Vance McDonald fights to bring down pass in the end zone (Bobby McDuffie photo)

HATTIESBURG (Oct. 1) -- The University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles gave the Rice Owls tools enough to plant a victory garden here Saturday, but when chips were down, the Owls regressed to the mean. The result: a demoralizing 48-24 loss at M. M. Rogers Stadium Saturday night that'll have Owl fans, and one would expect coaches and players, scratching their heads long into the night.

Early on, the Rice defense showed newfound opportunism in turning two forced fumble recoveries into touchdown returns, plus nabbing two interceptions by Bryce Callahan that would'a, could'a, should'a added to Southern Miss misery but didn't.

In the end, it was the same old Owls; that same frustrating Rice team that continues to lose demonstrated talent down a worm-hole somewhere, or something. It was the same disappointing game plan that failed to take advantage of the opponent's vulnerabilities, failed to anticipate obvious schemes that were to be employed against the Owls, and, once implemented with  success by the opponent, failed to make mid-course corrections to neutralize them.

Still, chalking up this loss to ineptitude or lack of preparation is insufficient to explain the entire circumstances.

Once the Eagles broke loose on their 28-0 scoring tear in the second half, the talent differential between the two teams seemed as wide as the Mississippi River. It was as if the Golden Eagles were the Baylor Bears on steriods -- woops, an unfortunate analogy -- let's say they were like the Baylor Bears in overdrive.

The stat sheet tells that part of the tale quite succinctly.

Southern Miss set an all-time school record for total yardage gained against the Owls Saturday night, racking up 654 yards total, 370 of it on the ground, 274 passing. The Eagles had 33 first downs to the Owls' 15. By comparison, the Owls had 229 yards total offense; were four-for-16 in third down conversions; and netted 33 yards total rushing in 31 attempts.

You don't win ball games with stats like that, no matter what else happens.

And a lot else did happen early.

When the Owls took the opening kickoff, the USM brain trust obviously knew exactly what play the Flock would open with. Sam Mac took the handoff, heading wide, but was slammed to the turf by a waiting Jamie Collins for a loss of eight.  USM's Cordaro Law picks up the narration. "The first play of the game Jamie picked a guy up and threw him to the ground. A big play like that is going to set the tone all night."

It did.

Three straight 3-and-outs to start with on offense

After the Owls' initial possession resulted in a three-and-out, Southern Miss took the Kyle Martens punt at their own 32 and got as far as the Owl 31 before Xavier Webb made a big defensive play to force a failed 48-yard field goal attempt by USM's Danny Hrapmann.

Next possession for the Owls likewise resulted in a three-and-outer. Rice's total offense at that point was a negative five yards in six plays.

The Rice defense  was holding its own, but eight plays later, USM's Kendrick Hardy took a pitch, ran wide, and raced 47 yards untouched for the first USM TD. It was a play that torched the Owls all night; offhand there is no recollection that this set and play, run to success at least eight or nine times by USM, was ever adequately defensed.

The Hrapmann PAT attempt, by the way, fizzled wide right, so it was only 6-0, USM, at that point.

Rice's next offensive effort resulted in an all together now, "three...and...out," and when Southern Miss took the punt at their own 40, now it was trick-play time against the typically-gullible Rice defense.

On second and six at the USM 46, the Eagles dusted off the classic flea-flicker play, Davis making the handoff, taking the pitchback, and tossing 54 yards to a wide-open Ryan Balentine for the score.

In response, finally the Owl offense got cranked up . Rice moved 80 yards in seven plays, the keys coming on a 19-yard pass-and-run to Charles Ross, and a screen pass to Vance McDonald who rumbled for 42 yards. Vance also completed the drive with a two-yard grab in the corner of the end zone.

Chris Boswell kicked off to the USM five, where the ball was brought down by Eagle deep man Francisco Llanos. Llanos attempted to slash diagonally across the field, but he was hit hard by the Owls' Zach Patt, separating the returner from the ball. It rolled tantalizinly on the floor for a split second, but it was picked up by Michael Kutzler, who waltzed across the goal unassailed from 17 yards out.

Just like that, the Owls had gone from trailing 13-0 to a 14-13 lead. Technically, it occurred in the space of five seconds' elapse on the clock. It seemed faster than that.

Could'a, should'a been up 21-13

The Owls squandered a golden opportunity to go up 21-13 on the next USM possession, after Bryce Callahan stepped in front of his receiver to intercept an Austin Davis pass and threaded an open-field return 29 yards all the way down to USM 4, to set up the Owls with a first and goal.

But  TMac wasn't quite able to place the fade on first down, although Vance McDonald had the angle on his defender.

At this point,  bear in mind that he'd been under a tremendous rush all evening. The USM defensive coaches blitzed four or five almost every play, knowing full well that Rice simply does not employ much in the way of a vertical passing game. So load the box and pin your ears back, seemed to be the prevailing Southern Miss defensive philosophy. Seemed as if every time Taylor McHargue dropped back or rolled wide, he wound up running for his life.

