Southern Miss must regroup after disappointing performance at Louisiana Tech
There is no other word that can best describe the performance from Southern Miss Saturday evening in Ruston but disappointing. Coming off back-to-back wins and securing the first SBC win on over two seasons, momentum seemed to be in the Golden Eagle’s favor. “Old Mo” can be a fickle thing and now Southern Miss must regroup and refocus as a very good Jacksonville State team comes to town Saturday. What went wrong at Louisiana Tech? Let’s dive into it.
The team was not ready to play at the start of the game. Offense went three and out and Louisiana Tech saw something on film and exploited the pass coverage on defense with their TE. He ran wide open for most of the first half and accounted for 159 of their 239 passing yards on the evening. Tech ran the ball efficiently and hard pushing defenders all evening. Again, too many missed tackles, when will this change? Yes, the defense played better in the secondary half, but that’s when the offense decided to implode.
Braxton has to be better. He amassed over 392 yards passing with a TD but threw a pick-6 and decided to overthrow receivers than using his legs to extend drives. Get the first down and worry about the big play later. Sure the running backs were down Briggs and Pittman (gametime decision but was dressed out), but Jones and the freshman Carter did a good enough job. It is unacceptable to have the ball first and goal at the one yard line and not score on four downs. The game was lost there. Punting down 17 with eight minutes left was mind-blowing. I guess the coaches decided not to risk further injury? Kicking a FG down 20 around the ten minute mark in the fourth quarter was a surprising decision, but I guess some points are better than none. It is still a three possession game any way you look at it.
Any way you slice it, it was a bad a night at the office for the Golden Eagles. Coach Huff took responsibility for the team coming out not ready to play and the outcome. Hopefully this is a learning tool because more of these games and any excitement the fans have will be gone. Southern Miss is now 2-2 on the season with Jacksonville State coming to town Saturday. I don’t wanna say this is a must win, but it’s about as close to one ad you can get if going to a bowl or playing for a conference title is in the future. No one wants to start the league stretch of the schedule with back-back losses.
