Southern Miss Beats Louisiana 35-31 on Jamarice Wilder Touchdown With 58 Seconds Left

Blake Anderson did not reach for poetry when he described the last few weeks in Hattiesburg. He called it "a grueling stretch of disappointment on top of disappointment on top of disappointment." On Saturday night, with 58 seconds left on homecoming, that stretch finally broke.

Jamarice Wilder ran 16 yards up the middle for the go-ahead touchdown, and Southern Miss beat Louisiana 35-31 at Renasant Stadium for its first Sun Belt win of the season. The Golden Eagles are now 2-5 and 1-2 in league play. Louisiana falls to 5-3 and 2-2, and for the second time this month, the Ragin' Cajuns lost a game in the final minute.

It was the program's first fourth-quarter comeback win since a final-minute victory at Texas State on Oct. 22, 2022, according to Southern Miss postgame notes. Four years is a long time to wait for a finish like that. The 23,244 in attendance got their money's worth.

A track meet in the first half

This one never settled down. Louisiana opened the scoring on a 5-yard keeper by quarterback Lunch Winfield, and the two teams spent most of the first half trading punches. Steven Robinson did the heavy lifting for Southern Miss, punching in all three of his touchdowns before the break. JJ Garner answered with a 42-yard touchdown run for the Cajuns that tied it at 14, extending his streak of games with a rushing touchdown to five.

Southern Miss took a 21-14 lead late in the half, and it looked like the hosts would carry momentum into the locker room. Then Winfield found Trenton Chaney for a 4-yard touchdown with 31 seconds left, and it was 21-21 at the break.

Louisiana punches first in the second half

The third quarter belonged to the visitors. Winfield, who finished with a career-high 299 passing yards, hit Anthony Reagan Jr. for a 31-yard touchdown with 2:16 left in the period, and Louisiana led 28-21.

Southern Miss did get one important stand earlier in the half. Linebacker Wesley Edison stuffed a fourth-and-1 on Louisiana's first possession after halftime, part of a night in which he finished with 10 tackles, half a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. Without that stop, the Cajuns may have pulled away right there.

The turning point: Peavy's pick-six

Down a touchdown early in the fourth, the Golden Eagles needed somebody to make a play. Kolby Peavy made the biggest one of his career. He jumped a Winfield throw at the Louisiana 30 and took it all the way back to tie the game at 28 with 10:05 remaining.

It was Peavy's first career interception, and it was the program's first pick-six since Ian Foster did it against Jacksonville State last season. Peavy explained it in the simplest possible terms. "I was like, I look back, I seen the quarterback throw," he said.

He saw it. He took it. Tie game.

Louisiana's long answer, Southern Miss's short one

The Cajuns responded the way a veteran team should. Louisiana put together a 17-play, 74-yard drive that ate more than seven minutes off the clock, and Tony Sterner kicked a 22-yard field goal with 2:51 left for a 31-28 lead. In a vacuum, that is a smart drive. In reality, it left Southern Miss nearly three minutes.

That was plenty. Robinson opened the final possession with a 6-yard run, then converted a third-and-1 with a 13-yard burst. Landry Lyddy hit Kaden Saunders on a couple of short throws, and then came the gamble. On fourth-and-1 from the Louisiana 44, Wilder broke free for 28 yards. Two plays later, he went straight through the middle for the 16-yard score. The drive took eight plays and 1:53.

Louisiana got the ball back with 58 seconds left and moved to its own 47, but Winfield threw three straight incompletions after a short completion, and Southern Miss took over on downs.

Two backs, one statement

Southern Miss ran for 286 yards and four touchdowns, a season high allowed by Louisiana's defense. Wilder carried 13 times for 154 yards in his first 100-yard game as a Golden Eagle. Robinson added 145 yards on 22 carries. It was the program's first 100-yard rushing duo since Ito Smith and George Payne did it against Savannah State in 2016.

Wilder gave all the credit to the big guys up front. All he asked of them, he said, was to "get me past the front seven and I got the rest." That is a running back's job description in one sentence.

Robinson, who has now had two three-touchdown games this season, sounded like a man who had been carrying a lot. "Man, it's a unreal feeling. Like it's just amazing," he said.

The numbers that matter

Southern Miss finished with 450 total yards, and the passing game barely needed to show up. Lyddy went 21-of-38 for a season-low 164 yards without a touchdown or an interception in his fourth straight start. Mario Sanders caught six passes for 77 yards.

The real number was on the other side. Louisiana ran for only 118 yards, its lowest total of the season, after coming in having never been held below 133. The Southern Miss defense also had three sacks, and Michael Robinson III led the team with 12 tackles. Louisiana outpassed the Golden Eagles by a wide margin, but this game was won in the trenches. The full breakdown is in the official box score (opens in a new tab), and the Southern Miss game recap (opens in a new tab) has the drive-by-drive detail.

For Louisiana, Winfield's 22-of-41, 299-yard night was a career best through the air, and Jake St. Andre led the defense with 11 tackles and a sack. Garner added 52 yards on seven carries. It just was not enough, again.

What it means

For Southern Miss, this is the first sign of life in the conference standings, and it came in a series with real history. This was the 57th meeting between the schools, making Louisiana the second-most frequent opponent in Southern Miss history behind only Memphis, and it doubled as the program's 89th homecoming game. The Golden Eagles now lead the all-time series 44-12-1, have won 13 of the last 14 meetings and are 24-2 against Louisiana in Hattiesburg. Edison said the team had found a closeness and experience that it lacked early on. "That's what we didn't have at the beginning of the season," Edison said. Next on the schedule was a trip to ULM on Oct. 31, for a team suddenly playing with some confidence.

For Louisiana, this one stings in a familiar way. Two weeks after losing 32-31 at Louisiana Tech in the final minute, the Cajuns watched another one slip away late. At 2-2 in the Sun Belt, there is still time, but there is not much margin left. Louisiana gets a week to regroup before hosting South Alabama on Nov. 7 in its annual Louisiana Salutes game.

The last word

Anderson was honest about the performance, even after a win this big. "We did not play perfect," he said. He was also clear about why it did not matter on this night. "We found ways to win a game late, and it took everybody."

That is the whole story. Southern Miss has not been good enough this season to win pretty. On Saturday, it learned how to win ugly, late and loud, and after a stretch of disappointment stacked on disappointment, that is a pretty good place to start.

Sources: Southern Miss Athletics recap, postgame notes, quotes and box score, The Associated Press via WDAM, and Louisiana Athletics via Crescent City Sports. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Southern Miss Athletics.