The Student Printz November 7, 2016

Monday, November 7, 2016 Volume 101 Issue 19

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Hilson headlines Eaglepalooza 2016 DAISY STUTTS

assistant photo editor The Student Government Association’s (SGA) annual Eaglepalooza took place Saturday evening at The University of Southern Mississippi’s Spirit Park.

The free public event featured stand-up comedian Leonard Ouzts, hip-hop artist Nate Rose and R&B artist and headliner Keri Hilson.

Students, faculty and community members gathered in the thousands to watch the performances.

Eaglepalooza began in 2004 and has grown to include larger artists each consecutive year. Past notable performances include Echosmith, NeedtoBreathe and Iconapop.

Some related events over the years include a local battle of the bands to win a slot as opener for the event.

This year, Eaglepalooza was hosted for the first time on campus rather than in downtown Hattiesburg.

Following the afternoon Conference USA football game between Southern Miss and the University of North Carolina Charlotte 49ers, attendees made their way to Spirit Park, where SGA members set up for the event.

Grammy nominee Hilson welcomed the crowd with a shout out to her family from Mississippi and showed her gratitude to Southern Miss for inviting her to the event.

Hilson gave an interactive performance and invited members

Daisy Stutts | Assistant Photo Editor

of the audience on stage for a dance competition. Hilson brought Eaglepalooza to an end with her hits “Pretty Girl Rock” and “Knock You Down.”

The event is hosted by SGA and many university and community sponsors, including Sim-Tex, Gulf South Productions, Eve Marie’s and Southern Miss Residence Life.

SGA president Caroline Bradley said she loved the opportunity to host the event and give back to the community.

“The directors and assistants worked all summer and throughout the semester to get an act we thought everyone would enjoy,” Bradley said. “SGA loved putting on the event because it’s a chance to give back to the student body by giving them a free opportunity for great music.”

Co-director and former SGA assistant director Nina Bellapini said bringing the event to campus attracted more students.

“I think that this event is important for Southern Miss because it showcases SGA’s ability to listen and respond to what the student body wants,” Bellapini said.

“It’s a unique event to the area, and I think the student body really looks forward to this one every year.

Also, having the event on campus brought in a lot more students.

Overall the event went better than we could have expected.”

Attendees of Eaglepalooza gave positive reviews about the music, location and atmosphere.

Daisy Stutts | Assistant Photo Editor R&B artist Keri Hilson takes the stage at Eaglepalooza 2016 on Nov. 5. Hilson, along with local rap artist Nate Rose and comedian Leonard Ouzts, performed at the event in Spirit Park at USM.

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INTRODUCTION MONDAY, NOVEMEBER 7, 2016

Meet the Staff Fall 2016 Cam Bonelli

Executive Editor

FIND US ON THE WEB The Student Printz

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Jack Hammett

Managing Editor

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Garrett Minta News Editor

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Hiba Tahir

Entertainment Editor

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Julius Kizzee Sports Editor

OPINIONS Opinions expressed in The Student Printz are those of the writer and not necessarily those of The Student Printz, its publication manager, USM, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning or the USM Board of Student Publications.

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NEWS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2016

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Interdisciplinary Dept. seeks proposals

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GARRETT MINTA

news editor

The University of Southern Mississippi’s Department of Interdisciplinary Studies is accepting proposals for 2017 - 2018 for Interdisciplinary Investigations, a project series aiming to get students and community members involved in different types of research and presentations.

The Interdisciplinary Studies Department allows students to pool aspects of different major programs together to create a unique program.

USM currently has the only interdisciplinary program in the state, which includes more than 230 majors, two degree programs and 10 faculty.

“The Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies allows students to design programs of study that integrate the insights from more than one discipline and can be tailored to their own career and academic goals,” said Interdisciplinary Studies Chair Marek Steedman.

Interdisciplinary majors can expect a wide range of job opportunities after they graduate. USM Interdisciplinary graduate Tori Bowie received gold, silver and bronze medals in the 2016

Rio Olympic Games.

