TROY, Ala. — Southern Miss football did just enough to hang around into the fourth quarter, but it was always clear who the better football team was Saturday night.
Troy issued the Golden Eagles a 27-10 defeat in their debut appearance as members of the Sun Belt Conference.
As always, the defense led the way for Southern Miss. But, unlike previous games, the USM offense’s failures were too numerous for the defense to compensate. The result was the Golden Eagles’ worst overall performance of the season.
Here’s our report card from Southern Miss’ defeat.
Offense: F
Failing to move the ball is one thing.
Failing to move the ball while giving it away repeatedly makes it impossible to win.
The Golden Eagles managed only 205 yards of total offense inside Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday night. They turned it over four times, resulting in 20 points for the Trojans.
With numbers like that, the Southern Miss offense is fortunate the outcome wasn’t uglier.
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Defense: B+
The Southern Miss defense cleaned up after its offense’s mistakes effectively for most of the night.
The Golden Eagles sacked Troy quarterback Jarret Doege four times, made seven tackles for loss and came down with a pair of interceptions.
Despite the total offensive ineptitude, Southern Miss’ defense managed to keep this a one-score game until deep into the second half.
Special Teams: C
There wasn’t much to note about the Golden Eagles’ special teams Saturday.
USM surrendered the field position advantage for the first time since its Week 2 defeat at Miami, but that was more a function of the four turnovers than a result of anything on special teams.
Coaching: D
Many of the mistakes the Golden Eagles endured were down to execution, but the coaching staff will need to take responsibility for Southern Miss coming unglued the way it did in this one.
Freshman quarterback Zach Wilcke looked perfectly comfortable against an outstanding Group of Five defense at Tulane two weeks ago. Part of that was down to the playcalling and game plan.
He didn’t seem to have the same platform on Saturday.
Overall: D
This was not a game the Golden Eagles were supposed to win, but their performance fell well below expectations, especially on offense.
After a few weeks of positive progress, this is a major setback.
David Eckert covers Southern Miss for The Hattiesburg American. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter @davideckert98.
