It appears that both the Cajun players and fans alike were focused way too much on the 1-5 record of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, and not the history of the rivalry. The bottom line is Hattiesburg has never been an easy place for the Cajuns to win. UL is now 2-25 all time there. 
It doesn't matter what the record is for the Eagles. any win in Hattiesburg is a great win for this program, regardless of the records. A very different Eagles' team showed up in Hattiesburg Saturday  than the Cajuns saw on film. A team that couldn't stop the run completely shut down UL's running game for three quarters. A team that depended heavily on the pass game ran for almost 300 yards. Shocking? For those who have lived it, not so much. It's Hattiesburg. 

2. Cajuns a mystery

Eight games into the season and there's no figuring in this Cajuns team. Against Troy. all signs pointed towards the Cajuns needing to throw the ball with great effectiveness to beat the Trojans. 
As it turned out, UL didn't throw the ball hardly at all and ran for 243 yards instead. The Southern Miss defense came into Saturday night's game dead last in the Sun Belt at stopping the run and the Cajuns were fourth in running the ball. with a little over 200 yards a game. 
Instead, the Eagles defense dominated the line of scrimmage for most of the four quarters. Giving up 252 rushing yards a game, Southern Miss only allowed 118, including holding Lunch Winfield to seven yards on 13 carries.

3. Defensive lapses again

Just like with the offense, ULs defense is hard to figure out. 
The Cajuns put up 31 points in Ruston. and the defense had no answer for Louisiana Tech's passing game in a 32-31 loss. In Hattiesburg on Saturday. the Cajuns defense did fine in limiting the Eagles' passing game ato 164 yards. Instead, a UL defense that was ranked No. 1 in the Sun Belt against the run, got steamrolled to the tune of 286 yards by the Eagles. 
The Southern Miss coaches certainly noticed something that wasn't being taken advantage of by UL's other opponents and exploited it in a big way to upset UL.