USM lost 1998 Humanitarian Bowl wearing gold jerseys

HATTIESBURG — Maybe it was the bright gold jerseys that made Southern Miss look more like bumble bees than a club that had posted a 63-22 record in Conference USA until Saturday.

On a rain-slicked turf at M.M. Roberts Stadium, the USM defense showed it’s got a lot of work do in the off week as Marshall thundered its way to 429 yards in total offense and a 34-27 win.

Former Warren Central Viking and current Southern Miss starting safety Chico Hunter said his side of the ball has to do more to help its offense, which was productive under freshman quarterback Austin Davis. Davis threw for 308 yards and one touchdown and ran for another as the Golden Eagles actually outgained Marshall 431-429, but many of the yards came in the fourth quarter when the Golden Eagles were trailing by two touchdowns.

“Marshall outplayed us today, but this team is going to win a lot of games,” Austin said.

The defense under new coach Larry Fedora will have to do more in making stops and creating turnovers.

“The defense definitely needs to step up more. It’s frustrating because I felt we were a better team. We were able to get their game plan off script but then they countered,” Hunter said.

Many of those countered moves came on third down. Marshall converted three in a row late in the first half to break a 10-10 score and go up 17-10 after Mark Cann hit a wide open Cody Slate on third-and-goal from the Southern Miss 16.

“Third and long killed us,” Southern Miss linebacker and preseason C-USA Defensive Player of the Year Gerald McRath said. “I kept thinking, it’s third down, can we get off the field?”

The Golden Eagles (2-2, 0-1 C-USA) appeared to get the break they needed when Eddie Hicks intercepted a Cann pass on Marshall’s first drive of the second half. Hicks returned it 35 yards to the Marshall 10, but the pick was waved off after cornerback C.J. Bailey was called for interference.

Marshall turned the break into a Tyler Warner field goal to go up 20-13.

“I thought that was a bad call,” Hunter said.

Marshall (3-1, 2-0) made it a 27-13 lead when Darius Passmore took a reverse 80 yards for a touchdown just three minutes after the field goal.

“Eddie had come down and they made a good crack block on him, but I take the blame for that one because I got knocked down by the running back,” McRath said.

Fedora said it was a good play by the Herd.

“They cracked on our safety. It was a crack but it was a great block. I just don’t know where our corner on that side went,” Fedora said.

McRath added that Marshall will be a factor in the C-USA Eastern Division race.

“They’ve improved a lot. The running backs are good and their offensive line is physical,” McRath said.

Marshall coach Mark Snyder liked how his team withstood Southern Miss’ challenges.

“We handled adversity and made some big time plays when they needed to be made,” he said.

For the Golden Eagles, they will have two weeks before an Oct. 4 conference home game against Texas-El Paso.

Hunter says the bye week will be filled with work.

“We’ve got to work on a lot. Pursuit drills. Tackle drills. We’re doing good things, we just need to get better. We’re not anywhere close to being where we can be.” Hunter said.

McRath added, “We need to use the bye to our full advantage and that starts by taking criticism.”