Southern Miss head football coach Will Hall doubled down on his postgame assessment of why the Golden Eagles opened their season so poorly last week, losing 31-7 at South Alabama.
“What a terrible head coach we’ve got, and that’s being addressed,” Hall said Tuesday at his weekly meeting with the media. “We’ve got good kids; we’ve got a great football program and history.
“(But) we’re a program that’s only won three of our last 14 games. I’m proud of our kids and our character; I’m proud of our staff, but we were a dysfunctional organization (on Saturday), and that falls on me only.”
Southern Miss will get an opportunity for redemption when it opens the home part of its schedule Saturday night against Grambling State. Kickoff at M.M. Roberts Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Although the Tigers are an FCS program out of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Hall said he isn’t taking Grambling lightly.
“We have a really proud program coming in here that’s 1-0,” Hall said.
“They played a really clean Game 1, only had four penalties, one turnover and they blocked a punt. They’ve done a lot of great things over the past few years. We’ve got our hands full, and we’ve got to focus on us and the task at hand.”
Grambling won its season opener last Saturday, defeating Tennessee State 16-10 in the Black College Classic at Canton, Ohio.
“They’re a really well-coached football team,” said Hall. “They are a tradition-rich program, much like us. They played a fundamentally sound game (last week). They played well; we played in humiliating fashion.
“Right now, they’re a little better than us, and we’ve got our hands full.”
Despite the defeat, Southern Miss coaches saw a lot of things to like coming out of Saturday’s game. In particular, both Hall and defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong cited the play of the defense as a bright spot.
“Obviously, the most important thing is winning the game,” Armstrong said. “It’s a team game and we as a team didn’t win the game.
“But I was proud of the way we played. I thought we played the right way. We played really physical, and I thought we tackled well. We played 57 plays and only missed 10 tackles. We’d like to get that down to zero, but we’re happy with the effort we had.”
Indeed, the Golden Eagles only gave up 300 yards of offense against the Jaguars and made some key adjustments in the second half that kept them in the game, thanks to four consecutive three-and-outs.
“We had some guys play really well, particularly on defense,” said Hall. “(Redshirt sophomore) Malik Shorts played lights out, (sophomore) Jay Stanley played well, linebackers played well, and we had some really good play up front with our D-line.
“Offensively, we had some guys play well; we just didn’t put it together.”
Much of the blame fell on the shoulders of starting quarterback Trey Lowe, who struggled for much of the game. Lowe completed 13 of 29 passes for 133 yards and two interceptions, one resulting in a South Alabama touchdown in the final minute of the game.
However, Hall defended his quarterback, saying that much of the team’s offensive failings were team related.
“He did not play as bad as what everybody thinks,” said Hall, who serves as his own offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. “If you watch the tape, there were a lot of things that people could have done to help him.
“The last pick was humiliating, but that’s part of playing quarterback. We were hot on an overload blitz; he makes the hot read to throw to the back and the back doesn’t look and catch the ball. That’s the running back’s fault and my fault for not coaching better.”
Hall said Lowe needs to do a better job of running the ball. He gained 55 yards rushing, but four sacks for 31 yards in losses resulted in a net of just 24 yards on 19 total carries.
“He tried to run like a tough guy,” said Hall. “We preach toughness in this program, and he tried to overemphasize (that) instead of wiggling on people. He’s a better runner than that.
“But throwing the ball, he was good early, hitting people right in the hands, and we had some drops. He had a lull in the middle but bounced back and played really well late.”
Indeed, the Golden Eagles had two second-half drives inside the Jaguar 10-yard-line that might have changed the course of the game, but came away with no points, losing the ball on a fourth-down stop and a fumble.
Grambling is led by junior quarterback Elijah Walker, who was only 4 of 11 passing for 43 yards, a touchdown and an interception against Tennessee State. But he led the Tigers with 77 yards rushing on 17 carries, and Armstrong said containing him is a key to success.
“Eye control and tackling,” said Armstrong. “Make it about us and handling any variables they give us. We’ve got to control the line of scrimmage and control the quarterback. He’s a really good player. I think we have a good plan for that.
“But it’s a matter of discipline, getting lined up in the right spots and staying in your rush lanes. We’ve got to make the quarterback play quarterback, because when he gets out in the open, he’s a special player.”
Getting tougher on defense has been a theme at Southern Miss since spring practice, and Armstrong emphasized that having a mental edge will be a big factor for the Golden Eagles during the early part of the season.
“We need to embrace every opportunity,” said Armstrong. “It doesn’t matter if the ball’s at the 10-yard-line or the 5-yard line, whether they’re backed u. It’s an opportunity for us to get a stop.
“We’ve got to have that mentality, that put-the-ball-down mentality. It doesn’t matter if we put it down on Hardy Street by Subway; we’ve got to be ready to play regardless of the circumstances.”
Overall, Hall was happy with the team’s mental outlook in practice this week, suggesting that the players had moved past last week’s defeat.
“Our guys did a great job of focusing on themselves and correcting a lot of mistakes,” Hall said. “Our leaders showed great leadership, with great energy and they did a great job of putting the previous game behind them and focusing on the task at hand.”
There was only one significant change to the depth chart from last week, as redshirt junior Brad Dennis was jumped up to the starting position at a wide receiver. He caught six passes for 26 yards against South Alabama.
Also, freshman Michael Pleas Jr. moved up to the first team at defensive tackle and junior Camron Harrell moved up at nickel linebacker.
Saturday’s game will be streamed on the internet on ESPN3 and can be heard on the Southern Miss Sports Network from Learfield Sports (WBUV-FM, 104.9 in Gulfport).
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