“Our graduates pursue a wide variety of paths after graduation,” Steedman said. “Recent graduates have gone on to law school, pursued graduate work in economic development and become economic planners, and work in higher education student affairs.”

The university hosts Interdisciplinary Investigations to help students better understand broad topics.

“The goal is to support faculty collaboration across departments and colleges in creative and research activities as well as engage the public and campus community in the

research and creative work conducted

by USM faculty,” Steedman said.

The Interdisciplinary Studies department allows students to determine their own majors through unifying two disciplines.

“With the help of an interdisciplinary studies faculty adviser, students will select courses from two or more disciplines and focus their program on the basis of a unifying issue, theme or topic as an area of concentration,” The University of Southern Mississippi’s Interdisciplinary Studies Department stated on its website.

Steedman did not comment on proposals currently being considered.

The department will offer $5,000 to fund the chosen project.

Last year’s theme was called “Reverberations,” which focused on sound and how it is used in every facet of life. Different topics included rock ‘n’ roll, oceanic acoustics and sound recording.

This year’s theme is “Fleshed Out: The Body Politic,” which features lectures on how technology shapes the body, differently-abled bodies and how bodies perform. These lectures span different departments and are held at various locations around campus.

“This year’s series includes roundtable discussions, dance performances and other events, all looking at how we use and construct the body in different social circumstances,” Steedman said. “It allows the faculty involved to examine issues of body image, commercialization of the body, race and gender, among others.”

According to the Interdisciplinary Investigations website, the next event will be held on Feb. 9 and is titled, “How Do We Brand the Body?”

“This event examines the history of branding, broadly conceptualized – is it what we wear? What we don’t wear?

What we do to our physical bodies?” the website states. “This includes an analysis of the ways in which American women activists in the late twentieth century have ‘branded’ their bodies not only to their advantage but also to their disadvantage as well.”

This event will be held in the Gonzales Auditorium in the Liberal Arts building at 5:30 p.m.

Foundation scholarship recipients thank donors LORA LAVIGNE

printz reporter

On Nov. 1 - 3, The University of Southern Mississippi Foundation hosted its fourth annual Thank-a-Donor Day, an event inviting scholarship recipients to commune and write thank-you notes to donors.

Donor Engagement and Stewardship Manager Torie Fowler said this event allows donors to connect with those who are receiving the money they gave back to the university.

“Donors really love to be able to have that connection with their scholarship recipient and to know the stories behind their scholarship recipients,” she said.

Fowler said that the event was also a great way for donors to know more about recipients as well as receive appreciation from them.

“It’s the perfect time with Thanksgiving coming around for students to show their gratitude and how much the scholarship truly means to them,” Fowler said. “For some of the students here on campus, scholarships can be life changing so this is a great outlet for them to do this.”

The USM Foundation is an

organization that offers more than 850 scholarships for students at the university. According to its website, the foundation is a non-profit organization committed to serving the university community by overseeing fundraising efforts to raise private support for scholarships and other academic needs at Southern Miss.

The scholarship applications is online and user-friendly as it allows students to submit one general application that can match them to hundreds of scholarships.

Foundation Senior Accountant Jennifer Boucher said the program ranges from a variety of selection criteria.

“You don’t have to have a certain GPA or don’t necessarily have financial need,” Boucher said. “Some scholarships are as detailed as being from a specific geographic region or pursuing a particular degree.”

With 55 years and counting, the foundation continues break records in scholarship fundraising. During 201314, the Foundation generated more than $15 million and awarded up to more than $2,000 in scholarships per student.

Scholarship recipient and graduate student Steven Young said that the donor’s scholarships give students who struggle financially the ability to attend

college.

“It is difficult as students to want to be able to deliver all of your time to education when you really don’t have the financial backings,” Young said. “Some people really let their education slip to pick up a part time job on the side. So it’s really important to acknowledge the people that are investing in your

education and helping you kind of progress as a scholar.”

