Southern Miss football’s second-half rally falls short in 50-36 loss to Texas State

Southern Miss’ furious second half comeback attempt fell short for the second straight week.

Texas State (4-1) hung 28 first-quarter points on the scoreboard and held on to a 50-36 win over the Golden Eagles (1-4), despite USM’s 26 unanswered second-half points.

“I think our kids showed they wouldn’t quit, but we’ve got to play better,” USM coach Will Hall said after the game. “We can play better and that certainly falls on me and our staff to get us to play better.”

It’s the fourth loss in a row for USM since a week-one win over Alcorn State.

The Bobcats appeared to leave little hope for the Eagles from the start. Ismail Mahdi returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a score. Southern Miss quarterback Billy Wiles threw an interception on the next play from scrimmage and Texas State scored again six plays later.

Mahdi found the end zone three more times, all on the ground, and Bobcats quarterback TJ Finley didn’t throw an incompletion until the second quarter on his way to a 320-yard, two-touchdown performance.

Southern Miss didn’t find the end zone until it was buried in a 28-3 hole in the second, and watched as the Bobcats built a 42-10 lead by halftime.

The Golden Eagles defense pitched a shutout for the majority of the second half, though. Wiles hit Ty Mims and Jakarius Caston for touchdowns and ran one in himself to bring a dwindled crowd back to life.

Frank Gore Jr. eventually cut Texas State’s lead to one score with a one-yard plunge with 6:16 left in the game. Bobcat backup quarterback Malik Hornsby iced the game with a 14-yard touchdown run in the final minutes after USM turned the ball over on downs deep in its own territory.

Wiles completed 19 of his 35 attempts for 257 yards. Gore Jr. rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns.

It’s the second week in a row the Golden Eagles erased a large second-half deficit before ultimately losing after last week’s 44-37 loss to Arkansas State.

Jay Stanley’s spark

Texas State nearly cut USM’s rally short while it was still in its infancy. Finley was in the process of being sacked near his own goal line late in the third quarter when he flipped the ball forward into Mahdi’s hands.

Mahdi then dodged a defender and raced 95 yards down the sideline and was inches away from extending what was a 42-16 lead at the time.

Just before crossing the plane, safety Jay Stanley caught up and knocked the ball loose. It rolled through the end zone and was ruled a touch back.

“I’m proud of him for that, it was a huge effort play,” Hall said. “I thought it was a microcosm of how we played the second half.”

The turnover led to a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that was the first of three consecutive possessions that ended in the end zone.

“Last week I had a bad game and had some people question my effort,” Stanley said. “This week, I just wanted to spill it all out on the field for my teammates and my coaches and just prove to them that I’m going to give my all every chance that I get.”

A week after recording just four tackles and creating zero disruptive plays, Stanley had five stops, shared a tackle for loss and came away with the spark-igniting forced fumble.

Little things adding up

The underlying theme of the past three games has been the lack of execution in certain first-half moments. Whether a missed touchdown pass on fourth down against Tulane, a blocked punt against Arkansas State or Mahdi’s kick return Saturday, the missed details have proven costly.

“We had a chance to win, we just didn’t play good enough to win,” Hall said. “It wasn’t an effort issue, it was an execution issue.”

Pre-snap penalties also returned to haunt Hall’s offense. The Golden Eagles were flagged seven times and the majority came on offense.

It was the most USM had been penalized since the Florida State game saw 13 penalties accepted against USM. It stunted an offense that racked up a season-high 510 yards.

But the numbers fall on deaf ears for the players who are now 0-2 in conference play.

“I don’t really care about stats because I want to win games,” Gore Jr. said. “We’ve been failing. We came close the last two weeks, but I believe in Coach Hall and I believe we’ll get it right. We just have to do better. When they throw punches, we have to swing back and not just wait and say, ‘all right, we have to start throwing haymakers now.’”

The Golden Eagles will stay home next week for a homecoming contest against Old Dominion.