HUNTINGTON - The scoresheet will say Southern Mississippi defeated Marshall 27-20 Saturday when DeAndre Brown caught a 36-yard bomb from Martevious Young with 6:54 left in the game.
HUNTINGTON - The scoresheet will say Southern Mississippi defeated Marshall 27-20 Saturday when DeAndre Brown caught a 36-yard bomb from Martevious Young with 6:54 left in the game.
But while Brown showed the 21,036 at Joan C. Edwards Stadium why he was a five-star recruit, and why Southern Miss coaches pulled a coup in keeping him close to his Ocean Springs, Miss., home, that's not why the Thundering Herd lost.
Nor did the Herd lose because Cody Slate suffered what probably is a season-ending knee injury and Darius Marshall left with a sprained ankle.
The Herd lost on this unseasonably warm evening, for the most part, because of special teams. It gave up its first kickoff return for a touchdown in eight years, fumbled a punt and committed two other penalties that sent the defense back out on the field unexpectedly.
"I don't think it's any real surprise that our special teams really hurt us tonight," said coach Mark Snyder. "It's the first time it's really raised its ugly head all year. We'd been pretty good on special teams [but] they cost us at least 14 points."
The roll call of the Herd's special-teams gaffes, and the damage they caused:
Kase Whitehead blew a chance to pin the Eagles deep early in the game, shanking a punt 20 yards from the Southern Miss 40-yard line.
On the ensuing possession, the Herd allowed one first down before forcing a punt, but its rush of Peter Boheme resulted in a roughing penalty, resulting in an automatic first down near midfield. Tory Harrison eventually scored from the 1, giving Southern Miss a 7-0 lead.
Marshall held a 10-7 the lead in the second quarter, courtesy of Brian Anderson's 29-yard pass to Aaron Dobson, but that lasted all of 13 seconds, long enough for Tracy Lampley to return a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. Lampley ended up with 211 kickoff return yards, a USM record.
Down 14-13, the Herd swung field position in its favor in the third quarter. But following a three-and-out, DeQuan Bembry muffed the ensuing punt and Southern Miss recovered at the Marshall 39. On the next play, Young found Fletcher all alone for a 39-yard touchdown pass, making it 20-13. (The Herd's Michael Janac did block the extra point.)
Johnny Jones committed a hands-to-the-face personal foul, negating a punt on the next Southern Miss possession. The Golden Eagles could have put the game away, but Tory Harrison was stopped on fourth-and-1 at the Marshall 28 two plays into the fourth quarter.
From there, the Herd drove 72 yards to tie the game at 20 on a Terrell Edwards-Maye 1-yard run. But Lampley returned the next kickoff to the Marshall 37, setting up the go-ahead drive. Young and Fletcher ran 28 yards on the next four plays, setting up the TD pass to Brown on third-and-11.
Brown got wide open on a post route against Thundering Herd cornerback Ahmed Shakoor, allowing Young to simply float the long pass in the air. The 6-foot-6 Brown caught it with ease, and with seemingly little resistance from Shakoor.
HUNTINGTON - The scoresheet will say Southern Mississippi defeated Marshall 27-20 Saturday when DeAndre Brown caught a 36-yard bomb from Martevious Young with 6:54 left in the game.
But while Brown showed the 21,036 at Joan C. Edwards Stadium why he was a five-star recruit, and why Southern Miss coaches pulled a coup in keeping him close to his Ocean Springs, Miss., home, that's not why the Thundering Herd lost.
Nor did the Herd lose because Cody Slate suffered what probably is a season-ending knee injury and Darius Marshall left with a sprained ankle.
The Herd lost on this unseasonably warm evening, for the most part, because of special teams. It gave up its first kickoff return for a touchdown in eight years, fumbled a punt and committed two other penalties that sent the defense back out on the field unexpectedly.
"I don't think it's any real surprise that our special teams really hurt us tonight," said coach Mark Snyder. "It's the first time it's really raised its ugly head all year. We'd been pretty good on special teams [but] they cost us at least 14 points."
The roll call of the Herd's special-teams gaffes, and the damage they caused:
Kase Whitehead blew a chance to pin the Eagles deep early in the game, shanking a punt 20 yards from the Southern Miss 40-yard line.