The foundation has also reached a recent record-breaking employee participation in giving as well as numerous campaigns.

The USM Foundation website also provides several ways for a donor to give such as through planned gifts, matching

gifts, online gifts, tributes and more.

“This event is just an amazing way to say thanks in the simplest form,” Young said. “And at some point down the line, you can be the person paying it forward and being a donor for other people.”

To learn more about Foundation scholarships, visit www.usmfoundation.com.

Shraddha Bhatta | Printz Foundation Senior Accountant Jennifer Boucher (right) advises elementary education major Damara Bullock (left) at the Thank a Donor event on Nov. 3.

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NEWS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2016

Homeland Security Focus of University Forum DAVID TISDALE press release A leading national security analyst is the guest speaker for the final installment of The University of Southern Mississippi’s fall 2016 University Forum series.

Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will present “Security Mom: Homeland Security in An Age of Mayhem” on Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. in the Thad Cochran Center Ballrooms on the Hattiesburg campus. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.

In her role with DHS, Kayyem worked closely with state and local governments to coordinate the response to the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, as well as the H1N1 pandemic. She is the author of the recently published book “Security Mom.” “Six years ago, Juliette Kayyem crisscrossed Mississippi coordinating the response of local and federal agencies to the BP oil spill,” said Andrew Haley, director of University Forum and associate professor of history. “We’re really excited that she is returning to Mississippi to share the lessons she learned from her experiences at the Department of Homeland Security

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about how to manage the threats we face as a nation from man-made and natural disasters, as well as terrorism.”

Prior to her stint with DHS, Kayyem was homeland security advisor to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and has also served as a member of the National Commission on Terrorism.

She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson’s Homeland Security Advisory Committee.

Kayyem is a board member of Mass Inc., the International Centre for Sport Security and the Red Cross of Massachusetts. She is the Belfer Lecturer in International Security at Harvard Kennedy School, and teaches new leaders in emergency management and homeland security.

Her honors and awards include the Distinguished Public Service Award, the Coast Guard’s highest medal awarded to a civilian. In 2013, she was named the Pulitzer Prize finalist for editorial columns in the Boston Globe, which focused on ending the Pentagon’s combat exclusion rule against women, a policy that was changed that year.

University Forum is presented by the Southern Miss Honors College. For information about University Forum, visit https://www.usm.edu/honors/ university-forum.

USM to Host Panel Discussion on Careers in Publishing

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PRESS RELEASE southern miss now University of Southern Mississippi students interested in pursuing a career in publishing are invited to hear a panel of editors from the University Press of Mississippi (UPM) discuss their careers and how to get careers in publishing in a discussion at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday in R.C. Cook Union, Room B on the

Hattiesburg campus.

The panel, composed of recent college graduates, will recount experiences transitioning from humanities scholars to publishers and will elaborate on how publishing achieves scholarly communication. The panel will share information on the McRae Publishing Internship, an intern program for students interested in publishing.

After the program prospective

authors and scholars will have the ability to talk directly with the editors and learn more about University Press – the state’s sole university press under the auspices of all its public universities.

“This terrific program will give our students an opportunity to learn how they can explore career paths in publishing,” said David Davies, director of the USM School of Mass Communication and Journalism and a member of the

UPM Board of Directors. “Given the success of the University Press, its editors are well-positioned to mentor our students into this exciting field.”

Publishers on the panel include Emily Snyder Bandy, Courtney McCreary, Lisa McMurtray and Steve Yates.

Bandy earned her BA in English Literature and Justice, Faith & Culture from Belmont University.

She taught eighth grade U.S.

history at a charter school in south Nashville before moving to Jackson in 2015. She writes curriculum for Shmoop, Inc. and is currently assistant to the Director at University Press of Mississippi (UPM).

McCreary earned her BA and MA in English from Mississippi State University. She has worked as the Marketing Assistant at the UPM from 2011 to the present.

