Jags Get Bowl Eligible With 35-14 Win Over Southern Miss
South Alabama earns bowl eligibility for a third-consecutive season after a 35-14 win over Southern Miss in Hattiesburg.
The Jags (6-5, 5-2 Sun Belt Conference) keep their hopes alive for a Western Division championship with the win over Southern Miss (1-10, 0-7 SBC) but will need some help in order to get to the championship game.
USA powered themselves to the win in the second half outscoring the Golden Eagles 21-3. They opened the half with a 4-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a 40-yard touchdown pass from Lopez to Jamaal Pritchett.
Late in the third quarter, Wesley Miller caught John White’s 3rd down pass in stride and returned it 57-yards untouched for his first career touchdown to go up 28-11.
Connor Gibbs added a 28-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, but it would be the last points the Golden Eagles would muster.
Fluff Bothwell took the offense on his shoulders after the offense had been stuck in neutral after the opening half touchdown drive. He broke a 59-yard run then finished the drive off on the next play with a two-yard touchdown, his 11th of the season, to put the game away.
Southern Miss took the opening kickoff and drove right down the field on the jaguar defense to open the scoring. On the extra point the Golden Eagles lined up in the swinging gate formation but they actually ran the play and converted to 2-point conversion to take an 8-0 lead.
The Jag defense found its feet after the opening drive and kept the Golden Eagles bottled up for most of the rest of the opening half.
Early in the second quarter the Jags finally got on the scoreboard when Gio Lopez found Kentrel Bullock on a screen pass and he took it 21 yards for the touchdown. After a three-and-out, the Jags got the ball back and dove down the field for a go-ahead score. This time Lopez connected with Jeremiah Webb down the middle of the field for a 32-yard touchdown to make it 14-8.
The Jags defense turned away a scoring attempt late in the half with a huge sack to put them out of field goal range. The Jags were pinned deep and Southern Miss used all three of their time outs to force the Jags to punt with :13 seconds left. Aleki Pulkkinen’s punt was downed at the Jags 41 with just four seconds left in the half. USM sent on their field goal unit and Connor Gibbs easily made a 59-yard field goal as time expired to cut the Jags lead at halftime to 14-11.
Stats
| Stat | South Alabama | Southern Miss |
| Total Yards | 380 | 306 |
| Passing Yards | 193 | 137 |
| Rushing Yards | 187 | 169 |
| 3rd Downs | 3 of 10 | 6 of 18 |
| 4th Downs | None | 1 of 3 |
| Time of Possession | 21:13 | 38:47 |
| Penalties – Yards | 7 – 69 | 3 – 20 |
South Alabama
Lopez finished 15 of 24 for 193 yards and three touchdowns.
Pritchett had 102 yards on 8 catches with a touchdown. Webb had 50 yards on 3 catches with a touchdown. Bullock had 28 yards and a touchdown.
Fluff Bothwell had 104 yards on just 6 carries with a touchdown. Bullock added 54 yards on 14 carries.
Southern Miss
Tate Rodemaker went 15 of 27 for 108 yards and a touchdown. John White was 5 of 8 for 29 yards with an interception.
Kenyon Clay had 5 catches for 39 yards. Davis Dalton had 3 catches for 24 yards and a touchdown.
Deke Clark had 115 rushing yards on just 12 carries. Clay had 48 yards on 11 carries.
Next
South Alabama will host Texas State for a 2:30pm kickoff on Friday, November 29th at Hancock Whitney Stadium. The Jags will be looking for some help to get into the conference championship game if they can take care of their own business against the Bobcats.