Southern Miss Holds Off ULM 35-21 as Jamarice Wilder Seals a Second Straight Win

A week after winning a thriller at home, Southern Miss went on the road and won the kind of game that does not make anyone's highlight reel but counts the same in the standings. The Golden Eagles took advantage of ULM mistakes, rode Steven Robinson on the ground and turned short fields into points in a 35-21 Sun Belt win at Malone Stadium in Monroe on Saturday, then survived a fourth-quarter push from the Warhawks.

Southern Miss improved to 3-5 overall and 2-2 in the Sun Belt, stacking a second straight win after the 35-31 victory over Louisiana that Jamarice Wilder sealed with 58 seconds left. ULM, which stunned Troy 21-14 on the road a week ago, fell to 1-7 and 1-3 and could not build on that momentum.

A Scoreless First Quarter and a Costly Fumble

Neither offense did much early. Each of the first three possessions ended in a punt, and Southern Miss then put together a 12-play drive that died in ULM territory on a fourth-down incompletion from quarterback Landry Lyddy.

ULM answered with its best drive of the half, a 10-play march that reached the Southern Miss 8-yard line. Then it came apart. Running back Don Chaney fumbled at the 8, and Southern Miss' Malakai Murphy recovered. It was the first of two costly ULM fumbles, and it was the play that set the tone for the afternoon.

Southern Miss made the Warhawks pay right away. The Golden Eagles went 86 yards in 12 plays, and Robinson finished it with a 33-yard touchdown run with 12:48 left in the second quarter. Late in the half, Southern Miss worked a short field into a 36-yard field goal by Creighton Wilbanks with 17 seconds left, and the visitors took a 10-0 lead into the locker room.

ULM Strikes, Southern Miss Answers

The Warhawks came out of halftime with the most explosive play of the game. On ULM's first snap of its opening second-half possession, quarterback Aidan Armenta found Marcellus Jackson for an 83-yard touchdown, and suddenly it was 10-7 with 13:15 left in the third quarter.

Southern Miss did not let the momentum shift last long. The Golden Eagles marched 75 yards in five plays, and Wilder, the hero of last week's win, ran it in from 21 yards out to restore a 17-7 lead.

Turning Point: Three Snaps of Chaos in the Third Quarter

The game swung for good midway through the third quarter. Pinned deep, ULM had Armenta sacked by JR Stegall and Kameron Cyprien for an 11-yard loss back to its own 5. On the ensuing punt, Southern Miss' Kaden Saunders returned it 53 yards to the end zone, only for the touchdown to be wiped out by a holding penalty. It barely mattered. The Golden Eagles still took over at the ULM 22, and two plays later Lyddy hit Grant Page for a 21-yard touchdown that made it 24-7.

ULM's next drive ended even worse. Facing fourth-and-3 at its own 32, Armenta was sacked by defensive back Kobi Albert and fumbled. The Warhawks recovered, but well short of the line to gain, so the ball went to Southern Miss on downs at the ULM 23. A holding penalty pushed the Golden Eagles backward, but Wilbanks still hit a 39-yard field goal with 38 seconds left in the third, and it was 27-7.

In the span of about five minutes, Southern Miss scored 10 points on drives that covered a combined 12 yards. That is how a road team that was not dominating between the 20s builds a 20-point cushion. As it turned out, Southern Miss needed a good chunk of it.

Fourth Quarter: ULM Makes It Interesting

The Warhawks did not go quietly. Armenta capped a 12-play, 67-yard drive that carried into the fourth quarter, and it stayed alive on third-and-13 when Albert was flagged for targeting at the end of a 9-yard Armenta run. Austin Carlisle followed with a 12-yard run to the 2, and Armenta punched it in from a yard out with 11:22 left to make it 27-14.

Southern Miss went three-and-out, and ULM went right back to work. The Golden Eagles helped. Two personal fouls and a pass interference penalty carried the Warhawks from midfield to the Southern Miss 5, and Armenta found Nic Trujillo for a 2-yard touchdown on third-and-goal with 6:47 left. Suddenly it was 27-21.

Southern Miss could not put it away on its next possession. Robinson ran for 15 yards on the first two carries of the drive, but the drive stalled near midfield, and Dusty Zimmer punted to the ULM 18 with 3:44 left. Another pass interference flag gave ULM a fresh set at its own 32, but the Southern Miss defense finally held. Champ Lewis, who had been flagged for a personal foul on ULM's previous drive and for that pass interference earlier on this one, broke up a deep third-down throw intended for Trujillo, and Armenta's fourth-and-6 pass to Trujillo fell incomplete with 2:25 left, giving the ball back to Southern Miss at the ULM 36.

Two plays later, Wilder sealed it, a week after scoring the late touchdown that beat Louisiana. Wilder ran 32 yards up the middle for a touchdown with 1:52 left, and a two-point conversion made it 35-21. JR Stegall sacked Armenta on ULM's last possession, which ended with another failed fourth down, and Southern Miss ran out the clock.

By the Numbers

Robinson carried the offense for most of the day, finishing with 146 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, including a long run of 42 yards. Wilder added 104 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries, and Southern Miss ran for 247 yards as a team at 6.2 yards per carry. Lyddy completed 15 of 30 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown without an interception. Mario Sanders led the Golden Eagles with four catches for 31 yards, and Grant Page caught two passes for 26 yards, including the 21-yard score. Wilbanks made field goals from 36 and 39 yards.

For ULM, Armenta completed 19 of 34 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score. Jackson's 83-yard touchdown was Jackson's only catch of the game, and Don Chaney ran for 54 yards on 10 carries.

Defensively, defensive back Landon Sylvie led Southern Miss with 11 tackles, and Stegall finished with 1.5 sacks. Noah Flemmings led ULM with nine tackles.

The team numbers show how even this game was between the 20s. Southern Miss outgained ULM 377 to 359, while the Warhawks won the first-down battle 23 to 16 and held the ball for 32:40. The difference was ball security and fourth downs. ULM fumbled twice in key spots and went 0 for 3 on fourth down, while Southern Miss did not turn it over and converted two of its three fourth-down tries. The Golden Eagles did not help themselves with nine penalties for 87 yards, and several of those flags came during ULM's fourth-quarter comeback.

What It Means

For Southern Miss, two straight wins is the first real sign of life in a season that started 1-5. Blake Anderson's team has shown it can win close at home and grind on the road, and the defense, led by a pass rush that kept Armenta under pressure for much of the afternoon, gave the offense every chance to succeed. At 2-2 in league play, the Golden Eagles have work left to do, but they are trending in the right direction.

For ULM, the turnovers told the story, even after a fourth-quarter rally made it close. The Warhawks scored twice in the fourth quarter and had the ball with a chance to take the lead late. But a red-zone fumble, a fourth-down sack-fumble and a string of drive-killing mistakes in the third quarter handed Southern Miss too many easy chances, and Wilder's late touchdown put the game away. Bryant Vincent's team now has to regroup after a win at Troy raised hopes that a turnaround was underway.

The Takeaway

This was not a pretty game, and the finish was far more nervous than Southern Miss would have liked. The Golden Eagles let a 20-point lead shrink to six, and fourth-quarter penalties kept ULM's drives alive. But they did not turn the ball over, they pounced every time ULM opened the door, and their defense made the stop it needed when the game was on the line. Southern Miss now has a two-game winning streak and a little momentum heading into November.

Sources: ESPN box score (opens in a new tab), ESPN play-by-play and team stats. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Southern Miss Athletics.