McMurtray earned her BA and MA in English from Mississippi State University and her MFA in creative writing from Florida State University. She taught freshman English at the college level for five years, and her poems have appeared in The Cincinnati Review, Ninth Letter, West Branch and The Journal. Since 2015, she has been an Editorial Assistant at UPM. Yates earned his BA in English literature at Missouri State University and his MFA in creative writing from the University of Arkansas. He worked for the University of Arkansas Press from 1994 to 1998 and the University Press of Mississippi from 1998 to the present. On a Whiting Fellowship, he worked a week at New York University Press. He is now Associate Director/Marketing Director at UPM. For more information, email Dr. Davies at dave.davies@usm.edu.

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GALLERY MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2016

Gallery: USM versus Charlotte game AMIT TRIPATHI

printz reporter

The University of Southern Mississippi celebrated Military Appreciation Day and Boys and Girls Scout Game Day against Charlotte 49 ers on Nov. 5, in the at the “Rock.”

Fans waited for a Golden eagles victory in the home ground, and players, students and the Pride received a warm welcome and support during the Eagle walk.

Fadi Shahin | Printz

Amit Trapathi | Printz

Fadi Shahin | Printz

Fadi Shahin | Printz

Everyone in the stadium cheered when the Golden Eagles entered the stadium carrying different military flags alongside active military members. An Air Force operated air plane flew over the stadium during the kickoff.

USM alumni Maj. Kendall Dunn piloted the flyover before the game’s beginning.

Southern Miss’ loss did not overshadow the day’s true highlight: military appreciation.

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ENTERTAINMENT MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2016

Fans on fence after ‘Walking Dead’ deaths HANNAH HENEGHAN printz reporter SPOILER ALERT: This article contains major plot spoilers for “The Walking Dead’s” latest season and episodes. Proceed with caution.

On Oct. 23, fans of “The Walking Dead” were left traumatized by the deaths of two characters at the hands of recently-introduced villain Negan.

Abraham Ford, the first character taken from the show, was introduced in the fourth season. Although he had some minor character development, his death was mostly overshadowed by the death of Glenn Rhee, who had been on the show since the first season. Glenn represented a minority group, which made his death even more upsetting to many of the fans. However, the writers planned to kill him off from the beginning since he died in the same manner in the comics.

As if the deaths of both of these characters were not enough for our already fragile hearts, the manner in which they were killed was beyond gruesome. They showed much more than what was needed. Quick bloody blows to the head were shown, but the more sickly image was Glenn’s eye popping out of his skull. The shot was long enough so as to be ingrained in our heads.

Now, while I knew someone was going to die, nothing prepared me for those deaths in particular. I do nevertheless understand that the image of Glenn’s eye coming out of

its socket was such an iconic scene in the comics that they wanted to put it into the show. The producers wanted to give us a look into the pure evil that is Negan, and they definitely accomplished that. Seeing what the group is having to live through gives us an idea of the complete horror that is their lives now.

Watching the death of one of my favorite characters made me question whether I actually wanted to continue watching the show. In the end, I decided that for now I would.

At this point, I am far too connected to these characters to just detach myself. However, if they continue to kill characters off as they have done in the premiere of season seven, then I do not see the point in continuing. Now it seems the show’s producers could be riding on the fact that viewers are now so attached to the characters that they will not quit the show.

Fans whom I talked to said they were worried that the writers may take out almost the entire current cast but one and continue with that

person. Fans who will continue watching are interested to see where it leads.

“Glenn was one of my favorite characters in the show, and he was there from the very beginning,” said USM student Madison Pike. “Lots of shows now are opting to kill off more characters in favor of realism and shock value. It’s not uncommon to hear jokes about shows like “Game of Thrones,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Walking Dead” killing off your favorite characters. Although I don’t particularly enjoy the fictional

deaths, I am excited to see what happens next. I especially want to see how Maggie moves on and continues to take care of herself and the baby.”

While most fans are still interested in seeing where the show takes us now, this will take some time to get over. If they plan on continuing to kill off characters for shock, many fans will probably leave the show.

