Despite a late surge, the Golden Eagles couldn’t mount a comeback in their 55-34 loss at Troy after struggling to stop the Trojans’ powerful ground attack.
Southern Miss (1-4, 0-1 Sun Belt) was helpless against the Trojans’ (3-2, 1-0 Sun Belt) run game. Running back Jordan Lovett and quarterback Goose Crowder each finished with over 140 rushing yards, marking the first time in program history that two players rushed for that many yards in one game. The Trojans finished with a whopping 437 rushing yards.
Crowder led the way on the ground with 145 yards, but wasn’t just successful with his legs; he had a great passing game too. Crowder went 18 for 21, throwing for 225 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Troy got out to a quick 17-point lead, courtesy of touchdown runs by Lovett and Crowder, respectively. The Golden Eagles answered with a touchdown pass from Landry Lyddy to Mario Sanders from two yards out, cutting the deficit to 10.
Sanders was one of the few bright spots for Southern Miss, putting up a stellar 3-touchdown night, including a 75-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver AJ Little on a double-pass play. Sanders also caught eight passes for 102 yards with two receiving touchdowns.
Troy responded by scoring two more touchdowns to give them a 31-7 halftime lead, led by 143 first-half rushing yards from quarterback Crowder. Troy seemed well on its way to a win as Southern Miss continued to be unable to tackle any Trojan with the ball. A positive for the defense, and the Golden Eagles’ best tacklers, were defensive back Landon Sylvie and linebacker Mathis Haygood. Both players had 13 tackles, five solo, and 0.5 tackles for loss.
Southern Miss made things interesting in the second half, forcing Troy to kick its first punt of the game, setting up a 27-yard touchdown connection between Lyddy and Sanders. Lyddy finished 24-of-37 with 316 yards, 2 touchdowns, and an interception.
Troy responded with a field goal to take a 41-20 lead, but the Golden Eagles answered two minutes later to cut it to a 14-point game. A comeback for coach Blake Anderson’s team looked possible after forcing a turnover on downs, but those hopes were quickly dashed when Lyddy fumbled in Troy territory early in the fourth quarter, leading to another Troy touchdown.
From there, the teams traded trips to the end zone, making it 48-34 before three more missed tackles led to a trash-time 12-yard rushing touchdown by Troy running back Gavin Griffin, giving them the 21-point win.
The differing red zone success made a huge difference in the outcome of the game. Troy scored on every trip to the red zone, six of them being touchdowns. Southern Miss did not have that same success, scoring twice in five trips and turning the ball over the other three times.
The Golden Eagles will have their chance to get back in the win column when they return home to face Arkansas State on Saturday, Oct. 17th at 6 p.m.