Rice holds off USM, 24-19

HOUSTON, Miss. (WDAM) _ The University of Southern Mississippi not only lost it opening Conference USA football game Saturday, the Golden Eagles lost a starting quarterback for the second time in a four-game span.

Rice University scored first, never trailed and had enough to hold off the Golden Eagles in the end to claim a 24-19 victory.

“Really, really tough loss,” USM coach Will Hall said. “Just a bad, bad loss. We’re going to have to do some soul-searching.”

USM lost starting quarterback Ty Keyes to an ankle after one offensive possession, forcing back-up Jake Lange into the starting role.

Lange stepped into the fray and battled, completing 23 of 37 passes for 304 yards. But he threw three of USM’s four interceptions.

“We had four, they didn’t have any, and that’s not going to do you any good,” Hall said.

Keyes had made his first career start in USM’s third game, after hje replaced injured starter Trey Lowe III against Grambling University.

USM also missed a 36-yard field goal right before halftime that might have helped the Golden Eagles (1-4, 0-1 C-USA) avoid extending their losing streak to three games.

The Golden Eagles picked up 378 yards while Rice (2-3, 1-0 C-USA) had 325 yards.

Copyright 2021 WDAM. All rights reserved.