TROY, Ala – Southern Miss came into Troy, Alabama, riding a two-game win streak with momentum and confidence, but Troy took the fire out by beating the Golden Eagles 27-10 in its Sun Belt opener.

“I thought we played hard for a long time. They are an experienced ball club that’s battle-tested and they were at home. I thought they brought great energy and I thought we brought great energy,” Head Coach Will Hall said. “I thought it was a great football game for a long time with a lot of hard hitting. We are just not a very good team on offense right now, and ultimately that’s what it came down to.” Southern Miss Head Coach Will Hall said.

After coming off a good game on offense versus Tulane, Southern Miss’s offense derailed on the road versus Troy. Southern Miss only had a net total of  205 yards, with 66 of those yards coming in a garbage time drive with less than a minute left. A low-scoring game was to be expected, as Troy ranks fifth in defenses in the Sun Belt. But after coming off of a bye week, Southern Miss did not get the production it was expecting.

“All in all, we didn’t make the plays we needed to make offensively; credit to them as they ran the defense they ran all year. We did not play very well offensively and that’s on me as the head coach and in charge of the offense. We have got to get better.” Hall said.

As expected, the game was centered around defense. All the points in the first half came off of turnovers. Only 10 of the 37 combined points did not come off of turnovers.

Southern Miss got the ball to start the game and got a quick first down but then punted to Troy. Troy did nothing on offense and punted it back to the Golden Eagles, and that is when the turnover party began. Southern Miss starting quarterback Zach Wilcke threw an interception on a third down throw that went in and out of the hands of receiver Jason Brownlee. Cornerback Craig Slocum made a play on the ball and intercepted it for the first of Wilcke’s three interceptions.

“He is gonna watch this tape and see things there. He made some plays early. I thought it was unfortunate that his first two picks were tough. The first one very well could have been pass interference, it was really tough, and that weighs on you as a quarterback. The second one was a really tough deal on him as well. He may have let that get to him because on the next two plays, we had two guys wide open,” Hall said.

After the first interception, Troy went down the field and scored first with a field goal and took a 3-0 lead. The Golden Eagles defense responded as Cameron Harell intercepted Troy quarterback Jarret Doege on the ensuing possession to set up Southern Miss in the red zone.

Wilcke then found Brownlee in the endzone for a touchdown pass that gave Southern Miss the lead at 7-3 early in the second quarter.

“They had a corner blitz, and they left me one-on-one with a safety. I beat him across the face, and Wilcke put a good ball on me and I just had to make a play.” Brownlee said about his touchdown reception. Brownlee has a career-high 12 receptions tonight for 105 yards.

After the Southern Miss touchdown, Troy went right down the field and had it first and goal inside the five. Doege tried to squeeze a ball into Jabre Barber, but safety Jay Stanley went in and stole the ball for the momentum-shifting interception. All seemed like it was going in Southern Miss’ favor, as they went right down the field after that, but then Wilcke threw a ball over the middle that Markeis Colvin picked off. He ran it back inside the 30.

DK Billingsley punched it in later on the drive to put Troy back on top and top for good.

“We have had some progress, but if you look at the stats, they are very similar, outside of the turnovers. We are just not producing a lot and that’s on me,” Hall said.

The Trojans got the ball to start the second half and had the best drive of the entire game for either team. Troy went six plays and 83 yards in three minutes to open the second half, which extended their lead to 17-7.

“At some point, we have got to move the ball and score…when it gets to be a two-score and a three-score game, the game changes. I thought our inability to score, and give credit to Troy and Coach Sumrall and their program, [it] was ultimately the difference in the game,” Hall said.

The Golden Eagles did catch a break, however. A Trojan’s bad punt set up Southern Miss in their territory. Even though the drive stalled out, the Golden Eagles added a field goal to bring the score within a touchdown, 17-10. The Golden Eagle defense even gave the offense the ball back after stopping Troy on a third down. Nevertheless, that resulted in Wilcke’s third interception of the night.

Troy added a field goal, bringing the score to 20-10. Wilcke fumbled the ball on the ensuing possession, resulting in the final Troy touchdown. The positive for the game was the defense, which held Troy in check and gave the offense at least the opportunity to win the game. They even had four sacks. However, the offense just was not ready quite yet to do so.

“We have had some progress [on offense]. But you know, if you look at the stats, they are very similar, outside of the turnovers. We are just not producing a whole lot [offensivley.] We knew we were gonna be a team that was young offensively and that our defense and special teams were gonna have to carry us. But we have to be able to make enough plays and not turn the ball over,” Hall said.

The team has had progress on offense, but the offense on display against Troy will not win many games. It did not win this one.

Southern Miss is back in action next Saturday against Arkansas State for homecoming.