On Sunday, the powers behind Southern Miss elected to fire head football coach Will Hall after starting the season 1-6, the last loss a dispiriting 44-28 clobbering to Arkansas State on the Golden Eagles’ homecoming. Hall, hired by Southern Miss the same year Butch Jones arrived to Jonesboro, simply failed to reverse the spiraling, downward trend of a once consistently good program.

The Red Wolves didn’t get Coach Hall fired, but they likely didn’t help Hall’s case. Coming into the game, the Red Wolves ranked nearly as poorly as the Golden Eagles in defending the run and generating offense. Furthermore, Arkansas State has been notoriously ineffective on the road since Coach Jones assumed command. If there as a victory that could have saved Hall’s job, it would have come at the expense of Arkansas State.

But it was the Red Wolves who rose to the occasion, opening the game with a scoring drive in which quarterback Jaylen Raynor – whose accuracy and decision-making had come into question – was a crisp 6 for 6 passing. He’d finish the game with three touchdown passes on an extemely effeceint 186 yards. Furthermore, the Red Wolves run game proved effective, with lead back Ja’Quez Cross piling up his second consecutive 100+ yard rushing game, and Zac Wallace picking up two fourth-down conversions during A-State’s final clock-killing drive. The Red Wolves even successfully activated its own version of the Holy Hand Grenade, Malik Hornsby, who apparently can only be used one time. His single touch, a 73-yard touchdown run, inspired the offense to greatness. The end result was 44 points, the most scored by Arkansas State this season.

Defensively, the Red Wolves increased regional Rolaids’ sales with by allowing four rushing touchdowns, three in the first half. However, Arkansas State made the necessary second-half adjustment and only allowed one more score for the final two quarters of the game. Jayden Jones, the SMU transfer, has solidified his place among the best defensive ends in the Sun Belt, winning SBC Defensive Player of the Week honors with eight tackles, an interception, a forced fumble and three tackles for loss – including two sacks. After witness a first half that saw opposing quarterback Ethan Crawford constantly squirm out of sure sacks, the Red Wolves wound up recording six QB putdowns, the most this season.

In summation: A near brilliant performance from Raynor? Check. An appearance of the run game we were promised at the beginning of the season? Check. A defense that can make plays behind the line of scrimmage? Check-ish. Consistency would be nice here. But overall, the Red Wolves defeated the Golden Eagles in a manner that may not win the conference or the division, but at least demonstrates a capacity to compete.

Images from Sun Belt Media