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RECAP
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- In a game featuring two of Conference
USA's best quarterbacks, it was a punter's arm that decided
Southern Mississippi's league-clinching win over Louisville.
Facing fourth-and-5, Jamie Purser dropped back to kick, but
instead threw to Shawn Mills for a 26-yard gain to the Louisville
11. A few moments later, Brant Hanna kicked a 27-yard field goal
with 1:07 left to give the Golden Eagles (No. 22 ESPN/USA Today, No. 18 AP) a 30-27 victory on Saturday.
|  | | Southern Miss running back Derrick Nix drags Louisville's Bud Herring onto the end zone. |
The win assured Southern Mississippi (8-3, 6-0 C-USA) its second trip to the Liberty Bowl in the past three years.
Louisville (7-4, 4-2) finished tied for second in the conference
and will have to await its bowl assignment.
Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower said he was confident when he
called the trick play with time running down and overtime looming.
"It was too long for a field goal," he said. "I just felt
like there wasn't enough time on the clock and we weren't going to
get the ball back. It was just the right opportunity."
Louisville coach John L. Smith said he hated to see such a
crucial game decided by trickery.
"You really don't want to here my interpretation of the fake
punt," Smith said. "It's a shame to me that a league championship
would come down to a play of deception. But that happens. They were
smart enough to use it."
Louisville quarterback Chris Redman threw for 345 yards and two touchdowns in his final home game, but the Cardinals were held to
three second-half points. Redman also had two interceptions, both
to linebacker Ty Trahan, a fumble and was briefly shaken up in the
first half.
Trahan raced 53 yards untouched on his second interception to
give Southern Miss a 7-3 lead.
"You can't turn turn the football over that may times in a
championship game and expect to win," Smith said. "But that's not
to take anything away from our offense. We made some big plays. We
just didn't make enough big plays."
Southern Miss fell behind 27-17 when Louisville backup kicker
Robert Walker booted a 45-yard field goal midway through the third
quarter.
The Eagles closed the gap on their next drive, capped by Jeff
Kelly's 10-yard TD pass to Todd Pinkston to cut the Louisville lead
to 27-24. Dawayne Woods reeled off runs of 11, 11 and 12 yards.
Redman's fumble while being sacked by John Nix set up the
Eagles' next score, a 40-yard field goal by Hanna that tied it at
27 with 6:41 remaining.
Redman connected with Arnold Jackson for two first-half TDs,
including a 16-yarder moments after Redman threw the interception
to Trahan that turned into a touchdown.
Louisville's maligned defense, giving up 30 points and 400 yards
per game, didn't allow a Southern Miss first down until 10:40 left
in the second quarter when Kelly scrambled 16 yards.
Three plays later, on 3rd-and-10, Kelly connected with Pinkston
for a 39-yard pass to the Louisville 19. Two plays later, Derrick
Nix ran 4 yards for a TD and Southern Miss led 14-10.
Louisville regained the lead at 17-14 when Zek Parker took the
ensuing kickoff and raced 94 yards for a touchdown. Parker, who ran
back a kickoff 97 yards for a TD earlier this season, raced up the
middle and then veered to the right, easily outrunning the Southern
Miss kicker.
After a Southern Miss punt, Louisville drove the length of the
field, keyed by Redman's passing and Frank Moreau's running. Moreau
sprang loose for a 15-yard run to get Louisville away from its goal
line. Two plays later, Redman hit Jackson for a 70-yard touchdown
pass for a 24-14 Louisville lead.
Southern Miss answered with a 29-yard field goal by Hanna just
before the half to narrow Louisville's lead to 24-17 at halftime.
Louisville scored first when Walker booted his first collegiate
field goal, a 31-yarder.
Redman completed 24 of 42 passes, but fell short of his goal of
winning a conference championship.
"I felt confident throughout the whole game," he said. "I
thought we had a bead on their defense and we were moving the ball
pretty well until the end. I thought we were going to do it, and we
just fell short."
Louisville has to wait for an invitation to either the Mobile
Alabama Bowl or the Humanitarian Bowl for the league's second- and
third-place teams.
Kelly, who entered the game as the conference's highest-rated
passer, hit on 14-of-31 passes for 139 yards.
Nix gained 90 yards on 24 carries, and became the first Southern
Miss running back to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.
Moreau finished with 74 yards on 21 carries.
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ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
Southern Mississippi Clubhouse
Louisville Clubhouse
College football Top 25 overview
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