Tech upset on road, squanders chance to host C-USA title game

Louisiana Tech's late-season struggles after the open date are back.

Following 11 straight weeks of football and a bye week to rest the legs, Tech laid an egg at the most inopportune time, and it likely cost the Bulldogs a chance to host the Conference USA championship game in Shreveport.

Tech, a 15-point road favorite, was manhandled up front, played poorly on defense and unraveled in the fourth quarter with three interceptions in a 39-24 loss to Southern Miss on Friday. Tech must now hope both Western Kentucky and Old Dominion lose Saturday. If not, the Bulldogs will be on the road for next Saturday's championship game at 11 a.m. on ESPN.

"Bottom line, I thought we got our ass beat up front," Tech coach Skip Holtz said during postgame on the radio.

A seven-game win streak was snapped Friday on a night when nothing seemed to work. Southern Miss was able to salvage its season and become bowl eligible while shutting down Tech for the second year in a row.

The Golden Eagles seemed to respond well to Tech's pregame comments of how it wanted to "embarrass" them and "end their season."

It wasn't quite as bad as 2015 when USM ran away with a 58-24 win behind seven turnovers, but things unraveled in the fourth quarter with Tech (8-4, 6-2) still in it trailing 23-17.

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Ryan Higgins threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter. He entered the game with the third-best touchdown-to-interception ratio in the country with just four interceptions in 10 starts.

Tech's red zone woes continued Friday, as the Bulldogs failed to score any points on two third-quarter trips inside the 25-yard line.

Still, Tech had a chance down 23-17 before Southern Miss scored 16 unanswered points in the final 18 minutes of the game.

Holtz's "ass beat" comment came due to Tech's inability to run the football. The Bulldogs carried it 16 times for eight yards.

Holtz wasn't happy with the defense, either, specifically the secondary, which gave up 342 yards to Nick Mullens, who made a triumphant return from a two-game injury absence. Mullens finished 29-for-34 and threw three touchdowns. He finished the game with 10 straight completions.

The offense wasn't much better. Trent Taylor played through what appeared to be a rib injury that he suffered against UTSA. He still caught 10 passes for 119 yards, but he was slow to get up almost every time he hit the ground and winced in pain. Carlos Henderson, also playing with an injury, was a non-factor with two catches for 25 yards.

Higgins failed to throw a touchdown for the first time this year. Jarred Craft ran two scores in, and the defense scored on a fumble recovery that Xavier Woods returned 30 yards after Secdrick Cooper lateraled it back on the return.

Jaylon Ferguson was one of the few defensive bright spots with 2 ½ sacks, bringing his season total to 14 ½ and 11 ½ in his last six games.