The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
at Southern Miss*
UAB Falls to Southern Mississippi, 26-21
11/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 27, 2004
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Dustin Almond completed 10-of-14 passes and threw for two touchdowns in a 17-point third quarter Saturday to help Southern Mississippi capture that elusive sixth victory to become bowl-eligible with a 26-21 win over UAB.
It was almost a must-win game for Southern Miss (6-4, 5-3 Conference USA) because a loss would have forced the Golden Eagles to have to beat No. 4 California next week to qualify for their third straight bowl game.
And after the first half, it appeared UAB (7-4, 5-3) would hand Southern Miss its fourth straight loss.
The Golden Eagles trailed 14-3 in the third quarter before Almond hooked up with Tavarres Williams on a 14-yard touchdown pass at 11:28 mark to cap a 7-play, 70-yard drive.
After a 24-yard field goal from Southern Mississippi's Darren McCaleb made it 14-13, Almond found Antwon Courington on a 14-yard scoring toss with 51 seconds remaining in the third to give the Golden Eagles their first lead of the game.
Almond threw for 129 yards.
Darrell Hackney completed just 11-of-30 passes for 206 yards. He did give the Blazers their first score on a 57-yard pass to Roddy White on UAB's first possession. The Blazers took a 14-3 lead on Corey White's 1-yard run with 3:42 left in the first quarter.
After a 1-yard TD run by Almond ended a 12-play, 60-yard drive and put Southern Miss ahead 26-14, Hackney led late scoring drive from the Blazers' 6-yard line. Sam Dudley caught a 1-yard pass with 1:29 remaining to bring UAB to within 26-21, but the over four-minute drive left little time on the clock for a comeback.
The Blazers are still well on their way to earning the first bowl invitation in school history, but they have dropped five straight to Southern Mississippi, all by seven points or less.
