The Southern Miss Golden Eagles were back home following a bye week to renew a long-standing rivalry with the Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana. Instead of extending their 11-game winning streak against the Rajun Cajuns, the Golden Eagles fell to Louisiana 23-13.
It would be a slow start to the game for both teams as the only scoring in the 1st quarter was a 21-yard field goal by Ragin Cajuns’ kicker Kenneth Almendares. Louisiana would follow up that score in the 2nd quarter when quarterback Ben Woolridge connected with Lance LeGendre for the touchdown to grow the lead to 10-0.
Southern Miss would respond with a touchdown when Kenyon Clay punched it in the endzone to make it a 10-7. Louisiana would respond right back with a score of their own when Dre’lyn Washington scored on a 21-yard rushing touchdown.
The Golden Eagles would respond with another touchdown after back-to-back first downs thanks to Tate Rodemaker connecting with Kyirin Heath for a gain of 17 yards. After two big runs from Dreke Clark of 27 and 26 yards, the Golden Eagles would find the endzone thanks to Kenyon Clay, who would get his first two touchdown game in his collegiate career, as the teams would go into the half at 17-13.
The second half would see the Ragin Cajuns have their way with the Golden Eagles, as after a long 8-minute drive for 76 yards, Southern Miss would stop Louisiana inside the redzone as they would hold them to a field goal. The Golden Eagles would try to respond, but due to a penalty called for illegal touching, it would result in a loss of a down as Louisiana led 20-13 going into the 4th, where Louisiana would knock in another field goal to go ahead 23-13, where the Golden Eagles offense would struggle to produce, something that Head Coach Will says is something that needs to be fixed.
“We have got to get it fixed, we can be better than that,” Hall said. “We need to score more points than that. It’s a total deal from everywhere, and it’s something we have to fix.”
Southern Miss would go on to lose to Louisiana 23-13, ending a 11-game winning streak against the Ragin Cajuns’ dating back to 1993, the last time Louisiana would beat the Golden Eagles in a 14-7 contest.
As Southern Miss now moves onto 1-4 overall, and 0-1 in conference play, nobody is more disappointed than Coach Hall. “I’m upset that we’re not winning. We’re at the point where we need to win some football games,” said Hall.
The Golden Eagles will travel to Monroe, Louisiana to take on the 4-1 UL Monroe Warhawks. UL Monroe comes off beating Sun Belt Conference title favorite James Madison 21-19, equaling the team’s best start to a season since 1993, where they would also start 4-1.
The game is slated for 4 p.m. at Malone Stadium and will be broadcasted on ESPN+.