apiece.

Southern Miss coughed up its fifth turnover in a critical spot at the end of the third quarter. Dajon Richard fumbled the ball at the Liberty two-yard line to give the Flames the ball at their two-yard line. At the start of the fourth quarter, the Golden Eagles’ defense responded again. Eric Scott Jr. jumped the route on Bennett’s pass and intercepted the ball for a pick-si that put Southern Miss in the driver’s seat at 17-10.

“We had been practicing that. We knew on certain situations on third and long, that they like to run a stick out to the sticks, and Coach [Armstrong] made a great call, and I was able to make a great play,” Scott Jr. said.

Southern Miss’s lead did not stand for long, however. Liberty’s third quarterback Kaidon Salter came into the game and led his team down the field on a game-tying touchdown drive to score 17-17.

Perhaps the play of the game for USM was with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Cameron Harrell came up with a pick in the endzone to keep the game tied, and Southern Miss scored on the following drive to take the lead on a Gore Jr. five-yard rushing touchdown.

Salter led Liberty down the field on the ensuing drive to tie the game with less than a minute left to push the game into overtime. In overtime, Liberty triumphed in the battle of two-point conversions to win and break the hearts of the fans in attendance. Nevertheless, the team looked exceptionally improved. Even though the team came up just short, it did seem like things will be different this season.

“The good is that we did go toe-to-toe with them. The bad news is that we blew it. The good is that we can fix every mistake [we made] tonight,” Hall said.

Southern Miss prepares next week to travel to ranked opponent Miami next weekend.

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Charlie Luttrell