Sep. 18—Southern Miss picked up the first win of the Will Hall Era last week.
This weekend, Hall could have his first quarterback controversy.
The Golden Eagles are at home Saturday night at 6 against Troy (1-1). The Trojans are coming off a 21-13 loss to Liberty.
Turnovers were a problem for Southern Miss in a season-opening 31-7 loss at South Alabama.
The Golden Eagles (1-1) had no turnovers in last week’s 37-0 win over Grambling.
Southern Miss rushed for 290 of its 439 total yards.
Hall has not announced a starter this week and will choose between Trey Lowe, who started against Grambling, and freshman Ty Keyes.
Lowe was 10-for-13 passing for 99 yards and a touchdown. He left the game at halftime with a lower extremity injury.
Keyes, a three-star recruit from Taylorsville who listed Auburn on his reported offer sheet, was 4-for-11 passing but was also a factor in the run game with 56 yards.
“Trey played really well and was really good with his accuracy and his reads,” Hall said. “Ty came in and was a big boost of energy in the second half, made some great runs, had some really good throws.”
Hall said both quarterbacks were plagued by dropped passes from receivers.
The Golden Eagles had to settle for four field goals, two of them from less than 30 yards away.
Hall wants to see more growth from younger players when the Eagles are close to the end zone.
“We blew it in the Red Zone. We should have scored more touchdowns,” Hall said. “Some of that was young guys coming in not really knowing what we were doing.”
Sophomore running back Frank Gore led Southern Miss with 162 rushing yards on 21 carries. He scored on a 51-yard run.
Defensively the Golden Eagles held Grambling to 152 total yards and 2.3 yards per rush.
Production was spread throughout the defensive side with only one player having more than four tackles.
“Defensively we played lights out,” Hall said.
PARRISH ALFORD is the college sports editor and columnist for the Daily Journal. Contact him at parrish.alford@journalinc.com.