NEW ORLEANS – On a pleasant, full-moon, clear-skies night in New Orleans, Southern Miss was hoping to put the last two weeks of disappointments behind them in the Battle for the Bell against Tulane at Yulman Stadium.
Despite a slow start on offense, the Golden Eagles’ defense held the rope and set the tone in the first half, and that carried over into the third quarter. When the dust settled, though, the Golden Eagles left six points on the board late with two missed field goals and ultimately lost the Battle of the Bell, 24-21. With the loss, Southern Miss drops to 1-3, while Will Hall’s Tulane improves to 2-2.
“Obviously gutted, disappointed for the guys to get that close and not get it done,” head coach Blake Anderson said. “They played their hearts out, played with their hair on fire. We challenged them all week, and they gave me everything they had. We just made some mistakes. You got to give credit to Tulane. They made some plays that they had to make to win it.
“We’ll learn a lot from tonight, but I think it’s a glimpse for our guys and our fans and everybody involved … what this team’s capable of, and we just got to take the next step.”…