Oct. 15, 2005
Box Score | Notes
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Dustin Almond tied a school record with five touchdown passes as Southern Miss beat UCF 52-31 on Saturday.
Almond also ran for another score, and the Golden Eagles broke a school record with 45 first half points in taking a 45-7 halftime lead.
The Southern Miss win over the Golden Knights ended UCF's three game winning streak. It also moved Southern Miss into a four way tie for first place in the East Division of Conference USA, along with UCF, Marshall and East Carolina.
The 45 first-half points eclipsed a 30-year-old Golden Eagle record established when head coach Jeff Bower played quarterback for the team.
Almond, who had only six scoring passes in the first four games, hit both Antwon Courington and Chris Johnson twice with first half scoring passes. He finished the night 23-of-37 for 277 yards.
UCF fumbled three times in the first 20 minutes of the game, losing each one inside its own 20-yard line. The Golden Knights would commit five first-half turnovers and allow four sacks.
Southern Miss converted all three of those early miscues into touchdowns. The Golden Eagles also set up a pair of field goals in the first half on two long kick returns.
The first Golden Knight fumble led to a 16-yard scoring pass from Almond to Courington. That combined with a 24-yard Darren McCaleb field goal, gave Southen Miss a 10-0 led midway through the opening period.
McCaleb's kick was set up by a 47-yard punt return by Jasper Faulk. McCaleb later added a 20-yard, the result of a 72-yard kickoff return by John Eubanks.
UCF showed signs of life just once, cutting the Golden Eagle lead to 10-7 on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Steven Moffett to Mike Walker. Southern Miss would then score 35 straight points to put the game out of reach by halftime.