Southern Mississippi Crushes Pittsburgh
No wonder Southern Mississippi wanted to play in the Liberty Bowl the past two seasons. The 22nd-ranked Golden Eagles made themselves at home Wednesday.
Lee Roberts threw three touchdown passes to Sherrod Gideon and the defense scored three more TDs in the second half as Southern Mississippi routed Pittsburgh 41-7 to win in its first bowl since 1990.
The Eagles finished 9-3, their best record since going 10-2 in 1988, and ruined the first bowl game for Pittsburgh (6-6) since 1989. Coach Jeff Bower called it a fitting end for the Eagles’ season.
“We came up here to win a ball game, and I couldn’t be prouder of the football team for going to a bowl, enjoying a bowl, but most importantly, getting themselves ready to play and play to win a football game,” said Bower.
Southern Mississippi was Conference USA’s co-champion in 1996, but the Eagles missed the automatic bid by losing to Houston. They made sure that didn’t happen again this season by going undefeated in the league.
For a team that played only four home games, Southern Mississippi felt quite comfortable just 250 miles from Hattiesburg with more than half of the approximately 40,000 fans dressed in black and gold.
The Eagles won their first bowl since 1988 by the largest margin in the Liberty Bowl’s 39-year history, besting 30-point wins by Alabama over UCLA in 1976 and Illinois over East Carolina in 1994.
Thanks to Roberts and Gideon, Southern Miss never trailed as the duo connected on a 31-yard TD toss on the team’s sixth play. Roberts also threw TD passes of 8 and 5 yards to Gideon.
Roberts picked the Panthers’ defense apart, going 18 of 26 for 227 yards. Gideon finished with a bowlrecord seven catches for 111 yards.
Southern Miss 41, Pittsburgh 7
Pittsburgh 0 7 0 0 - 7
Southern Miss 7 7 14 13 - 41
SM-Gideon 31 pass from Roberts (Hardaway kick), 6:04.
SM-Gideon 8 pass from Roberts (Hardaway kick), 11:27.
Pit-Hoffart 89 pass from Gonzalez (Ferencik kick), 2:52.
SM-Phenix 16 fumble return (Hardaway kick), 11:17.
SM-Gideon 5 pass from Roberts (Hardaway kick), :00.
SM-Thomas 26 interception return (Hardaway kick), 13:45.
SM-Parrish 63 interception return (kick failed), 11:05.
A-50,209.
Pit SM First downs 16 15 Rushes-yards 38-150 31-125 Passing 190 227 Comp-Att-Int 16-41-2 18-27-1 Return Yards 12 105 Punts-Avg. 7-40 7-36 Fumbles-Lost 1-1 0-0 Penalties-Yards 8-72 6-40 Time of Possession 32:55 27:05
Individual statistics
RUSHING-Pittsburgh, Barlow 9-68, West 19-56, Gonzalez 7-23, Thompson 3-3. Southern Miss, H.Shaw 17-62, Booth 7-49, Nance 5-20, Roberts 2-(minus 6).
PASSING-Pittsburgh, Gonzalez 13-29-2-172, Lytle 3-12-0-18. Southern Miss, Roberts 18-26-1-227, Balazik 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING-Pittsburgh, Hoffart 5-121, J.Williams 4-21, Barlow 2-20, Murphy 2-18, West 2-6, Thompson 1-4. Southern Miss, Gideon 7-111, Hardy 4-43, Pinkston 2-43, H.Shaw 2-17, Heard 2-15, E.Shaw 1-(minus 2).