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 |  Cody Hull finished with 37 carries for 161 yards tonight. |
Dec. 21, 2005
Photo Gallery | Box Score (PDF) | Scoring Summary
LAFAYETTE, La. - Career-high performances from Cody Hull and Shawn Nelson, the 2005 New Orleans Bowl MVP, helped Southern Miss earn a 31-19 victory over Arkansas State tonight.
Nelson finished with a team-high six catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns, all New Orleans Bowl record, as he posted the second 100-yard game of his career. His 121 yards also set a Southern Miss bowl record, surpassing Sherrod Gideon's 117-yard total in the Humanitarian Bowl vs. Idaho in 1998. He becomes the second Golden Eagle to earn MVP honors, as Michael Boley earned the honor in last year's game.
Hull finished with a career-high 37 carries for 161 yards, both New Orleans Bowl and Southern Miss bowl records. Hull posted the first 100-yard rushing game of his career tonight and scored his third career touchdown on a one-yard run in the second quarter. Hull's 161 rushing yards and 37 carries set the Southern Miss bowl record, surpassing Derrick Nix's 29 carries against Idaho in the 1998 Humanitarian Bowl and 124 rushing yard performance by Shelton Gandy against UTEP in the 1988 Independence Bowl. Hull's 37 carries also tied for the fourth most in school history, matching Derrick Nix's 37 carry performance against Nevada in 1998.
With the win, Southern Miss ends its season with a 7-5 record for the second consecutive season, securing a winning season for the 12th consecutive season. Arkansas State ends its season with a 6-6 record. Southern Miss also wins back-to-back bowl games for the second time in school history, as it also won the Liberty and GMAC Bowls in back-to-back years in 1999 and 2000 respectively.
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Southern Miss opened the game 37-yard completion from Dustin Almond to Shawn Nelson, but after reaching the Arkansas State one-yard line, the Golden Eagle fumbled the ball at the goal line, which was recovered by Indian Myron Anderson at the two-yard line.
After Arkansas State punted, the Golden Eagles again fumbled, as Indian Brandon Rollins forced a fumble on a run by fullback Bobby Weakley, giving Arkansas State possession at its own 45-yard line. The Indians drove into Golden Eagle territory and had an opportunity to get the first points of the game, but a 41-yard field goal by Eric Neihouse went wide right.
The first quarter went scoreless, marking the first New Orleans Bowl to have no score after one quarter of play.
The Golden Eagles took the first lead of the game on a 31-yard field goal by Darren McCaleb, his 23rd of the season, with 9:20 remaining in the first half.
Arkansas State answered McCaleb's field goal on a 44-yard field goal from Eric Neihouse, knotting the game at 3-3 with 6:57 to play before halftime.
Southern Miss answered on its ensuing drive, as Cole Mason capped a 10-play, 71-yard drive on a five-yard touchdown run, his fourth of the season, giving Southern Miss a 10-3 lead with 2:05 to play before halftime.
Arkansas State answered the Mason drive on a four-yard run by Noce with six seconds remaining before halftime, as the New Orleans Bowl was tied at halftime for the first time in the history of the bowl.
Southern Miss retook the lead in the third quarter, as Kevis Coley recovered a fumble by Noce, setting up a one-yard touchdown run by Cody Hull, giving the Golden Eagles a 17-10 advantage. Hull also went over 100 yards rushing on the drive, for the first 100-yard performance of his career.
The Indians tied the game at 17-17 as Noce found Manuel Burton for a two-yard touchdown, knotting the game with 8:51 remaining in the third quarter.
Southern Miss answered on its ensuing drive, as Almond found Shawn Nelson on a 29-yard touchdown off a fake, taking a 24-17 lead with 6:08 to play in the third quarter, capping a seven-play, 65-yard drive.
Arkansas State scored on a safety, as a bad snap from Golden Eagle snapper Stephen Daigle went past Luke Johnson, as the Indians made the score 24-19 with 2:22 to play in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Robert Henderson forced a fumble and was recovered by John Eubanks, as Almond found Nelson for a six-yard touchdown, with 8:22 remaining, to make the final margin of victory.
Almond finished with 253 passing yards tonight, completing 17-of-32 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns. With his 253 passing yards, he has 2,860 passing yards this season, the most in season in school history, breaking Lee Roberts' total of 2,680 in 1998. He broke Roberts' record on a seven-yard completion to Damion Carter in the second quarter.