Hopefully they take it in another direction.

Either way, I am interested to see where they lead us now.

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‘Silent Sky’ enduring, beautifully executed PATIENCE JOHNSON printz reporter Southern Miss Theatre debuted Lauren Gunderson’s play “Silent Sky” Nov. 3, and audience members reveled in the success.

Corey Bradberry, pursuing a master of fine arts at USM, directed the drama with cast members consisting of Jasmine Neal, Wynter Seymour, Jonathan Swindle, Haley Beasley and Amanda Boé.

The play follows Henrietta Leavitt, a nineteenth-century female astronomer, on a journey from her acceptance at Harvard to her death. The drama is set in rural Wisconsin at the Harvard Observatory where Leavitt is restricted from touching a telescope. While balancing her dedication to science with family obligations and romance, Leavitt uncovers a scientific discovery that changes our understanding of the universe.

The premise of “Silent Sky” resembles most dramatized plays, but where the play exceeds generality is in it’s burst of romantic comedy.

Neal, who played Leavitt, and Swindle, who played Leavitt’s love interest, Peter Shaw, had a kind of chemistry that appeared to go beyond stage performance.

Every romantic in the theater swooned over the couple’s seamless chemistry.

Neal said her natural interest in Swindle’s character came easy.

“It’s all about making sure that you’re comfortable with each other and that you trust each other within the scene,” Neal said. “It helps that [Swindle] is an amazing scene partner. He’s easy to work with.”

Although she fumbled through two lines during her performance, Neal triumphed when confronted with difficult aspects of her character.

“Henrietta is a very charged and very intelligent and very determined person,” Neal said.

“Jasmine, me, I am not a very charged person. So, finding that passion science that I know nothing about was challenging. I had to pool my passion for acting and push it onto Henrietta’s passion for science.”

The play’s scenic design was

another driving force behind the theater department’s ultimate success.

Scenic designer Kensey Coleman had an eye for practicality when creating the play’s environment.

Every inch of the stage provided useful during the performance.

Even the middle of the stage, which had no props positioned on it, acted as Leavitt’s conscience when confronted with the hardship of dedicating herself to science while her family missed her.

Steven Groom, a theater undergraduate at USM with an emphasis on custom design, said the play’s scenic design was unique.

“The beautifully simplistic set allows for seamless scene changes throughout,” Groom said. “I loved it.”

Though the USM Theatre Department’s performance of “Silent Sky” was largely appreciated, it was by no means a perfect performance when compared to the department’s first play of the season, “Next to Normal”. The first 20 minutes of the play were enduring. Viewers were slowly enraptured by cast members’ performances.

While the attraction of the play was not automatic, the ending left viewers quietly astounded. I believe this play has potential. “Silent Sky” was beautifully executed, and you

can bet it will leave you wanting more.

OPINION MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2016

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Clinton maintains slim lead by 1.7 percent J.D. RIMANN

printz reporter

Well, the race for the Presidency is almost over. No one has run it well, nor has it been what anyone ever expected.

Indeed, one can say without hyperbole that these last 18 months have been the most disappointing election cycle in the history of our once-glorious republic. No matter who is elected our next president come Wednesday morning, they will likely start as the least-liked and least-trusted president in the history of our nation with perhaps the single exception of one Richard Nixon.

The attack ads and talking heads will continue for the next few days, but the polls as of Sunday morning should give the best indicator of who is going to be moving into the Oval Office come next year, and certainly more so than the biased partisan drivel coming from Fox or MSNBC. The majority of polls predict either a Clinton landslide or a Clinton squeaker, and no major poll is predicting that Clinton will lose – aside from the L.A. Times poll, which has maintained something of an iconoclastic Trump lean all year.

Of the polls I follow and consider

to be more reliable, Nate Silver and his team at FiveThirtyEight (the pollsters whom I trust the most) give Clinton a 65 percent chance of winning in their most recent models as of publishing time. Her chances are good, but there is still certainly not a guarantee of anything.

