HATTIESBURG — South Alabama quarterback Gio Lopez threw for 193 yards and three touchdowns, and the Jaguars converted a late third-quarter interception into a score to defeat Southern Miss 35-14 on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles (1-9, 0-6 Sun Belt Conference) lost for the ninth straight time. They’ll finish their season Nov. 30 at Troy.

“I was happy with the way we came out in this game,” said Southern Miss interim head coach Reed Stringer. “Our guys were locked in and they were playing with a lot of passion. They were excited to be here. There were times in this game where we could have done some things to put us in a position to win the game and that’s the ultimate goal.”

Southern Miss opened the game with a season-best 7:06 scoring drive on 14 plays, capped by Tate Rodemaker’s 7-yard pass to Davis Dalton. After a two-point conversion, the Golden Eagles led 8-0.

Lopez, though, threw two second-quarter touchdown passes. The first went to Kentrel Bullock for 21 yards, and the second to Jeremiah Webb for 32 yards.

The Golden Eagles cut the gap to 14-11 as Connor Gibbs converted a stadium-record 59-yard field goal as time expired. The make also became the second-longest field goal in school history.

The Southern Miss record is 61 yards, by Ray Guy in 1972 against Utah State.

Gibbs also made a 28-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.

“That’s a big accomplishment for me, and, just going into that kick, I had a great warm up and was confident. I am thankful to the coaches for letting me have that chance to kick that,” Gibbs said. “With one of those, it’s in the air for a while, so I knew I kicked it well, and I had a feeling that it was going to go in once I kicked it.”

Another highlight for the Golden Eagles was running back Dreke Clark. He registered the team’s first 100-yard rushing game of the season with 115 yards on 12 carries.

The Jaguars (6-5, 5-2) took the second-half kickoff and scored four plays later on a 40-yard pass from Lopez to Jamaal Pritchett to make the score 21-11.

South Alabama then scored on a 57-yard interception return by Wesley Miller to put the game out of reach at 28-11.

Fluff Boutwell, who finished with 104 rushing yards on only six carries, ended the scoring with a 2-yard run with 8:48 remaining.