13 Golden Eagles ended their collegiate careers tonight, including Dustin Almond, Terrance Ford, Trevis Coley, Kevis Coley, John Eubanks, Neal Mead, Kendel Wheeler, Luke Johnson, Akeem Lockett, Bradley Worthington, Ricardo Clark, Pedi Causey and Tom Johnson.
Southern Miss Post Game Notes: New Orleans Bowl
Southern Miss made its 16th bowl appearance tonight in the New Orleans Bowl at Lafayette, facing Arkansas State. With its 31-19 victory, Southern Miss improves to 7-9 all-time in a bowl games. Southern Miss also improves to 5-4 in bowl games under Head Coach Jeff Bower.
Tonight's game marked the ninth meeting with Arkansas State. With the win, Southern Miss holds a 7-2 series advantage, and have won the past four meetings.
Tonight, Southern Miss also played in the New Orleans Bowl for the second consecutive season. The Golden Eagles have now won back-to-back bowl games for the second time in school history, winning the Liberty Bowl and the GMAC Bowl in 1999 and 2000 respectively.
With its 31-19 win, Southern Miss finishes with a 7-5 record for the second consecutive season, its 12th straight winning season.
With Darren McCaleb's extra point in the second quarter, he set the single season extra point record, breaking the previous high of 34 set by Tim Hardaway in 1998, and Webb Farrish in 1951. He also set the career extra point record on that extra point, giving him 93 breaking the previous high of 92 set by Brant Hanna in his career from 1998-2001.
Senior quarterback Dustin Almond finished the game completing 17-of-32 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns. With his 253 passing yards, he has 2,860 passing yards this season, the most in school history, breaking Lee Roberts' total of 2,680 in 1998. He broke Roberts' record on a seven-yard completion to Damion Carter in the second quarter.
With his 253 passing yards, Almond finishes his career with 7,342 yards, the second most in school history, behind Brett Favre's total of 7,695 in 1987-90.
With his 17 pass completions, Almond set the school single season in passing completions at 216, breaking the previous high of 214 set by Jeff Kelly in 2001.
Almond also set the school single season record in passing attempts, finishing with 392, breaking the previous high of 381 by Brett Favre in 1981. He set the record on an incomplete pass to Shawn Nelson in the third quarter.
Almond finished with 263 yards of total offense, setting the school single-season at 2,762, breaking the previous high of 2,645 set by Jeff Kelly in 2001.
With two touchdown passes tonight, Almond finished with 23 touchdowns this season, the second most in school history, behind Lee Roberts' 24 in 1998. The two touchdown passes give Almond 51 in his career, finishing tied for second most in school history with Jeff Kelly (1998-01).
Almond finishes with 7,601 yards of total offense, six yards shy of setting the school record, behind Brett Favre's total of 7,606 in his career from 1987-90.
Redshirt sophomore Cody Hull made his second consecutive start at running back tonight. He posted the first 100-yard rushing game of his career tonight, finishing with 37 carries for 161 yards, both New Orleans Bowl records. He scored his third career touchdown on a one-yard run in the second quarter. It was also Southern Miss' fourth 100-yard rushing performance of the season, as Larry Thomas has three 100-yard rushing games (115, McNeese State, 129, UAB and 118, Marshall).
Hull's 161 rushing yards and 37 carries set the Southern Miss bowl record, surpassing Derrick Nix's 29 carries against Idaho in the 1998 Humanitarian Bowl and 124 rushing yard performance by Shelton Gandy against UTEP in the 1988 Independence Bowl.
Hull finished with 37 carries, which tied for the fourth most in school history, matching Derrick Nix's 37 carry performance against Nevada in 1998.
Hull's 161 yard performance was the 25th best performance in school history. It was also the most rushing yards by a Golden Eagle running back, since Derrick Nick finished with 163 against Army (10/17/98).
Shawn Nelson finished with a team-high six catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns, posting the second 100-yard game of his career and the season, all New Orleans Bowl records. His 121 yards also set a Southern Miss bowl record, surpassing Sherrod Giedon's 117-yard total in the Humanitarian Bowl vs. Idaho in 1998.
