Smith, Griggs lead Southern Miss past La-Monroe 28-17

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Evans breaks free for big TD run

Caleb Evans finds a hole and runs for a 67-yard touchdown to cut USM's lead to 21-17.

Sep 17, 2017, 04:31 am

MONROE, La. -- Ito Smith ran for a career-high 219 yards and Kwadra Griggs threw for three touchdowns to lead Southern Mississippi to a 28-17 win over Louisiana Monroe on Saturday night.

Smith, who had 27 carries, had a 27-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to put the Golden Eagles on top 14-7. He also surpassed 5,000 all-purpose yards, second in school history.

Griggs, in his second start, connected with Korey Robertson for a 15-yard touchdown to open the second. The duo hooked up again for a 20-yard score late in the second quarter to make it 21-10 at the half.

After Caleb Evans broke loose for a 67-yard score for the Warhawks (0-2) to cut the deficit to 21-17, Griggs capped a 9-play, 79-yard drive on the next possession with a 42-yard scoring pass to Allenzae Staggers. From there the defense took over, limiting Louisiana Monroe to 3 of 16 on third-down conversions and holding Evans and Garrett Smith to 11 of 27 passing for 112 yards.