Southern Miss’s hopes for reaching bowl eligibility and expectations in conference play took a major hit on Saturday. The Rice Owls wrenched a 24-19 victory out of the hands of the increasingly beleaguered Golden Eagles.
The season’s prevailing themes continued: injury at the quarterback position, absence of consistency on offense, and the lack of good breaks for Will Hall’s team. Ty Keyes, who showed improvement a week ago against top-ranked Alabama, left the game after two good throws and a bad interception with an apparent lower half injury. Enter Jake Lange. The freshman QB out of Jackson Prep was thrust into action just two months after being the de facto fifth-string signal caller on the roster. Having to play Lange, who totaled 508 passing yards and two touchdowns in his high school career, is another stone in the mounting pile of frustration for an offense that has struggled mightily through five games.
Even so, Lange’s performance was the best play at the position that has been seen in 2021 for Southern Miss. He finished threw for 304 yards in the air on a 62% completion percentage – the best statistical mark of year at the position that the Will Hall offense is built upon. After a 31-yard touchdown toss to fellow freshman Chandler Pittman, three drives ended on interceptions by Lange. Hall expressed that all three were not at the fault of the young Jackson native, but the four total turnovers were the largest factor in another deflating loss. It’s hard to call it a quarterback controversy at this point. Hall is simply looking for whoever can manage the offense consistently and who we see at quarterback is dependent on the severity of the Keyes injury. But, the way Lange threw the ball in four quarters of play is something that the offense can build upon after looking for any sort of positive.
Jake Lange’s production opened some running lanes for Franke Gore, Jr. for the first time against FBS competition. Gore rushed for 79 yards on 17 carries and totaled 105 all-purpose yards. The Rice defense was forced to respect the Golden Eagle offense in coverage, which allowed for more breathing room in the pocket and increased options in general for Will Hall. Jason Brownlee (8 receptions for 127 yards) and Antoine Robinson (4 catches for 57 yards) also enjoyed their best outings of the year as a result. Southern Miss outpaced the Owl offense in yardage 378 to 315. But the interceptions, costly penalties, and five sacks meant only one touchdown on the scoreboard.
The defense, though it did not perform to the standard it set coming into conference play, was once again good enough to keep the Golden Eagles in the game until the very end. 315 total yards and 24 points surrendered to a quality offense will often be good enough for a victory.
Southern Miss now sits at 1-4 ahead of a return home to face the 4-1 UTEP Miners on homecoming. At this point, it’s hard not be reminded of the long year that was 2014 under Todd Monken. There were some bright spots sprinkled among compounding frustration as Nick Mullens struggled to find consistency and would miss time in 5 games – replaced by former scout team quarterback Cole Weeks in his absence. In that year, the bad outweighed the good. The prevailing theme was that there were simply not enough pieces on either side of the ball to compete throughout the schedule against good competition. It was a rebuilding year. He Who Must Not Be Named left the cupboard nearly completely bare and Monken needed one big thing to turn the tide – time. That’s what Will Hall needs. The current recruiting class is promising, as are many of the young pieces on both sides of the football. The similarities to that long year are hard to deny – this is yet another rebuilding year.
After a long decade of disappointment, it may be hard for Southern Miss faithful to another season of that nature. It’s understandable. But the current and incoming talent, along with a coaching staff that shows promise, should be given what Todd Monken was given – a chance to dump the water off the ship and set the course for more promising waters. Amid the negatives in another loss, there are positives to be built on and hope to be had for a first-year coaching staff and the young, injury-riddled roster.
This was Ben's thoughts of the game. What do you all think???
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