HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss football coach Jay Hopson said he got about what he expected from the annual Black and Gold Game Saturday afternoon at M.M. Roberts Stadium.

The Vicksburg native concluded his first spring in charge of the Golden Eagles by watching the Gold squad beat the Black 10-7.

Hopson was happier with what his players got done in the weeks leading up to the spring game than anything they did in it, and said the actual game was more for fun than to gain a competitive edge.

“It’s a fun game. It’s just a game to let the kids kind of talk a little trash to each other, get out there and have some fun. It serves its purpose,” Hopson said. “We had a good spring. Certainly, you want to continue to get better at everything. But that’s just football. You want to progress through the spring and through the summer, see guys prepare themselves and get ready for 2016.”

It was a spring of quiet urgency for the Golden Eagles. Hopson took over as head coach only days before national signing day following Todd Monken’s departure for the NFL.

A solid core of players from 2015’s Conference USA West Division champions had to adjust to a new coaching regime that wasn’t entirely in place until shortly before spring drills opened.

Quarterback Nick Mullens, who is expected to be the starter for the fourth consecutive season, said the adjustment was far short of traumatic.

“We’ve been working hard through the scrimmages and practices, have had some really intense team sessions,” Mullens said. “I’ve enjoyed it, getting the team in the right play, having confidence in the playmakers to make those plays.”

Mullens, who played for the Gold squad, completed 6 of 10 passes for 35 yards with an interception on a day when defense dominated. Both teams combined for only three scores, all in the first half.

The Black took a 7-0 lead when redshirt freshman receiver Reid Rials got loose to haul in a 56-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kwadra Griggs, a transfer from Itawamba Community College.

Griggs, who gained an edge this spring in the battle to back up Mullens, completed 13 of 27 passes for 133 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

The Gold cut the lead to 7-3 at the end of the first quarter on a 26-yard field goal by Stephen Brauchle, then scored the winning points on a 30-yard run by walk-on sophomore running back Johna Myers, an East Mississippi Community College transfer.

The defenses combined for seven sacks Saturday, including four by the Black.

Hopson, who spent two previous stints at Southern Miss as its defensive coordinator and headed up one of the best defenses in the Football Championship Subdivision while the head coach at Alcorn State, liked what he saw.

“I thought defensively we tackled pretty well,” Hopson said. “That’s probably the thing that showed up the most. Up front, we did a pretty good job on the defensive line.”

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Southern Miss sports information director Jack Duggan and the Biloxi Sun Herald contributed to this report.