Southern Miss Golden Eagles @ Navy Midshipmen Football Recap

Southern Mississippi 63, Navy 35

Navy’s week five loss to the Air Force Academy was made possible by a blocked kick. Navy’s week six loss to the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles wasn’t solely due to a blocked kick – a 28-point game isn’t decided on one play – but all the frustrations of a long afternoon quite legitimately flowed from yet another placekick gone awry in Annapolis, Maryland.

Yes, it was an agonizing October afternoon at Memorial Stadium for Navy, which has now lost three straight games for the first time since its 2002 season, when the program was just beginning to discover itself under former coach Paul Johnson. A Navy outfit that has been so long on pluck, resilience, and correcting its mistakes was unable to fix its kick-protection scheme one week after a blocked extra point in overtime allowed Air Force to retain the inside track to the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy.

The Midshipmen, looking for a fresh start in this contest against Southern Miss, drove to the Golden Eagles' 7-yard line on the game's opening drive, but Southern Mississippi's Khyri Thornton blocked Navy kicker Jon Teague's 29-yard field goal attempt. USM’s Marquese Wheaton scooped up the free-bouncing pigskin, returning it 79 yards for a touchdown and stunning the crowd in Annapolis.

The Midshipmen appeared to be unruffled in the face of immediate adversity – they moved to the Southern Miss 1 on the next drive, but they then failed on three tries to hammer the ball into the end zone. Southern Mississippi lineman Tim Green stuffed Navy quarterback Kriss Proctor's fourth-down keeper attempt, and in that moment, the Midshipmen’s resolve evaporated. The blocked kick began a snowball pattern that quickly smothered the home team while opening the door for the visitors from Conference USA.

The Southern Miss offense didn't get its hands on the ball until 3:59 remained in the first quarter. Navy accumulated the first 144 yards of this game but had nothing but a 7-0 deficit to show for it. Then, the Golden Eagles took over and buried the emotionally brittle Midshipmen. USM quarterback Austin Davis guided his teammates on a 99-yard scoring drive capped by Jeremy Hester's 3-yard burst in the A-gap for a 14-0 lead.
USM’s Tracy Lampley continued the parade of points for the visitors, who scored at least 14 points in all four quarters. Lampley’s 4-yard scoring run put the Golden Eagles up 21-0 with 11:18 remaining in the first half, and the rout was on.

Davis found teammate Ryan Hanks all alone in the end zone for a 5-yard scoring pass and a 28-0 lead midway through the second quarter. Navy didn’t avoid the shutout until the 5:29 mark of the first half, but by then, the die had been cast. Navy never got any closer than 21 points in the second half; it’s all because the floodgates opened wide so early in the proceedings, with a blocked kick – the bookend of the Air Force loss – serving as the beginning of the Midshipmen’s unraveling this time around.