University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Still Perfect In C-USA
10/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Final Statistics - USF
Southern Miss Still Perfect In C-USA
? If the first play from scrimmage was any indication, it was going to be a good day for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
Redshirt-sophomore quarterback Dustin Almond connected with junior receiver Marvin Young for an 80-yard touchdown on the opening play to give Southern Miss a 6-0 lead over visiting USF.
From there, the Golden Eagles (4-3, 4-0 in Conference
Southern Miss had its best offensive outing of the season, finishing with 337 yards -- including a 155 yards on the ground -- and the defense denied USF a touchdown in the win.
Almond finished the game with 175 yards on 10-of-22 passing with one interception and two touchdowns, both to Young. Young grabbed a total of five catches for a season-high 104 yards in the air and Anthony Harris turned in a season-high 102 yards rushing on 16 carries and had a touchdown.
Following the opening score, USF answered with a 9-play, 39-yard drive that culminated in a Santiago Gramatica field goal with
The Bulls threatened to tie the game five minutes into the second quarter, but Gramatica's 40-yard field goal try was blocked by Seth Cumbie and returned by Rod Davis 61 yards for a touchdown. Darren McCaleb added the extra point and Southern Miss had all it needed for the win.
Almond connected with Young a second-time in the closing minutes of the second period with a 10-yard scoring strike. McCaleb's extra point gave the Golden Eagles the 20-3 lead at the break.
Gramatica made good on a 29-yard field goal in the third quarter, but that would be all the Bulls would get.
Harris then capped off a stellar day with a 27-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter, driving the final nail in the coffin for USF.
Almond also rushed for 30 yards on 13 carries to go with his team-high passing total, while Ryan Earnest rushed three times for 15 yards and Sherron Moore added 10 yards on six attempts.
True freshman Damion Carter also played in the game, throwing for seven yards on 1-of-2 passing. Kenneth Johnson grabbed three catches for 36 yards, and Caleb Hendrix had two receptions for 28 yards. Antwon Courington had one catch for 14 yards.
Punter Luke Johnson had another solid game, booting nine punts for a 45.4-yard average. He had a long punt of 76 yards in the game, the second-longest behind Ray Guy's 93-yarder in 1972.
For USF, Ronnie Banks threw for a game-high 260 yards on 22-of-52 passing, while Brian Fisher had one pass for 28 yards. Huey Whittaker led all players with 122 yards on five catches, while Fisher added seven receptions for 48 yards. On the ground, DeJuan Green had 10 carries for 54 yards, and Clenton Crossley had 11 rushes for 39 yards.
Defensively Etric Pruitt had 11 tackles (nine solos) for the Golden Eagles, while Michael Boley followed with nine tackles and four solos. Alex Ray and Dillon Cleckler both had seven tackles in the game.
Maurice Jones led the Bulls with a game-high 17 stops (nine solos).
The Golden Eagles now go out-of-conference for its homecoming game against Louisiana-Lafayette, slated for Saturday, Nov. 1, at
