University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Arkansas State
Golden Eagles Fall in Sun Belt Opener at Arkansas State
9/23/2023 11:19:00 PM | Football
JONESBORO, Ark. – Dominic Zavada belted a 21-yard field goal and quarterback Jaylen Raynor added a 62-yard scoring run just over a minute later late in the fourth quarter to lift Arkansas State to a 44-37 Sun Belt Conference opener win over Southern Miss Saturday night at Centennial Bank Stadium.
The late Red Wolves rally spoiled a 17-point, second-half comeback by the Golden Eagles (1-3 overall, 0-1 Sun Belt) as they dropped their third game in a row.
Frank Gore, Jr., rushed for a game-high 132 yards, putting him over 3,000 yards for his career as it also marked the ninth 100-yard rushing game of his career, tying him for sixth with Sammy Winder and Shelton Gandy.
After opening the game with a 12-play, 84-yard drive that was culminated on a two-yard Gore, Jr., run, the Red Wolves (2-2, 1-0) scored on their first four drives, taking advantage of a Southern Miss interception on their second drive and a blocked punt on their third drive which turned into 10 additional points for the home team.
Down just 20-17 at the half, A-State scored on their first two possessions of the second half, including a 60-yard pass from Raynor to Clayton Jackson on the first play of the third period. Raynor, who threw for 233 yards and three touchdowns on 11-of-22 passing with an interception, then added a eight-yard scoring rush some five minutes late to give the Red Wolves its biggest lead at 34-17.
The Golden Eagles rallied as Dreke Clark collected a 59-yard scoring run – the longest rushing play of the year for Southern Miss – and Andrew Stein converted the second of three field goals, from 42 yards out with 3:10 left in the third. Southern Miss then tied the game at 34-34 on a 22-yard pass from Billy Wiles to Jakarius Caston. Wiles finished with a season-high 215 on 20-of-36 passing with two interceptions and two TD passes.
Southern Miss fell to 7-1 under Will Hall when they scored 30 points in a game.
