Despite a hard-fought first half, the Golden Eagles couldn’t keep up with James Madison as they broke away in the second half to win 54-23.
Mere hours before the game’s 7 p.m. kickoff, Southern Miss (3-6, 2-3 Sun Belt) opted to go with backup quarterback John White, who hadn’t started a game at quarterback since November 2023 with Madison-Ridgeland Academy, over Landry Lyddy. The offense under White had three straight three-and-outs and all of 14 total yards in the first quarter.
James Madison (8-2, 3-2 Sun Belt) started their long night of scoring with a 32-yard Morgan Suarez field goal and a 3-yard touchdown run by quarterback JC Evans, who completed 19 of 26 for 251 yards and a touchdown, as well as 47 yards on 13 carries and 3 touchdowns on the ground in his first start of the year.
The second quarter was easily the best of the game for Southern Miss, and it started with a 3-yard touchdown run from White, who threw for 22 of 35 for 266 yards and a touchdown.
After Southern Miss made it a 10-7 game, James Madison responded with another field goal. The two teams traded punts before White led his team on a nine-play, 69-yard drive to give the Golden Eagles their first and only lead of the game.
Running back Steven Robinson punched it in from two yards out to put Southern Miss up 14-13 after a costly penalty by the Dukes gave Southern Miss another chance at the end zone. Penalties were an issue all night for James Madison, who finished with nine for 91 yards, most of them at costly moments, but they ultimately did not factor into the outcome.
However, that was only the beginning of the end for the Golden Eagles.
With 29 seconds left in the half, James Madison began their drive down the field to try to get into field goal range. At the Dukes’ 49-yard line, with nine seconds left, James Madison seemed just about out of ways to regain the lead before half, until a costly unnecessary roughness penalty by Southern Miss gifted James Madison a chance at three.
Up 16-14 and receiving the ball to start, things were beginning to trend in the wrong direction for Southern Miss, and it did not improve. From there, the Dukes scored an astounding 31 unanswered points to make it a dismal 44-14 with 11:33 left in the fourth.
Southern Miss simply couldn’t get anything going on offense during the third quarter and most of the fourth, including normally-stellar running backs Robinson, 15 carries for 54 yards and a touchdown, and Jamarice Wilder, 9 carries for 42 yards.
They did, however, get back on the scoreboard with 9:10 left to cut the deficit to 24, but it didn’t matter. A few garbage-time scores later from both teams left the game with a final score of 54-23.
Southern Miss finished the game with 354 yards, while the Dukes had just under 500. The main targets for both teams finished the night with nearly half of their respective quarterbacks’ total yards. Corey Scott for James Madison had 138 yards on 6 receptions, and Kaden Saunders for Southern Miss had 122 yards on 6 receptions.
Although there were no turnovers in the game, the Golden Eagles had two turnovers on downs. Southern Miss’s lead tackler was linebacker Mathis Haygood, who finished with 13 tackles, 6 solo.
The Golden Eagles will hit the road after an extended week of rest to face off against Louisiana Tech on Nov. 14 at 4 p.m. The game will stream on ESPN+.