Southern Mississippi doffs its Fedora by tipping Nevada

This year’s Sheraton Hawaii Bowl wasn’t the typical high-scoring affair.

But then again, No. 22 Southern Mississippi’s stay in Hawaii hasn’t been typical, either.

Practicing with their current coach headed to North Carolina and their future coach back in Mississippi, the Golden Eagles used a 4-yard touchdown pass from Austin Davis to Kelvin Bolden with 5:48 remaining to hold off Nevada 24-17 on Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.

Larry Fedora, who accepted the UNC job earlier this month, got to see his team set a school record with its 12th victory of the season, completing a successful final year with a Hawaii Bowl title to add to a Conference USA championship.

"I’m proud to be the coach of arguably the greatest team in the history of Southern Miss football," he said. "They found a way to win 12 football games.

"It hasn’t always been pretty, but they haven’t blinked in the face of adversity."

With a rainbow providing a stunning backdrop for much of the only Christmas Eve bowl game, the view was far less pretty from both sidelines.

A crowd of 19,411 witnessed the two teams combine for the fewest points (41) and most punts (17) of the 10 Hawaii Bowls.

"It was ugly for us now," said Fedora, who finished 34-19 in his four-year career at Southern Miss. "Defensively in the first half, I don’t know what we were … offensively, I don’t know if we were good the entire game."

The two teams entered the game ranked in the FBS top 10 in total offense, but finished well below their season averages.

Running back Lampford Mark, Nevada’s most valuable player in the game, was the lone bright spot on offense for the Wolf Pack (7-6).

He finished 2 yards short of a career high with 183 rushing yards on 29 carries, scoring both of Nevada’s touchdowns.

It wasn’t enough to end a disturbing trend, as Nevada fell to 1-9 in its last 10 trips to Hawaii.

"The islands are cursed or something, just bad luck, I don’t know," Mark said. "We don’t seem to play well (here), but like I said, we had our opportunities."

The Wolf Pack failed on two critical fourth-and-1 opportunities that changed the game.

With a 14-7 lead late in the first half, Mark, who had already secured his sixth straight 100-yard rushing game, was stuffed on his own 45-yard line with 2:49 remaining.

The Golden Eagles (12-2) turned it into three points and added a 2-yard touchdown pass from Davis to Tracey Lampley with 12 seconds left after Nevada fumbled the ensuing kickoff.

"It was so odd because I felt we played so badly, but we were winning at halftime," said Davis, who was 18-for-41 for 165 yards in his final collegiate game.

Once the Golden Eagles closed in on Mark, who had just 21 rushing yards after halftime, Nevada’s offense slowed to a halt.

Backup quarterback Tyler Lantrip replaced starter Cody Fajardo, who was 8-for-19 for 69 yards and a pick, late in the third quarter.

Lantrip didn’t fare much better, finishing 5-for-9 for 57 yards.

Nevada was 2-for-17 on third-down conversions with three first downs and 78 total yards in the second half.

"Offense and special teams really let us down today," Nevada coach Chris Ault said. "We didn’t get it done in the second half. It’s just that simple."

Southern Miss put the game’s first points on the board doing what it’s done best all season.

Tim Green blocked a punt and Tray Becton-Martin recovered it in the end zone to become the 25th different Golden Eagle to score a touchdown this season — most in the FBS.

It was the 13th nonoffensive touchdown scored by the Golden Eagles, who also have an FBS-leading eight interceptions returned for touchdowns.

"That’s been our M.O. all year," Fedora said. "To make game-changing plays on special teams, and when you do that, you usually win games."

Southern Miss’ 10-0 run late in the first half allowed the Golden Eagles to take a halftime lead (17-14) for the 12th time this season.

Things got chippy and each team was given a personal-foul penalty on the touchdown pass from Davis to Lampley after a small skirmish broke out in the end zone.

"I thought it was good for us," said Davis, who broke all of Brett Favre’s school passing records in his career. "I thought it woke up our offense a little bit (in that) we actually played a little better after that."

Defensive end Cordarro Law was named the most valuable player for the Golden Eagles, finishing with 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.

He ends his Southern Miss career in the top five in both categories and the NCAA’s active leader with 28 sacks and 53.5 tackles for loss.

"I really wanted to get our 12th win and end us seniors’ careers right," he said. "I just had the mind-set that if it came to me, I wasn’t going to let my team lose today."