The election model being overseen

by Larry J. Sabato, the renowned political scientist and pollster at the University of Virginia, currently has Clinton winning the Electoral College by a fairly dominant 293 to 214. He predicts the qualifier that Florida is likely a true “Toss-Up,” which could go a long way toward swinging the race if Trump is able to win it.

The New York Times UpShot blog gives Hillary Clinton an 84 percent chance of winning the election, and gives readers the amusing tidbit that “Mrs. Clinton’s chance of losing is about the same as the probability that an NFL kicker misses a 38-yard field goal.” Considering the number of extra points professional kickers have missed this year, Clinton supporters may not actually be assured by that bit of trivia. Finally, the RealClearPolitics aggregate gives Clinton a 1.7 percent lead over Trump with Election Day at the moment.

Bottom line: Nationally, Clinton

has a steady – if slim – lead over Trump, but nothing is decided yet.

Personally, I think that Clinton is likely to pull this one out, but I do not think that it will be the landslide that many pundits and politicos are currently predicting. Trump has been underestimated at the polling place and running against Hillary has provided Trump just as much of an opening that running against Trump has provided Hillary. Very few candidates have the ability to blindly rally the majority of the GOP against themselves like Hillary does.

Indeed, I think that if either party had nominated any other individual than the one they did nominate, this election would be over already, and that person would be almost guaranteed to win. Such is the unpopularity of these two candidates.

An additional word of caution to supporters of both candidates: Recently, the trend has been for political polls around the world to be off and typically off in that they overestimate the vote share of the more liberal and less nationalist candidate or platform. The most recent example was the Brexit poll earlier this year. Keeping that in mind, I can see swing states like Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio and

Courtesy Photo | Michigan all having a late break toward Trump, and polls simply are missing the signs of that sort of break. To his credit Trump has been able to put states in play, which Republicans have not competed in for several election cycles, and I suspect that at least one state in Hillary’s so-called “Blue Wall” will finish Tuesday night in the Trump column.

With all of that said, I do not think that Trump has a chance at

winning the popular vote, though a slim Electoral College win is not out of the question. Regardless of which candidate wins, he or she is unlikely to have anything resembling a mandate on Wednesday morning.

This has been one of the most bizarre and depressing election cycles in the history of our nation.

We are in sight of the finish line now, and we can only hope that the next four years are better than the last 20 months.

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SPORTS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2016

USM volleyball team wins in finale ANDREW ABADIE printz reporter The Golden Eagles came back from a 2 - 0 deficit to defeat conference foe Rice.

On Sunday, the Golden Eagles found themselves in a tough contest on senior night. Each team struggled for conference seeding, and at the same time, the Golden Eagles tried to end things right for their senior players.

The first set was a battle between the two conference opponents, which had 15 lead changes by the end of the set. The Golden Eagles opened the match with an ace from Kylie Grandy, who had one more ace and 16 kills by the end of the day. However, a combination of errors, wrong positioning and Rice’s ability to read the defensive scheme allowed Rice to walk away with a 25 - 22 win in the first set.

The second set fared no better for the Golden Eagles. Rice jumped out to an early lead, which kept the Golden Eagles from being able catch up and drop the set in a quick 25 15 loss.

However, despite being down 2 0 in the match, the Golden Eagles would not fade away.

The team kept the third set

Courtesy Photo | close, but at 10-9, Stephany Purdue broke the all-time record in kills with 1,577. In the second set, the Golden Eagles battled from behind and extended the set with Purdue, getting seven of her 20 total kills.

This turned the tide of match, and the Golden Eagles snagged a 32 - 30 win, shifting the momentum for the Golden Eagles. The third proved pivotal for the Golden Eagles as the

Rice team began to tire.

The fourth set stayed in favor with the Golden Eagles, despite being down early 10 - 6, but the momentum shift stayed with The Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles then went on an 8 - 0 run, which not only gave them the lead but helped them force Rice into a game-five matchup, winning the fourth set, 25 - 20.

