Southern Miss. 28, SMU 12

 

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Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	19	20
Total Yards	357	257
Passing	212	253
Rushing	145	4
Penalties	8-96	11-85
3rd Down Conversions	7-14	7-15
4th Down Conversions	0-0	1-1
Turnovers	1	2
Possession	27:05	32:55

Air/Ground Leaders
Southern Miss Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Davis 15/26 212 2 1	Southern Methodist Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Mitchell 26/49 253 1 2
Southern Miss Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Fletcher 19 59 1 11 Davis 11 50 0 20	Southern Methodist Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Butler 8 17 0 6 McKinney 3 17 0 8
Southern Miss Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Baptiste 4 65 1 44 Brown 3 51 0 35	Southern Methodist Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Willis 11 88 1 27 Haynes 7 68 0 18

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				USM	SMU
	TD	08:37	Johdrick Morris 2 Yd Pass From Austin Davis (Britt Barefoot Kick)	7	0
SECOND QUARTER				USM	SMU
	FG	09:56	Thomas Morstead 40 Yd	7	3
	FG	00:00	Thomas Morstead 43 Yd	7	6
THIRD QUARTER				USM	SMU
	TD	07:36	Gerald Baptiste 44 Yd Pass From Austin Davis (Britt Barefoot Kick)	14	6
	TD	03:24	Damion Fletcher 3 Yd Run (Britt Barefoot Kick)	21	6
FOURTH QUARTER				USM	SMU
	TD	14:54	V.J. Floyd 9 Yd Run (Britt Barefoot Kick)	28	6
	TD	05:50	Justin Willis 4 Yd Pass From Bo Levi Mitchell (Two-Point Conversion Failed)	28	12

DALLAS -- Austin Davis threw for 212 yards and two touchdowns and Southern Miss won its fourth straight game to earn bowl eligibility with a 28-12 win over SMU on Saturday.

For June Jones, the loss capped a forgettable debut at SMU. The Mustangs finished 1-11, same as last season when they fired Phil Bennett and lured Jones from Hawaii with a salary worth about $2 million a year.

Southern Miss (6-6, 4-4 Conference USA) scored 21 unanswered points in an eight-minute span to bury SMU by the fourth quarter. Damion Fletcher had 59 yards and a touchdown, and V.J. Floyd had another TD run for the Golden Eagles.

One bright spot for SMU was Jesse Henderson, who set an NCAA record with 2,945 career kickoff return yards. The previous record was 2,922, set by Tulane's Jeff Liggon from 1993-96.

Southern Miss set a single-season school record with 5,220 yards of total offense, breaking the previous mark set just last year.

SMU's Bo Levi Mitchell was 26-of-49 for 253 yards, throwing one touchdown and two interceptions. Justin Willis, SMU's former quarterback, caught 11 passes for 88 yards.