Well, going back to the story, on second and goal, TMac  took the snap, gave a bit of ground, and suddenly found himself swarmed under.  Instead of hitting the deck, he tried to make something out of the play, and  the outcome was a disastrous 14-point turnaround. For USM's Michael Wheaton picked up the resulting fumble and rambled 90 yards the other away, cutting back on the Rice 10 to avoid one last tackler. Now, instead of 21-13, Rice, it was 20-14, USM.

Owls came to within a field goal at half

The Owls responded well, covering 56 yards in 13 plays, but bogging down at the USM 24, where Chris Boswell nailed a 41-yard field goal.  That brough the halftime score to 20-17, and it appeared to be anybody's ball game.

Speaking of the Owls’ first-half performance, DB Xavier Webb noted, "They throw the flea flicker and tricked us, but I thought the defense was playing well after that."

"We got down 13-0 and make a couple of turnovers and it looked like we were about to go into the half up. But, we made a mistake and it was just a big swing of momentum and they just kept building off it. We just couldn't come back from it."

On the second half kickoff, the Owls gifted USM 15 with  a personal foul call -- one of several on the night against the Owls  -- so the Eagles were able to run their first play of the half from the Rice 49.

USM promptly marched down the field and appeared on the way to the end zone, when the Owl defense stiffened and forced a fourth and one at the Rice two yard line.

Given his prior success in running the ball against the Owls, USM Coach Larry Fedora eschewed the field goal and plied the middle. USM's go-to guy, Kendrick Hardy, appeared stopped short of the the line to gain but attempted a second effort.

He should've let well enough alone, for the Owls' Scott Solomon stripped the ball free, Xavier Webb swooped it up off the carpet, and 97 yards later, he was crossing the goal line to give the Owls a 24-20 lead.

That was the third fumble recovery for a touchdown on the night -- two for the Owls and one for the Eagles. Sometimes we don't see as many of those in a whole season.

Next series, on third and eight from midfield, Austin Davis threw toward he sideline first down marker, and once again Bryce Callahan stepped in to make his second pick of the day.

Owls sat pretty with the lead and the ball, early in the third

It was the high water mark of the game for the Owls, with their maintaining a 24-20 lead and cranking up for a fresh drive at their own 42.

But on the first play of the Rice possession USM’s Jacorious Cotton recovered a Tyler Smith fumble and the Owls had given the ball right back to Southern Miss.

Starting at the 40, USM advanced but appeared stymied when Justin Allen and Scott Solomon combined to nail Eagle RB Jeremy Hester for a loss of four to the Rice 22, setting up a third and long. But on the third down play, Rice’s all-out blitz was ineffective, and Davis cooly found his receiver Kelvin Bolden open on the side line inside the Owl 5. A play later, Davis sneaked over from the one, and the Owls were back behind, 27-24.

On the ensuing kickoff, Jeremy Eddington broke several tackles in getting the ball out to the Rice 37. But the Owls failed to move. First play, McHargue  under a heavy rush threw wide of his receiver. Then he was sacked on third and long.

The USM defense kept blowing in the student body all night long, and the strategy was just what the doctor ordered to stop McHargue. Should other teams remaining on the Owl schedule be able to take note and replicate the strategery, it's going to be a long, long season.

USM took the resulting punt at their own 25 and jammed the ball right down the Owls' throats, keeping the ball on the ground and moving it the distance in nine plays, Tracy Lampley carrying the ball across from the 2, to give the Eagles a 10-point lead with three minutes to go in the third quarter.

Another Rice three and out, and USM started another drive with a personal foul penalty called against the Owls. A needless late hit it was, and it set up the Eagles with yet another short field.

USM’s Kelvin Bolden once again got behind two Owl defenders, and suddenly it was 41-24 and the game was out of reach.

Ugly third quarter spelled doom for Owls

"In the third quarter, we had eight plays. I believe they had 36. You can't come into The Rock at Southern Miss and have a bad quarter like we did there," commented Rice head coach David Bailiff afterwards. "We were in this game and the third quarter put us out of it."

The Owls had four yards of total offense the entire third quarter.  At that point Rice coaches chose to rest Taylor McHargue the rest of the way and send in Nick Fanuzzi to get some reps and try to move the ball down the field in the air. "We needed to make a change at that point," Coach Bailiff said.

Nick immediately moved the team, at least for a time, marching the ball 60-plus yards for a first and goal at the USM nine. But from there, a couple of passes in the end zone misfired, and the Owls came away empty.

USM scored yet another time, but no use going into detail on that. The Owls, on the other hand, did not threaten again.

After the game, Coach Bailiff did the gentlemanly thing and fell on his sword. Mistakes, turnovers and especially penalties were fatal, he noted.

"That's part of being disciplined. We have to be a more disciplined football team. Number one part of being disciplined is eliminating errors," he said in such regard.

"Let me say this - everything about this program begins and ends with me. I have to do a better job with these young men of making them more disciplined. You have to eliminate stupid penalties. Part of discipline too is not giving up the turnovers."

"We're a pretty good football team. We have to play like we are. We have to make more plays. We just have to take care of the football better. We were down on the four-yard line, I think it was, and turn it over and they go 96 the other way. You don't beat a Southern Miss making mistakes like we did."
--P.T.H.

HOUSTON (Sept.29) – The Rice Owls travel to downtown greater metropolitan Hattiesburg Saturday for their conference opener against the University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (6:30 p.m.; CSS).