HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Officially, it's called Renasant Stadium in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

The many victims of it over the years know it as "The Rock."

The UL Ragin' Cajuns entered Saturday's Sun Belt game 2-24 all-time there, so it wasn't supposed to be easy.

Make that 2-25.

Despite UL putting together a 17-play, 74-yard drive in 7:08 to take a 31-28 lead with 2:51 left to play, Southern Miss responded with a 75-yard touchdown drive of its own to beat the Ragin' Cajuns 35-31.

After Lunch Winfield threw a pick-six to allow the Golden Eagles to tie the game at 28-28 with 10:05 left, it appeared the Cajuns would pull out the win after a 22-yard Tony Sterner field goal gave UL a 31-28 lead.

But Southern Miss marched 75 yards on eight plays in 1:53 to get a 16-yard touchdown run from Jamarice Wilder with 58 seconds left. He finished with 154 yards and a score on 13 carries, while Steven Robinson added 145 yards and three touchdowns.

Winfield threw for a career-high 293 yards on 21-of-37 passing and two touchdowns.

His top targets were Shelton Sampson with five catches for 58 yards and tight end Caden Jensen with three catches for 55 yards.

JJ Garner was UL's leading rusher with 52 yards and a score on seven carries.

The Cajuns were limited to 118 yards rushing with 37 coming on the final drive.

The Golden Eagles entered the game 10th in the Sun Belt at 133.7 rushing yards a game and the UL defense led the league in run defense at 104 yards a game. But Southern Miss ran the ball all over the Cajuns, collecting 286 yards rushing.

After a wild first half, the defenses did a better job in the third quarter until the Cajuns finally got their passing game going again with an eight-play, 76-yard drive in 3:23 for a 28-21 lead with 2:16 left in the third.

The drive was kept alive by a tough 13-yard catch from Russell Babineaux. After a 15-yarder to Sampson, Winfield hit running back Anthony Batiste on a 31-yard wheel route for the touchdown.

The Cajuns defense then followed that much-needed score with a huge turnover on downs at the UL 23. Linebacker Harrison Kidder stuffed Robinson for no gain on fourth-and-1.

The Cajuns couldn't maintain the momentum once they captured it. UL went three-and-out on its next drive and then Winfield was intercepted by Kolby Peavy, who returned it 25 yards for a game-tying touchdown to make it 28-28 with 10:05 left to play.

The first half couldn't have started much better for the Cajuns.

UL lost the toss and promptly marched 75 yards on 13 plays in 7:23 to take a 7-0 lead.

Winfield hit on all five of his passes, including two completions of 19 and 11 to Jensen, to set up the quarterback's 7-yard touchdown run with 7:37 left in the first quarter.

The UL defense then forced a punt on the Eagles' first drive to continue a season-long streak. No opponent has scored on its first possession against UL.

The UL offense could manage only a 2-yard run and three straight incomplete passes to turn it over on downs at the 33.

That fueled the Southern Miss offense, which covered 67 yards on seven plays in 3:04 to tie the game at 7-all with 2:52 left in the first quarter. Three UL flags for 34 yards helped the drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown run from Robinson.

The Eagles stifled UL again with a three-and-out, and Southern Miss took its first lead at 14-7 with 12:46 left until halftime.

It was a 10-play, 50-yard drive that Robinson capped with a 3-yard TD run. 

Robinson had 55 yards and three touchdowns on 13 carries in the first half.

Southern Miss sacked Winfield twice on the next possession to force another three-and-out, and the Eagles suddenly owned all the momentum. But they quickly gave the ball back.

Garner broke loose for a 42-yard touchdown run around the left side to tie the game at 14-14 with 9:52 left in the second quarter. It was the fifth consecutive game with a touchdown for the redshirt freshman.

Avery Demery gave UL another short field to work with when he forced a fumble at the USM 37 recovered by teammate Kody Jackson.

But for the second time in the first half, the UL offense squandered the great field position by missing a 51-yard field goal on third-and-7. It was Sterner's first miss of the season out of 11 attempts.

Two drives later, the Eagles marched 66 yards on 10 plays in 3:02 to take their second lead of the game. A 28-yard connection to Mario Sanders ignited the drive that Robinson finished with a 10-yard TD run with 1:41 left for a 21-14 lead.

That allowed the UL offense to execute its two-minute offense, and the Cajuns drove 83 yards on six plays in 1:04 to knot the game at 21-all at the half.

Winfield connected with Trenton Chaney three times for 35 yards on the drive, including a 4-yard touchdown toss with 31 seconds left.