His 121 receiving yards were the most by a Golden Eagle receiver this season and tied for the 26th best performance in school history, matching Ron Bahan against Texas A&M (9/30/89) and Fred Brock against Louisville (10/7/95). It was the most receiving yards by a Golden Eagle receiver, since Todd Pinkston had 125 yards against Northwestern State (9/11/99).
Nelson becomes the first Golden Eagle receiver to post back-to-back 100-yard receiving games since Marvin Young finished with 104 yards against USF (10/25/03) and 101 yards against Louisiana-Lafayette (11/1/03), as he had 113 yards against Tulane.
Southern Miss had its highest rushing total in its bowl history, finishing with 50 carries for 192 yards. The 192 yards surpassed the previous high of 181 against McNeese State in the 1980 Independence Bowl, while the rushing attempts were the second most in a bowl by Southern Miss, bettered only by the 52 attempts against Missouri in the 1981 Tangerine Bowl.
True freshman Tokumbo Abanikanda made his first career start tonight, at strong side linebacker. He tied for second on the team with seven tackles (six solos, one assist), a career high. He also had a career-high two tackles for loss and a sack on the night.
With six tackles (three solos, three assists), Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year Kevis Coley finished with 150 total tackles (81 solos, 69 assists) on the season, tying Onesimus Henry (1987) for the for the fifth best performance in school history.
Southern Miss did not score in the first quarter tonight, marking the first time all year the team did not score points in the first quarter. It snapped a 17-game points in the first quarter streak, dating back to the Cincinnati game on Nov. 6, 2004.
Darren McCaleb connected on a 31-yard field goal in the second quarter, his 23rd field goal of the season. With that field goal, he set the school record in career field goal attempts with 64, breaking the previous high of 63 set by Rex Banks in his career from 1983-86.
Cole Mason scored his fourth touchdown of the season on a five-yard run in the second quarter. Mason scored four rushing touchdowns in the final five games of the season.
Kevis Coley recovered a fumble recovery in the third quarter, in the third quarter. It was Coley's third fumble recovery of the season. Thanks to the fumble recovery, it gave Southern Miss 32 forced turnovers on the season. With a one-yard touchdown run by Cody Hull, Southern Miss has scored 140 points off those turnovers on the season (119 off turnovers and 21 points off three turnovers on downs).
Southern Miss forced its 32nd turnover in the fourth quarter, as Robert Henderson forced a fumble which was recovered by John Eubanks. The Golden Eagles again converted that turnover into points, as Shawn Nelson scored on a five-yard touchdown. Southern Miss has now scored 147 points off turnovers (126 off turnovers and 21 points off three turnovers on downs).
Arkansas State scored on a team safety in the third quarter. It was the first time an opponent scored on a safety since Southern Miss had a team rush for a safety against Alabama (11/29/01).
John Eubanks finished with his fourth interception of the season in the fourth quarter. It was his 10th career interception. Southern Miss now has at least one interception in 16 of the past 17 games, dating back to the Memphis game on Nov. 12, 2004.
Tonight's captains for Southern Miss were Trevis Coley, Kevis Coley, Dustin Almond, Terrance Ford and Luke Johnson.
| SCORING SUMMARY | ||||||
| FIRST QUARTER | USM | ASU | ||||
| SECOND QUARTER | USM | ASU | ||||
 | FG | 9:20 | Darren McCaleb 31 yard field goal | 3 | 0 | |
 | FG | 6:37 | Eric Neihouse 45 yard field goal | 3 | 3 | |
| TD | 2:05 | Cole Mason 5 yard TD run (Darren McCaleb Extra Point) | 10 | 3 | |
| TD | 0:05 | Nick Noce 4 yard TD run (Eric Neihouse Extra Point) | 10 | 10 | |
| THIRD QUARTER | USM | ASU | ||||
| TD | 11:44 | Cody Hull 1 yard TD run (Darren McCaleb Extra Point) | 17 | 10 | |
| TD | 8:51 | Manuel Burton 2 yard TD pass from Nick Noce (Eric Neihouse Extra Point) | 17 | 17 | |
| TD | 6:08 | Shawn Nelson 29 yard TD pass from Dustin Almond (Darren McCaleb Extra Point) | 24 | 17 | |
| S | 2:22 | 0 Safety | 24 | 19 | |
| FOURTH QUARTER | USM | ASU | ||||
| TD | 8:22 | Shawn Nelson 6 yard TD pass from Dustin Almond (Darren McCaleb Extra Point) | 31 | 19 | |
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