HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Arkansas State Coach Butch Jones didn’t intend to be prophetic during his news conference last Tuesday: “It’s critical plays, critical stretches of the game, having the competitive endurance, the mental endurance to be able to play a high level of football through four quarters,” he said.
But the Red Wolves had to know. They’d twice held fourth-quarter leads in September, only to lose on the road at Memphis and Old Dominion. They’d hung within a possession of soon-to-be-ranked James Madison for 50 minutes.
If this ASU team was going to win, it would require the complete 60-minute performance that the Red Wolves have yet to put together in Jones’ first 18 games.
And yet, Saturday night somehow they found a way to again follow an all-too-familiar script.
Southern Mississippi, which trailed for more than 53 minutes, crawled out of a 19-7 fourth-quarter deficit and eked out its first-ever Sun Belt Conference victory at M.M. Roberts Stadium, edging ASU 20-19. The Golden Eagles scored two touchdowns in the final 9:20, putting together drives of 95 and 45 yards after managing just 19 yards in the third quarter.
“The volume of games that have ended like this, it’s mind-boggling,” Jones said. “You have to eliminate the things in your play that take away from winning. … Down the stretch and the end of the third quarter, we had too many of those.” ASU (2-5, 1-3 Sun Belt) managed to reverse one negative trend at the start of the second half. The Red Wolves forced Southern Miss into a three-and-out with a critical third-and-1 stop and followed it uwith a 10-play, 79-yard possession punctuated by Jeff Foreman’s second touchdown of the game.
Foreman’s 9-yard touchdown catch put ASU up 17-7. But the Red Wolves’ only points the rest of the way would come on a safety when the Golden Eagles mishandled a punt attempt and the ball landed out the back of their end zone.
“You always look at the fourth quarter, but really it’s a cumulative effect throughout the course of the game,” Jones said. “Where I thought we left a lot of points out there was in the third quarter.
“I figured [being up 19-7] we needed one more score to put it away. So I thought heading into the fourth quarter, us not doing what we needed to do offensively really kind of hurt us.” Although Southern Miss (3-3, 1-1) went backward on its first drive after Coach Will Hall swapped his quarterbacks, the Golden Eagles found some rhythm with Jake Lange under center in starter Zach Wilke’s stead.
Pinned back on its 5-yard line, Southern Miss crossed midfield in five plays with three completions before handing off to Frank Gore Jr., who broke three tackle attempts on his way to the end zone.
Southern Miss burned nearly six minutes off the clock and taking the lead when Janari Dean ran in untouched from 3 yards out.
But with the Golden Eagles’ failed two-point conversion, ASU had one last gasp to avoid yet another fourth-quarter collapse. Down 20-19, the Red Wolves pushed the ball to the Southern Miss 42 with 1:34 remaining.
That’s when the familiar late-game woes struck.
After a false start, James Blackman’s first- and second-down passes fell incomplete, and on third and 15, the Golden Eagles’ pass rush got to the ASU quarterback. Blackman tried for one last Hail Mary, scrambling on a desperation fourth-and-22 play, but Southern Miss knocked the ball away.
With the Red Wolves packing up their locker room and headed for the buses, Jones leaned up against a wall in the southeast corner of Roberts Stadium, an exasperated look across his face.
In a season where narratives have become themes, Jones could only explain this defeat with a refrain.
“When somebody steps up and makes a play at the end to win a game, everything will change,” he said. “All you need is one breakthrough moment and we’ve got to keep working.”