McNeese lost any chance to keep it respectable...

[JohnStOnge]

With two spasms of giving the short field to Southern Miss.

First, the Cowboys, after receiving the kickoff, fumbled their first snap at about their own 22. Southern Miss scored to make it 7-0.

Then, on their second possession, McNeese was intercepted at about their own 40. Southern Miss scored to make it 14-0.

At halftime it was 24 - 13 and things weren't so bad.

But Southern Miss returned the second half kickoff to about the McNeese 22 and scored to make it 31 - 13.

Then, after McNeese was stopped on its first possession of the second half, the punter mishandled the snap and was tackled at the Cowboy 4. Southern Miss scored to make it 38 - 13.

Southern Miss was clearly physically superior but I thought McNeese hung in there well enough physically to have stayed in the game without those two flurries at the start of each half.

McNeese also got the short field (USM 8) once after an interception. I think the score would've been something on the order of 27 - 13 if both teams would've been able to avoid giving up cheap scores.

[Retro]

Southern Miss was not clearly physically superior to mcneese.. I will say their D-line was a little better than ours, but Mcneese lost this game because of turnovers inside their own 30 3 times.... Southern Miss didn't move the ball up and down the field on mcneese, which to me would be a sign of physical superiority... If you had seen the game, you'd know what i mean.

I'm not taking anything away from Southern Miss, but the early turnovers sealed Mcneese's fate for the most part, because USM capitalized on them with TD's.. Our speed was clearly a notch above theirs, but it was irrelevant once playing from far behind and the fact we had to open it up more.

[McTailGator]

Southern Miss was not clearly physically superior to mcneese.. I will say their D-line was a little better than ours, but Mcneese lost this game because of turnovers inside their own 30 3 times.... Southern Miss didn't move the ball up and down the field on mcneese, which to me would be a sign of physical superiority... If you had seen the game, you'd know what i mean.

I'm not taking anything away from Southern Miss, but the early turnovers sealed Mcneese's fate for the most part, because USM capitalized on them with TD's.. Our speed was clearly a notch above theirs, but it was irrelevant once playing from far behind and the fact we had to open it up more.


I agree Retro.

Our speed really impressed me. Our defense did a great job but was having to play against a short field all night.

Non-forced turn overs by the offensive gave USM 28 points.

I have now doubt we would have either beaten them or stayed within 3 to 7 points had it not been for the 28 points on turn overs or the bobbled snap by the Freshman punter that soon turned into 7 points. Our Defensive line and LB' really have a great deal of speed and power which opened up a lot of opportunities for the DB's, who also played a great game.

I think our offense will get better. They just have to calm down and protect the Rock.