SportsDirect Inc. staff
Dec 24, 2011

No. 21 Southern Mississippi turned two turnovers into touchdowns and got a pair of touchdown passes from Austin Davis to send coach Larry Fedora out with a win, as the Golden Eagles beat Nevada 24-17 in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Saturday.

The victory gave Southern Miss (12-2) a school record for wins and broke a two-game bowl losing streak.

Fedora is leaving the Golden Eagles to become the head coach at North Carolina.

Davis, who broke many of Brett Favre’s school records, completed 18 of 42 for 166 yards in the final game of his career.

After a scoreless first quarter, Southern Miss got its first points on a blocked punt, which Tray Becton-Martin recovered for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Nevada (7-6) responded with touchdowns runs of 5 and 45 yards Mark Lampford for a 14-7 lead. Lampford finished with a game-high 181 yards rushing on 29 carries.

Southern Miss then scored 10 points in the last 1:21 of the half to take a 17-14 lead. Danny Hrapmann kicked a 48-yard field goal and Nevada fumbled the ensuing kickoff to set up a seven-play scoring drive capped by a 2-yard touchdown pass from Davis to Tracey Lampley.

Nevada tied the game after Brandon Marshall recovered a punt that was fumbled by Lampley. The Wolf Pack settled for a 37-yard field goal by Allen Hardison that knotted the score at 17-17.

Southern Miss took the lead with 5:48 to complete a 68-yard drive when Davis threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Bolden. The Golden Eagles stopped Nevada on a fourth-and-1 with four minutes left and ran out the clock.