Hilltoppers Knock Off Southern Mississippi
Year in and year out, one of the best early-season bowl games is the New Orleans Bowl. On paper, this year’s installment was no exception. Featuring the Hilltoppers from Conference USA and the Golden Eagles from the Sun Belt, it was two evenly matched teams. In addition, it was a battle of two teams who started out strong and faded some down the stretch. However, on this night, it was WKU who reigned supreme. Let’s get to our recap as Western Kentucky rallies for a New Orleans Bowl win, 27-16.
Defensive Struggle
There wasn’t a whole lot of action in the first half as the defenses controlled things. The Hilltoppers went three and out, then Southern Miss decided to go for it on fourth and three from their own 22-yard line. They didn’t get it setting up WKU with great field position. However, they went nowhere and settled for a 31-yard John Cannon field goal, and it was 3-0.
We finally got a touchdown late in the first quarter when Southern Miss quarterback Braylon Braxton found Tychaun Chapman on a 35-yard strike, and it was 7-3. Both teams traded field goals, and it was 10-6 Southern Mississippi at the half. In fact, the Golden Eagles outgained WKU 265 yards to 84. That’s when Helton made a move at quarterback that lit a spark as Western Kentucky rallied for a New Orleans Bowl win.
Changing Of The Guard
With the offense struggling, Helton sat Rodney Tisdale Jr., who completed only 9 of 20 passes for 65 yards and an interception. In his place came Maverick McIvor. who started the first part of the season before a shoulder injury.
McIvor brought instant results to the Western faithful. Going eight plays in 65 yards, the quarterback took it the last yard, tying the game at 13. Creighton Wilbanks’ third field goal of the game put the Golden Eagles back up 16-13. However, that’s the last point they would score.
A little into the fourth quarter, McIvor led another scoring drive, again going 65 yards. This time George Hart III took it across the goal line from a yard out, and the Hilltoppers led 20-16. The final scoring drive came after Marvis Parrish took it 54 yards to the house to put WKU up 11.
Southern Mississippi had one more chance, but Braxton was intercepted, and that was your ball game as Western Kentucky rallied for a New Orleans Bowl win 27-16.
Looking Ahead
With the win, Western finishes 2025 at 9-4. Furthermore, Helton moves to 5-2 in bowl games since taking over in Bowling Green back in 2019. They’ll look to continue their winning ways in 2026 in hopes of getting back to the CUSA title game.
On the other sideline, Southern Mississippi ends its season at 7-6. Unfortunately, they ended the year on a four-game losing streak. Of course, their head coach for 2025, Charles Huff, is off to Memphis to helm their program. Blake Anderson, who coached in the bowl game, will lead the Golden Eagles in 2026.
Final Thoughts
Many times in bowl season, Conference USA and the Sun Belt get matched against each other. With Western’s win, CUSA goes to 3-1 so far in this year’s bowls. Delaware and Jacksonville State were the other winners.
If you read our game preview, we talked about Western being turnover-prone and Southern Miss causing lots of them. The Hilltoppers turned the ball over three times Tuesday night. Southern Miss had been 7-0 this season when forcing two or more; that wasn’t the case in this one. In addition, Western was 8-1 when scoring 27 or more points. They hit that mark and got the win.
McIvor finished the night hitting on 12 of 19 passes for 199 yards. In addition, he ran for a season high 48 and a score. It was a completely different story in the second half as Western piled up 338 yards after the intermission to the Golden Eagles’ 112. One final note, WKU was eight for eight on third down in the second half after going 1-9 in the first.
Put all that together, and it’s a big night as Western Kentucky rallies for a New Orleans Bowl win 27-16 over Southern Mississippi.
Bowl Champs in The Big Easy 🏆🔥#GeauxTops⚜️ | @NewOrleansBowl pic.twitter.com/9UKRCZRpHR
— WKU Football (@WKUFootball) December 24, 2025
Thanks for checking out our New Orleans Bowl recap here at Last Word On College Football. As a reminder, we cover every bowl through the National Championship game.
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