On Dec. 24 the Southern Miss Golden Eagles capped off a record setting season with an emotional victory over the Nevada Wolfpack in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl in Honolulu, Hi.
The heavily favored Golden Eagles entered the game boasting an 11-2 record, while Nevada only held a mark of 7-5. This game was a tale of two halves, as the usually explosive and high-powered Southern Miss offense was rather lackluster in the first half, and Nevada running back Lampford Mark scorched the Golden Eagle defense for 162 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries in the first half. Despite being out-gained in total yards from scrimmage 235-109 in the first half, a costly Nevada fumble in their own territory allowed the Golden Eagles to enter halftime with a 17-14 lead.
In the second half the Golden Eagle defense was much more stingy, only allowing Mark 21 yards on the ground on nine carries. They limited Nevada to only a field goal in the second half and were tied at 17 more than halfway through the fourth quarter. With 5:48 left in the game, USM quarterback Austin Davis connected with wide receiver Kelvin Bolden for a five-yard touchdown strike. This was ultimately the deciding score in the game as the Golden Eagles pulled out a 24-14 victory over the Wolfpack.
Although Davis was a dismal 18-41 passing for 185 yards, he, along with former head football coach Larry Fedora, ended their careers at Southern Miss as winners.
"I'm proud to have been the coach of arguably the greatest team in the history of Southern Miss football," an emotional Fedora said following the game. "That's 100 years of history. This football team went 12-2, won the conference championship and the Hawai'i Bowl."
Although Southern Miss suffered two disappointing losses to conference foes Marshall and UAB earlier in the season, the Golden Eagles' 12 wins shattered the previous USM mark for wins in a season of 10. Southern Miss also finished the season in the final rankings of both national polls for the first time since 1999. The Golden Eagles came in 19th in the USA Today Coaches' Poll and finished 20th in the Associated Press Top 25.
Southern Miss football will now look in a new direction, as Fedora turns his focus to his new head coaching job at North Carolina and newly hired Southern Miss head football coach Ellis Johnson inherits a team that is staged to lose a lot of talent in the offseason.
Although Johnson only has a 17-28 lifetime record as a college head football coach, he comes from working under the ranks of legendary South Carolina head football coach Steve Spurrier, and he was on staff with Gene Stallings when Alabama won the National Title in 1992.
It is no secret that Johnson has high hopes for the Southern Miss football program in the near future.
"When I take on this program, I look for something that we've never been able to do before," Johnson said in his inaugural press conference as head football coach. "Frankly, there is very little left. It's intimidating but it's also challenging. But if I could tell you one thing that is going to drive me as a head coach of your football program, I want to take the University of Southern Mississippi, I want to take the Golden Eagles to a BCS football game and win."
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