Golden Eagles blackout Owls

The Southern Miss Golden Eagles (1-1 C-USA) earned their first conference win of the season on Saturday with a 48-24 home victory over the Rice University Owls (1-3, 0-1 C-USA). After three consecutive wins, the Golden Eagles now have an overall record of 4-1 and this win marks their first victory in three contests against the Owls.

Junior bandit Jamie Collins was a catalyst for the Southern Miss defense once again as he  slammed Rice running back Sam McGuffie to the turf for a loss of eight yards on the first play from scrimmage. "On the first play of the game Jamie [Collins] picked a guy up and slammed him on his head, so a big play like that is going to set the tone all night," redshirt senior linebacker Ronnie Thornton said of his teammate's tackle.

Each of the Owls' first three possessions stalled after three plays while the Golden Eagle offense marched the ball up and down the field at will. Late in the first quarter Southern Miss seized a 13-0 lead off a 47-yard sprint by Kendrick Hardy to the end zone as well as a perfectly executed 46-yard flea flicker touchdown pass from Austin Davis to a wide open Ryan Balentine.

Southern Miss watched its lead evaporate in five seconds of actual game time as Rice quarterback Taylor McHargue connected with wide receiver Vance McDonald for a two-yard touchdown pass, making it 7-0. On the ensuing kickoff, Rice linebacker Michael Kutzler put the Owls up 14-13 when he returned a fumble 17 yards for a touchdown to end the first quarter.

Southern Miss head football coach Larry Fedora thought his players responded how he expected when they faced this kind of adversity throughout the game.

"We just kept playing. We [didn't] panic," said Fedora. "We didn't tackle well at that point. We were trying to knock guys off their feet instead of just wrapping up, and they were picking up seven or eight yards a pop. Once we settled down, and relaxed, and played football like we can, we were fine."

Following a Davis interception late in the second quarter, Rice had a second and goal to go from the Golden Eagle four yard line when Southern Miss responded with a big play of their own. Cornerback Marquese Wheaton scooped up a McHargue fumble at the Golden Eagle 25 yard line and returned it 75 yards for a momentum-shifting touchdown.

Early in the third quarter, the momentum swung back in favor of the Owls, as a fourth and one Hardy run on the Rice four yard line turned into a costly fumble and a 96-yard Xavier Webb return for a touchdown, making the score 24-20 Rice.

Down the stretch, the Golden Eagles capitalized on big plays against an exhausted Owl defense en route to scoring 28 unanswered points to end the game. This stretch included rushes of one and two yards for scores by Davis and wide receiver Tracy Lampley, respectively, as well as two Davis touchdown passes to wide receivers Kevin Bolden and Balentine for 45 and 23 yards, respectively.

Bolden finished the game with nine receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown while Balentine hauled in seven grabs for 114 yards and two scores

The Golden Eagles finished the game with a school record 654 yards of total offense, 370 of which came on the ground at an average of 7.3 yards a carry. Coming into the game, Rice was allowing 233.3 rushing yards per contest, and for Southern Miss it hardly mattered who was gashing through the Owl defense.

Hardy totaled 172 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries before leaving for the remainder of the game with an injury in the third quarter. Running backs Jamal Woodyard and Jeremy Hester also left this game with injuries, so Lampley carried the load in the fourth quarter as he accumulated 70 yards on only nine carries. Even fifth-string running back Bruce Johnson had a 25-yard run to his credit.

"For our offense, when we needed it, we drove the ball down the field," Davis said of the game. "A huge credit goes to our offensive line. We were able to run the ball and really control the tempo in the second half. It was a huge game for [the offensive line] and I am really proud of those guys."

The Southern Miss prolific ground attack helped stabilize an offense that kept Rice in the game by turning the ball over four times. The Golden Eagle defense also helped the cause by forcing two turnovers of their own as well as limiting Rice to just 33 net yards rushing.

"I just think it says a lot about our team," Fedora said of his team overcoming adversity. "Defensively, I thought we played really well. Obviously, you don't want to turn the ball over like we did. So we have to do much better in those areas. But it's a win. We've got a lot to work on and we've got to get ready for Navy."

The Golden Eagles will travel to Annapolis, Md. Saturday to take on the non-conference Midshipmen at 2:30 p.m.