Southern Miss Spoils Charlotte’s Homecoming Celebration
Courtesy: Charlotte 49ers SID
CHARLOTTE –Third downs. Special Teams. Penalties.
Three areas that can make or break an afternoon.
Charlotte (2-5; 0-4) struggled in those three facets and dropped their fifth straight, 44-10, to visiting Southern Miss (5-3; 3-1) in Conference USA action at Jerry Richardson Stadium
"They’ve got a good football team," 49ers head coach Brad Lambert said of the Golden Eagles. "They’re really composed. The difference in this game really came down to third down. We didn’t make many conversions and they made too many. You have a loss yardage play on a penalty and all of a sudden you’re in third and long — your numbers go way down trying to convert those plays. We did a good job last week of staying out of a lot of third and longs. We didn’t this week."
Charlotte was 4-of-16 on third down while Southern Miss was 10-of-18. Charlotte also gave up a kick return for a TD, missed a pair of field goals and had a 13-yard punt that set up a Golden Eagle field goal. And Charlotte had costly penalties that negated a 75-yard touchdown run by Kalif Phillips, pushed the 49ers into those long yardage situations and helped a Golden Eagle touchdown drive.
Charlotte came into the game leading Conference USA in third-down defense, but Southern Miss was able to convert 10-of-18, the highest pct. the 49ers have allowed this year.
“It’s the little things that are getting us beat right now,” said 49ers linebacker Nick Cook, who led the 49ers with eight tackles. “Stupid penalties on defense and not getting off the field on third down. I don’t think we did well on third down, today and I don’t think we tackled well. We just have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot.”
Jalen Richard ran for 114 yards and a TD and Nick Mullens passed for 265 yards and four TDs to pace the Southern Miss attack. Phillips led Charlotte with 71 yards rushing, snapping a streak of three games with 100 or more yards rushing. Lee McNeill was 10-of-27 for 93 yards and two interceptions at quarterback. Trent Bostick (43 yards) and TL Ford II (30 yards) each caught three passes to lead the 49ers corps of receivers.
Southern Miss, which won for the second straight week, finished with 480 yards of offense, the second-most allowed by the 49ers this year. Charlotte had 257 yards of total offense (137 rushing; 120 passing).
The 49ers got on the board first, driving 59 yards on 10 plays to set up a 25-yard field goal by Blake Brewer with 7:19 to play in the first quarter. McNeill hit Bostick for a 37-yard catch to highlight the drive, which reached the three-yard line on Matt Johnson’s 14-yard pass to Zach Bumgarner. The drive stalled however when a Johnson rush lost four yards followed by a McNeill incompletion and rush for no gain.
On the ensuing possession, Mullens hit Michael Thomas, who broke a tackle and raced 69 yards for Southern Miss’s first TD. Charlotte was pinned inside their own 15 on their next drive and Arthur Hart’s punt of 13 yards set up a 38-yard Stephen Brauchle field goal that gave the Golden Eagles a 10-3 lead.
In the second quarter, the 49ers again fought field possession, aided by an unsportsmanlike penalty on one drive and a sack on the next. Neither drive got Charlotte passed their own 20-yard line and the Golden Eagles took advantage.
Southern Miss drove 59 yards from its own 41 for its next TD, again, aided by a pass interference call that set the Golden Eagles up with first and goal from the Charlotte 9. Mullens connected with Taylor Marini for the score to push the lead to 16-3 after a missed PAT.
When the 49ers did profit from Southern Miss mistakes, they were unable to take advantage. After a Hart punt was touched by a Southern Miss defender, the 49ers took over possession at the Southern Miss 34, but McNeill was intercepted in the end zone on the next play. Nine plays and 80 yards later, Mullens threw for his third TD to give the Golden Eagles a 23-3 lead at the half.
Southern Miss made it 30-3 on the opening drive of the second half, driving 72 yards on 14 plays capped by a Mullens to Casey Martin four-yard pass.
Charlotte answered with its lone TD drive of the day, charging 75 yards on seven plays for the score. Phillips rushed for 20 yards and Johnson hit Ford on a 13-yard pass and rushed for another 11 to push into the red zone. McNeill finished the drive with a 20-yard bootleg to cut the lead to 30-10 with 5:41 left in the third.
Jalen Richard returned the kickoff 95 yards however to stifle the 49ers homecoming crowd.
On Charlotte’s next possession, Phillips broke off his 75-yard run but it was called back by an illegal hands to the face call to quell and momentum Charlotte hoped to gain in the third quarter.
A Darian Yancey interception was returned to the Charlotte 2 to open the fourth quarter, leading to the Golden Eagles final score.
Charlotte did get another turnover deep in Southern Miss territory, again on a mishandled punt. Eric Herkley recovered at the Golden Eagle 13 but one-play later an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty pushed the ball back to the 25 and Brewer’s 42-yard attempt was wide left.
McNeill’s rushing TD was his first of the season. Greg Cunningham, who recovered the first fumbled punt, picked up his seventh career takeaway, matching Terrance Winchester’s career mark. Linebacker Karrington King, who matched Caleb Clayton-Molby with seven tackles, surpassed 100 tackles in his career, becoming the fifth 49ers to reach the career century mark, this season.
Charlotte is back home, next Saturday, when the 49ers host Marshall at 3:30 p.m.