“I don’t think I have ever seen or played in a game like that ever in my life,” said senior setter Makareta Rademakers.

The fifth set stayed close, but the Golden Eagles managed to pull off the comeback win at 15 - 13. The win also gave Southern Miss their 20th win of the season and kept their hopes alive for clinching the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.

“That was a huge comeback, because that is a very talented team with Rice,” said Head Coach Amanda Berkley. “They passed really well so it was hard to get a run going because they were just insistent the whole time. I was just really proud of the team for coming back from [an] 0 - 2 [deficit] and really battled for the third and fourth set.”

Charlotte shocks Southern Miss: final score 38-27 JULIUS KIZZEE

sports editor

Senior punter Tyler Sarrazin lined up to punt it back to the 49ers at the USM 12-yard line with 3:18 left in the third quarter. Sarrazin received the punt, but it was blocked high in the air and recovered by Ed Rolle in the end zone with no Golden Eagle around.

The play was called a touchdown, and USM found itself down 38 - 14 with an entire quarter left to play.

“We just got to play better in all stages of the game,” said Head Coach Jay Hopson. “Sometimes you just won’t come out and play the way you want to play. It’s just one of these days.”

Southern Miss (5-4, 3-2) hosted Charlotte (4-5, 3-2) amid a twogame homestand inside a five-game stretch. Charlotte, coming off of a 27-24 victory over Marshall and a bye week, was looking to get back to a .500 season.

“We’re still in this playoff run and we got to throw this one behind us,” Hopson said. “If we’re a good team, we’ll throw it behind us. We’ll take it one game at a time. We got to refocus in.”

USM came into the game allowing 322.5 yards of total offense to opponents. The 49ers amassed 439 total yards on the heels of Kalif

Philips’ 183 yards on the ground.

The defense permitted at least 35 points in a contest for the fifth time this season. The defensive line was able to get to the Charlotte quarterbacks, counting for seven tackles for loss, and Xavier Thigpen had the two lone sacks for the Golden Eagles.

“Honestly, it’s really not about what they were doing, but what we were doing,” said junior defensive back Picasso Nelson, Jr. “Nobody who we play, it’s not about them – it’s about us. Whenever we play with passion, we play our best games. We just have to fix ourselves.”

The Golden Eagles allowed a 72-yard rush by Philips to start off Charlotte’s first drive of the game, putting Charlotte up 7 - 0 on USM. To end the first quarter, halfback Robert Washington went 58 yards untouched into the end zone to tie the game at 14-all.

“All we can do is try to battle back to try to get back in the game,” said safety D’Nerius Antoine. “All we can do is fight. Some people weren’t fitting their gaps.”

Just as quick as Southern Miss gathered momentum, Charlotte broke off another chunk play. Those plays went for 49, 72 and 58 yards on the day, accounting for 40 percent of the total Charlotte yardage.

“It’s 21 points,” Hopson said.

“Those are huge plays. We can’t allow that to happen. We got to be solid, get them on the turf.”

The Golden Eagles offense finished with 498 yards of total offense, including 404 passing yards and 25 first downs.

Quarterback Nick Mullens experienced concussion-like symptoms toward the end of the third quarter and came out of the game completely starting in the fourth.

“They thought he needed to get checked out,” Hopson said. “Our doctors checked him out and said he was okay. For precaution-wise, they said they will hold him. We’re football coaches, not doctors.”

Backup Parker Adamson immediately drove USM down the field for an Ito Smith score from eight yards out. Adamson then brought it upon himself to take it in with a two-yard rush to get the Golden Eagles within two scores at 38-27.

“We gotta be behind our defense, and our defense has to be behind us,” said receiver Isaiah Jones. “If you feel like someone isn’t playing hard enough, we should go tell them. It was just a setback in the game today.”

Southern Miss will travel to Old Dominion Saturday in Norfolk, Va. to play the Monarchs at 2:30 p.m.

Amit Tripahati | Printz Jay Hopson at the USM v Charolette game