Southern Miss stuns Texas State in wild finish

If the last two games were any indication, Texas State and Southern Miss were in for a wild finish.

It was indeed the case when both teams scored 14 points in the final 1:30. In the end, it was the Golden Eagles who snuck out with the win.

Texas State couldn’t hold a late lead as Southern Miss quarterback Zach Wilcke hit wide receiver Chandler Pittman for a 53-yard touchdown pass with just 32 seconds left in the game as the Golden Eagles escaped with a 20-14 win over the Bobcats.

Head coach Jake Spavital was in disbelief with how the game ended and compounded with the poor offensive performance.

“I’m a little lost for words with that one,” Spavital said. “It was just a sloppy football game overall…it was kinda the nature of that game. There was a bunch of turnovers for them [Southern Miss] and I thought as a defensive driven game, we knew we had a tough opponent. We thought this was going to be one of the most athletic defenses we were going to face all year and we didn’t do a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage.”

Texas State dropped its first home game of the year as it fell to 3-5 overall.

With the exception of the final minutes, both Texas State and Southern Miss were locked in a defensive rock fight with neither team seemingly gaining the edge over the other on offense while the two defenses kept the other in check.

Southern Miss’ defense gave the offense fits up until the Bobcats last touchdown with Texas State only mustering seven points while rushing for -6 yards and passing for 169 yards.

For Spavital, it all came down to the battle of the trenches as the Bobcats tried to throw everything at the wall to shake off the Golden Eagles.

“The defense dominated our offense in all phases of the game,” Spavital said. “We literally threw every single play at them from run screen to run RPO (Run Pass Option) to double chip protection, slide protection, to spreading it out, they just dominated the line of scrimmage which it all came down too. It was why we were 2-14 on third downs which is terrible.”

Despite the offense not playing up to snuff, it was the Bobcat defense that shined through once again as it forced three turnovers with two interceptions and one forced fumble.

Although the final touchdown for Southern Miss will get all the headlines, Spavital was proud of how the defense has continued to step up for the team and keep the Bobcats in games.

“I thought the defense played well like they always do,” Spavital said. “We knew it was going to be one of those style games similar to how it was with Troy. The defense gave up multiple opportunities to have success and win this game. Everything is going to be magnified on that last couple plays but that had nothing to do with the outcome of that game.”

Similar to what the Texas State offense was doing, Southern Miss was also throwing everything at the wall to see if the team could have any success but to minimum success.

“[Southern Miss] threw everything at our defense as well,” Spavital said. “They went spread, having 10 different quarterbacks, running wildcat…the defense gave us multiple opportunities and it’s frustrating.”

With the Bobcats trailing 13-7 with 2:14 left in the fourth quarter, Texas State needed at least one more offensive drive to be successful to keep their undefeated home winning streak alive.

Facing third down, quarterback Layne Hatcher hit Ashtyn Hawkins over the middle with Hawkins running for a 74 yard touchdown to seemingly put the game away for the Bobcats.

Hawkins finished the game with five catches for 102 yards and one touchdown which is the fourth game the Cisco College transfer has had over 100 yards receiving.

The Texas State defense put Southern Miss in an unfavorable position, facing 4th down on its own 47 yard line with just 45 seconds left in the game.

However, Wilcke hit Pittman deep on the right side of the field before running for a 53 yard touchdown to stun the fans at Bobcat Stadium.

Texas State heads into its bye next week before making the trip to Louisiana to take on the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks at Malone Stadium on Nov. 5.