On the ensuing possession, the Herd allowed one first down before forcing a punt, but its rush of Peter Boheme resulted in a roughing penalty, resulting in an automatic first down near midfield. Tory Harrison eventually scored from the 1, giving Southern Miss a 7-0 lead.
Marshall held a 10-7 the lead in the second quarter, courtesy of Brian Anderson's 29-yard pass to Aaron Dobson, but that lasted all of 13 seconds, long enough for Tracy Lampley to return a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. Lampley ended up with 211 kickoff return yards, a USM record.
Down 14-13, the Herd swung field position in its favor in the third quarter. But following a three-and-out, DeQuan Bembry muffed the ensuing punt and Southern Miss recovered at the Marshall 39. On the next play, Young found Fletcher all alone for a 39-yard touchdown pass, making it 20-13. (The Herd's Michael Janac did block the extra point.)
Johnny Jones committed a hands-to-the-face personal foul, negating a punt on the next Southern Miss possession. The Golden Eagles could have put the game away, but Tory Harrison was stopped on fourth-and-1 at the Marshall 28 two plays into the fourth quarter.
From there, the Herd drove 72 yards to tie the game at 20 on a Terrell Edwards-Maye 1-yard run. But Lampley returned the next kickoff to the Marshall 37, setting up the go-ahead drive. Young and Fletcher ran 28 yards on the next four plays, setting up the TD pass to Brown on third-and-11.
Brown got wide open on a post route against Thundering Herd cornerback Ahmed Shakoor, allowing Young to simply float the long pass in the air. The 6-foot-6 Brown caught it with ease, and with seemingly little resistance from Shakoor.
"Darrell [Wyatt, offensive coordinator] made the call. He felt like we could get the post on them," said Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora. "Martevious Young saw the post on his first read, put the ball up and we scored the touchdown."
"He's 6-6, and Ahmed is 5-10, and that's the matchup they wanted, and they got it and they completed the ball," Snyder said. "Other than that, I thought defense played lights-out."
An officiating snafu - on a special-teams play no less - kept the Herd from good starting position on what proved to be its final good shot to tie it. Bembry was hit by Chico Hunter after catching a punt, but not nearly taken down. An inadvertent whistle killed the play, however, where Bembry caught the ball, at the Marshall 31.
Brian Anderson, who valiantly threw for a career-high 337 yards despite a pass rush that generated seven sacks, drove the Herd to the Southern Miss 31 but was intercepted by Justin Wilson at the 2 on a long pass to Antavious Wilson.
The Herd regained the ball at the Southern Miss 32 with 1:03 left, but Anderson was picked off by Wilson again with 16.7 seconds left.
Wilson had a huge day otherwise, catching 13 balls for 153 yards. The Herd outgained the Golden Eagles 363-294, holding Southern Miss to 103 rushing yards. MU's Marshall was held to 22 yards on 11 carries before apparently spraining an ankle in the third quarter.
Slate's injury, with 4:58 left in the first, was clearly worse. He held his right knee immediately after a 6-yard reception and threw his mouthpiece in disgust. From his body language, he knew it was serious right away.
"At this point, it does not look good," Snyder said. "Darius is serious, but not maybe season-ending. We'll know more pretty soon, but it does not look good for Cody. I was standing right there when he took the shot; he took it right on the [medial collateral ligament]. Took a helmet right to the knee."
The win keeps Southern Miss (6-4, 4-2) in a three-way tie for second in Conference USA's East Division behind East Carolina, which faces a tough home game tonight against Tulsa. Central Florida and Alabama-Birmingham are the other teams in that tie. The Golden Eagles are the third C-USA team with at least six wins, which earns provisional bowl eligibility.
"I'm still trying to recover and figure out what happened down there," Fedora said, motioning to the field. "We are very happy to come out of here with a win. I thought Marshall played well, well enough to win. We just made one more play than they did."
Marshall (5-5, 3-3) falls to fifth place and still needs a win to earn provisional bowl eligibility. With losses to division foes ECU, UCF and Southern Miss, a division title is nearly impossible.
Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.
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Huntington, marshal, huntington, marshal. Interchangeable losers.