University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Louisville 24, Southern Miss 14
10/17/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Louisville 24, Southern Miss 14
LOUISVILLE, Ky. ? (10/16/01) - Forgive the Golden Eagles if their version of?new math? reads something like this: eight (turnovers), divided by two (games), equals two (losses).
Playing in the first Tuesday game in Conference USA, Southern Miss and Louisville history and before a nationwide ESPN2 audience, the Golden Eagles suffered a disappointing 24-14 loss to the Cardinals and dropped to 3-2 overall and 1-2 in league play. Louisville improved to 6-1, 2-0.
As was the case in the Oct. 6 game at Memphis, turnovers played a major role in the outcome of the game. Against the Tigers, the Eagles threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. At Louisville, it was reversed, three lost fumbles and an interception. The final results, though, were the same, losses in both games.
Against Louisville, the Eagles played what many felt was their best first half of the season and yet left the field after 30 minutes with only a slim 7-6 lead. Southern Miss got its only first half points on a season-best, 73-yard inside screen pass from Jeff Kelly to Chris Johnson. The touchdown was the second of the season for Johnson, also his longest season and career catch, and the longest completion of the season for Kelly.
While the offense managed just 10:12 of first half possession time and 129 yards of total offense, the Golden Eagle defense was spectacular, as it limited Louisville?s high-powered offense to a pair of field goals, one a 48-yarder, and 105 yards of total offense, including a minus three yards rushing
The Golden Eagles increased their margin to 14-6 midway through period three when a double-reverse, throwback pass from tight end Bobby Garner to Kelly resulted in a 6-yard touchdown. The defense stopped the next Cardinal drive and then partially blocked Wade Tydlacka?s punt and took over at the Louisville 44.
Three Golden Eagle plays netted a minus-four yards, the resulting Mark Haulman punt left Louisville at its own 9-yard line, where the Cards started a 16-play drive that carried over into the fourth period, covered 82 yards and 6:39 and ended when the Southern Miss defense held on a 4th-and-one play from the Golden Eagle nine.
On the ensuing first play from scrimmage from that point, the Cardinals recovered their second Southern Miss fumble, and Dave Ragone, who finished with 17 completions in 32 attempts, needed just one play to find Richard Owens for a nine-yard scoring strike. Attempting a two-point conversion to tie the game, Ragone fumbled the snap, but recovered and his lob into the end zone found J. R. Russell for the conversion that tied the game at 14.
Following an exchange of punts, Louisville?s Nathan Smith kicked a 36-yard field goal with 9:45 left to put the Cardinals up 17-14. Louisville forced the third Golden Eagle fumble of the game some five minutes later, linebacker Chad Lee returned that fumble to the Golden Eagle two-yard-line and Tony Stallings scored from there with 1:21 left to put the game out of reach.
The Golden Eagle defense limited Louisville?s offense to 186 total yards, but the Southern Miss offense managed two yards less than that. Kelly hit only 12-of-28 passes for 213 yards and was sacked seven times. USM managed just seven net rushing yards, though Dawayne Woods did pick up 32 yards on 15 carries. LeRoy Handy led Eagle receivers with four catches for 63 yards, and Mark Haulman managed a solid 44-yard average on seven punts.
The Cardinals finished the game with a 35:37-to-24:23 edge in time of possession, did not turn the ball over, and played well enough when it counted to beat the Golden Eagles for the second-straight season. That marked the first time since the 1980 and 1981 seasons that the Cardinals had won in back-to-back seasons. It also was only the fourth Louisville win in the last 18 games between the two teams.
