HATTIESBURG — The Southern Miss Golden Eagles all but escorted their fans to their cars for three quarters before trying to pull out a 24-point comeback.
The funk of the first three quarters returned with 1:08 remaining as backup quarterback Stephan Reaves fumbled away the last drive of the game for the Golden Eagles on a hit by Rice’s Aubrey White. The Owls recovered at the 9-yard line and ran out the clock.
The fumble was Reaves’ second of the night and, combined with his stadium-clearing four interceptions, made third-string quarterback Martevious Young’s broken ankle seem all the more heartbreaking.
Young broke it following a block on the first third down of the game for Southern Miss. He was caught from behind by Rice’s Willie Garley and hobbled off as best he could on one foot.
Reaves was throwing wide, short and really short of his receivers, plus his timing was noticeably off on short passes and screens.
Three interceptions pretty much cleared out M.M. Roberts Stadium by the middle of the third quarter, but Reaves didn’t stop there.
He threw another for good measure and four total picks, quadrupling his career number in just 44 attempts. He entered with 87 attempts and just one interception.
“I am going to put this one on myself, I played like crap,” Reaves said. “We’re not going to beat anybody if we turn the ball over like I did tonight.”
Once most of the 25,656 fans cleared out, the Golden Eagles put something together against previously winless Rice and Reaves was as much a catalyst as anyone. He went 14-of-20 for 132 yards and a touchdown in leading Southern Miss back to within two points with the help of Damion Fletcher and Marcus Raines rushing touchdowns.
Reaves’ lone touchdown pass to Shawn Nelson snipped the lead to 31-29. The two-point conversion failed and led to a second onside kick.
The sequel failed.
“That is tough to do — after you’ve made a few major mistakes to keep competing the way he did,” Southern Miss head coach Jeff Bower said.
Fletcher ran for 143 yards, but also coughed up the ball after a red zone interception to give the Owls another chance to punch one in during the third quarter. Three plays after Fletcher’s fumble, the Owls went up 28-7.
Rice kicked a field goal the next time they were in scoring range, but missed on their next field goal attempt with 12:12 left in the game.
The miss kept Southern Miss within three touchdowns and Tory Harrison’s 51-yard run started the ill-fated comeback.
The Golden Eagles forced a punt on the next drive and moved the ball 95 yards in just over two minutes and added the two-point conversion to get within eight.
Rice’s Tommy Henderson went up for the onside kick and fumbled as he came down right to a Southern Miss player who had made a dive for his feet.
Reaves found Nelson for what could have been the tying score, but the conversion was nixed and Reaves fumbled after the defense stopped the Owls once again.
