Southern Miss avenges last season’s blowout loss by beating Jacksonville State 42-25
Southern Miss got back on the right track, defeating the Jacksonville State Gamecocks 42-25.
Despite being forced to punt after five plays to open the game, the fans in Hattiesburg wouldn’t have to wait long to get excited. Defensive end JJ Hawkins got a strip-sack on Gamecocks quarterback Gavin Wimsatt on the first play of the drive, setting up the offense in plus territory.
The Golden Eagles capitalized on this turnover with a four-play, 25-yard drive that resulted in points. Jeffery Pittman ran it in from the two-yard line, giving Southern Miss an early 7-0 lead.
Third score of the season for @JefferyPittma13 🔋
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— Southern Miss Football (@SouthernMissFB) September 27, 2025
After forcing Jacksonville State to punt, the Southern Miss offense once again put together a four-play drive resulting in seven points, this time from their own 20-yard line.
Braylon Braxton hit Tychaun Chapman for 43 yards, moving into opposing territory. Pittman’s 25-yard run set himself up for his second touchdown of the night. The redshirt junior punched it in to give the Golden Eagles a quick 14-0 lead.
Jacksonville State got on the board before the end of the first quarter, kicking a 35-yard field goal.
Scoring would be much harder to come by in the second quarter, with the first six drives resulting in zero points. Each team would fumble the ball in those drives.
The score looked to stay 14-3 heading into the half but Southern Miss struck with five seconds left. Braxton got his first rushing touchdown of the season, extending the lead to 17 going into half.
Both defenses would come out firing in the second half, forcing three short drives resulting in punts. That was until Braxton found tight end Kadinn Morris for a 6-yard touchdown, extending the lead to 25 for the Golden Eagles.
The Gamecocks responded with a touchdown of their own immediately. Backup quarterback Caden Creel replaced Wimsatt to start the second half. On his first play, he scampered for 73 yards after Southern Miss’ touchdown. This play set up a 6-yard touchdown pass to Brock Rechsteiner. Creel ran in a two-point conversion, making the score 28-11.
Southern Miss scored again before the end of the quarter, as Braxton found Carl Chester for a touchdown. Chester, who led the team in receiving yards entering the game, was quiet the rest of the night as this was his only catch of the game.
Josh Moten got his first interception on the season, picking off Creel at the end of the third quarter.
Creel ran in a touchdown in the second drive of the fourth quarter, but failed on the two-point conversion making the game 35-17.
Safety Ian Foster, who recovered the fumble in the first quarter, intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown, extending the lead back to 25. This was Foster’s second pick-six of the season, which ties the national lead for defensive touchdowns. The Gamecocks would get one final touchdown (and two-point conversion), as the game finished 42-25 in favor of the Golden Eagles.
See ya, September 👋 pic.twitter.com/B4aDKzw2EU
— Southern Miss Football (@SouthernMissFB) September 28, 2025
The Golden Eagles came out with a much different mentality to last week, but it wasn’t without an intense meeting earlier in the week.
“There was a stern conversation on Sunday that probably wouldn’t have enough bleeps for me to tell you what I said to them,” coach Charles Huff said. “You have to assume that the team you are going to play is going to play the best game they have ever played.”
Although it wasn’t the best game from Braylon Braxton, the team as a whole played like there was a stern conversation. Braxton finished the game 13-for-22 for 152 yards through the air. He also added 41 yards on the ground. The redshirt senior provided three touchdowns, two passing and one rushing.
Huff might have found the leader in the running back room, as Pittman finished with 80 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Matt Jones and Jaylin Carter also ran for over 40 yards.
Defensively, Michael Montgomery and Chris Jones once again lead the team in total tackles. Jones, who was the second leading tackler heading into the game, finished with eight. Montgomery finished with nine. Senior Jameer Lewis got to the quarterback twice, raising his season total to three.
Coach Huff was really impressed with his team in the post-game press conference, in every facet of the game.
“I thought we dominated up front. I thought we dominated in the back end. We were flying around, I thought we were physical,” Huff said. “We threw the ball down the field, we ran the ball in between the tackles. Really good job by the players.”
Southern Miss improves to 3-2 this season, and rides the momentum from this game into a bye week. They will take the field next in Statesboro on Oct. 29 to take on the Georgia Southern Eagles.
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