SMU quarterback Justin Willis removed his helmet and was slow to get up after suffering a hard hit in the second quarter against Southern Miss. (Stuart Palley)
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Following a bye week, a cleaner game would have been expected from the Mustangs. But four turnovers and 10 penalties later, SMU had to return home from another loss on the road.
Southern Miss was able to capitalize on two of the turnovers and got the 28-7 win.
The biggest turnover of the game was when Cedrick Dorsey fumbled the ball on the Golden Eagle two-yard line, ending an SMU drive that looked bound for the end zone. Southern Miss turned around and drove 98 yards to score its first touchdown of the game.
“That’s a big turnover, and if you look at it, it’s a 14-point swing,” head coach Phil Bennett said. Instead of taking a 7-0 lead, the Mustangs were down by seven and would never recover.
The game had an ominous start and didn’t get much better for SMU.
On the Mustangs’ first drive of the game, quarterback Justin Willis threw a deep ball that was intercepted in the end zone by Southern Miss’ LeVance Richmond and stopped a promising opening drive.
SMU returned the favor when linebacker Will Bonilla intercepted Stephen Reaves’ pass at the Mustangs’ 15-yard line. But the Mustangs went three-and-out and gave the ball back to Southern Miss.
Midway through the second quarter, the turnover bug bit the Mustangs again. On just the fourth play of the drive, Willis tried to do too much while under pressure in the pocket. Willis was hit from behind by Matthew Chatelain and fumbled the ball. Southern Miss recovered and turned it into another touchdown drive.
The Mustangs’ final scoring chance of the half came down to a 52-yard field goal attempt for Thomas Morstead. With just two seconds left on the clock Morstead’s kick had the distance, but sailed wide right and the Mustangs went into the locker room down 21-0.
The third quarter was a defensive struggle as neither team could get any offense going.
The Mustangs had the best chance of the quarter getting the ball as far as the Southern Miss 11-yard line. But an eight-yard loss on third down set up Morstead’s second field goal attempt of the night, this time from 36 yards out.
Once again Morstead had enough leg, but it was just wide left and no good.
SMU and the Golden Eagles then traded touchdowns off missed field goals.
After Southern Miss’ drive to increase their lead to 28-0, the Golden Eagles got the ball back to attempt a 42-yard field goal. SMU’s Damon Hurst didn’t give the play a chance. Hurst broke through the Southern Miss offensive line and got his hand on the kick and blocked it.
The Mustangs rode that momentum to the end zone. A seven-play, 75-yard drive was capped off by a 16-yard touchdown pass from Willis to DeMyron Martin to finally get the Mustangs on the board but trailing 28-7 with just under seven minutes left in the game.
Southern Miss played keep away and the Mustangs could not get anything going on their last drive. The Mustangs fell to 1-5 on the season and 0-2 in the conference.
Along with the four turnovers, the Mustangs were also penalized 10 times for 92 yards and fumbled the ball three other times, but were able to retain possession.
SMU quarterback Justin Willis (16) is taken down by Southern Mississippi’s Eddie Hicks (18) and Robert Henderson (91). (Stuart Palley)
