Southern Miss
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Kansas
No. 20 Kansas Hands Southern Miss. First Loss, 35-28
9/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 26, 2009
LAWRENCE, Kan. - No. 20 Kansas scored the only points in the fourth quarter to lift the Jayhawks to a 35-28 non-conference victory over upset-minded Southern Miss on Saturday.
Both quarterbacks, Austin Davis of Southern Miss and Todd Reesing of Kansas, threw for 331 yards as the Golden Eagles second-half comeback came up short in the contest.
Reesing converted 30-of-41 passes and threw one interception for the Jayhawks, while Toben Opurum added 109 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries, and Kerry Meier caught 10 passes for 141 yards and two scores. Dezmon Briscoe had a 20-yard rushing touchdown and four catches for 60 yards.
Davis completed 28-of-42 passes for 331 yards and three touchdowns for the Golden Eagles, which had its eight-game winning streak snapped.
DeAndre Brown caught four passes for 85 yards and a touchdown, while Jonathan Massey had two receiving scores.
With the game tied, 28-28, the Jayhawks went in front for good early in the fourth quarter. Reesing connected with Meier for the second time in the game from 12-yards out for a 35-28 margin with 14:15 remaining.
Kansas opened the game with a score as Reesing hit Meier for a 62-yard touchdown 1:20 into the contest.
Southern Miss answered, though, right away. Davis hit Damion Fletcher on a 49- yard pass play to the Jayhawks' seven-yard line, and the seven-play, 68-yard drive ended on a one-yard touchdown reception by Massey to tie the game with 10:22 still on the clock.
The next drive for Kansas also resulted in a touchdown, as Reesing guided the team 74 yards in 12 plays. Briscoe ran it in from 20 yards away for a 14-7 lead with about four minutes left in the opening quarter.
The Eagles tied the game early in the second, when Davis used passing plays of 21, 28 and 22 yards to guide the team 91 yards in seven plays. The 22-yard pass play was a touchdown to Brown, his first of the season, with 12 minutes until halftime.
But Reesing helped put the Jayhawks back in front with a 14-play, 79-yard set late in the quarter. The drive culminated with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Opurum with just over three minutes remaining, which put Kansas ahead by seven.
Kansas stopped the Eagles deep in their territory on fourth down in the waning moments of the half to keep the lead heading into intermission.
Each team traded a touchdown early in the third quarter. Kansas took its first drive 70 yards in 12 plays, using a 26-yard reception by Briscoe on 3rd-and-9 from the USM 45 to set up Opurum's two-yard scoring run on 3rd-and-goal midway through the period.
The Golden Eagles responded by going 80 yards in four plays. Davis found Brown for 49 yards on the first play of the series, and three plays later Davis ran for the touchdown from 16 yards away to make it a 28-21 game.
Southern Miss forced an interception on the ensuing series and tied the game again. Davis led an 11-play, 63-yard drive and finished it with a four-yard touchdown pass to Massey in the last minute of the third.
