Louisiana Tech football falls to Southern Miss as RB Frank Gore Jr. throws 2 TD passes

RUSTON - Louisiana Tech football played its final home game of the season Friday night and gave Southern Miss its first C-USA win of the season 28-19.

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

Couldn't stop Frank Gore Jr.

Frank Gore Jr., son of longtime NFL running back Frank Gore, was a thorn in the side of the Bulldogs (3-8, 2-5 C-USA) in the passing and running game.

Southern Miss (2-9, 1-6) used three quarterbacks who only combined for 13 passes for 110 yards. None of the players who threw the football are listed as quarterbacks. They are listed as wide receivers, running backs or defensive backs on the roster.

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Gore is listed as a running back but managed most of the load behind center for the Golden Eagles. Gore was 4-of-8 for 75 yards, two touchdowns and an interception and had a touchdown on the ground. The two touchdown passes were the first of Gore's career and both were to junior wide receiver Jason Brownlee.

Redshirt freshman defensive back Antavious Willis was 3-of-3 for 32 yards and a touchdown.

"Giving up a couple of the pass plays that we did was the frustrating part," coach Skip Holtz said. "It is hard to prepare for. Normally this late in the season you have 10 games on your opponent, we had one game on them. But, I don't think the lack of film was the difference in this football game."

There were two defensive bright spots for Tech, and they were both senior linebackers. Ezekiel Barnett recovered a fumble and intercepted Gore, and Trey Baldwin recovered a fumble and returned it for a touchdown to bring Louisiana Tech within 21-20 with 11:58 remaining.

Tech's offense takes three steps backward

Last week, quarterbacks Austin Kendall (lower back) and JD Head (shoulder) were both out and Aaron Allen stepped in for his second start of the season and performed at a high level.

Both Kendall and Head were out again against Southern Miss, so Allen got his third start of the season, but couldn't continue his success from last week.

Allen was 11-of-26 for 100 yards and two interceptions, and the Bulldogs were forced to lean on their rushing attack. Marcus Williams Jr. had 76 yards on 17 carries. Greg Garner followed with 64 yards on nine carries.

The offense turned the ball over five times in the loss, three fumbles and two interceptions.

"I think offensively, I would like to think they're embarrassed with our performance and how we played as a unit," Holtz said.

Falling short on senior night

This was supposed to be a feel-good game for the seniors at Tech to leave Joe Aillet Stadium on a win.

"There's a lot of disappointment (in the locker room), but they love each other," Holtz said.

"I know for myself and a lot of the underclassmen in that room, we feel bad that we weren't able to send our seniors out the right way, that we weren't able to finish this game, that we weren't able to win it. But, I think we all have a little bit of the burden to carry on this."

The Bulldogs will finish the season at Rice.

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This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Louisiana Tech can't stop Frank Gore Jr. in loss to Southern Miss