University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Downs Army, 27-6
9/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Southern Miss Downs Army, 27-6
WEST POINT, N.Y. ?Southern Miss won the turnover battle here Saturday afternoon and turned that victory into a 27-6 decision over Army?s Black Knights in the second Conference USA game for both teams.
With the victory, the Golden Eagles improved to 4-1, 2-0 in C-USA, while Army dropped to 0-4, 0-2. The win also pushed Southern Miss? record against the Black Knights to 3-0, since the two began playing as members of Conference USA.
Army stays busy with a trip East Carolina next week, while Southern Miss enjoys a week off, after opening the season with five-straight games. The Eagles return to action the following week, Oct. 12, with their third-straight road game, this one at South Florida.
While Southern Miss eventually won by a 21-point margin, Army kept the game very much in doubt until well into the third period, and it was the aforementioned turnover problem that eventually turned the tide in the Golden Eagles? favor. Head Coach Jeff Bower?s team lost a pair of fumbles and threw an interception, but those were minor problems, compared to the six interceptions thrown by Army starter Matt Silva, who may have had some indication that it would not be a good day when he threw the first of those six interceptions on the first play of the game.
Senior linebacker Rod Davis got that one, returned it a couple of yards, and from the Army 32-yard-line, it took the Eagles nine plays and 4:08 off the clock to go ahead 7-0, on a Derrick Nix one-yard run.
Before the game was over, freshman defensive back John Eubanks recorded an interception, senior linebacker Joe Henley another, and junior defensive back Etric Pruitt had a career day with three picks, that he returned a total of 43 yards. Those six interceptions came within one of matching the Eagles season total through four games, and also within one of matching the all- time record of seven recorded against Louisiana Tech in 1967. Pruitt?s three interceptions were the most since LaBarion Rankins had three at East Carolina, in 1992.
While the interceptions played a key role in the game, the Southern Miss offense took advantage of the turnovers to score in three of the four quarters, while amassing a total of 303 net yards of total offense. Senior running back Derrick Nix led all rushers in the game with 87 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Freshman running back Anthony Harris added 44, on 14 carries, and the Golden Eagles rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns, including a 14-yard scamper with 5:35 left in the game, by freshman quarterback Dustin Almond, his first touchdown of the season.
Sophomore starter Micky D?Angelo connected on 13-of-23 passes for 135 yards and one score, and while only three Golden Eagle receivers caught passes, sophomore wideout Chris Johnson caught a career-high nine passes for 92 yards, and a touchdown.
Defensively, start the list with the six interceptions, but also throw in six tackles for losses, including two by Davis, who finished with a game-high nine stops, seven of them solo tackles, to go with a pass deflection. Sophomore linebacker Michael Boley was close behind with seven stops and a pass deflection and both junior defensive back Alex Ray and Henley had six tackles each.
The game also was the eighth straight that the Golden Eagles have had at least one interception.
Also, through five games this season, the Golden Eagles have rushed for 885 net yards, less than 200 yards short of the 1,054 Southern Miss rushed for all of last season. And, Nix?s 618 yards through five games is already ahead of the leading individual Golden Eagle rusher from last season, Dawayne Woods? 594 yards.
Nix also used his 87 rushing yards to move past the 3,000-yard career mark, becoming just the third player ever to reach that level.
The stubborn Cadets never gave up, finishing with an 18-16 margin in first downs, a 393-303 edge in total yardage, and a 31:38-to-28:22 margin in time of possession. Army ran 78 plays, to 64 for the visiting Eagles.
