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BCS party-crashers booted
From
Associated Press and Staff Reports
The battle over the merits of the Bowl Championship Series will continue,
but Southern Mississippi has put an end to the debate over Texas Christian
gaining a bid in one of this season's BCS bowls.
USM constructed what seemed to be an insurmountable lead, then had to fight
off a frantic, remarkable rally by the previously unbeaten Horned Frogs
before prevailing 40-28 Thursday night in front of the ESPN television
cameras.
The loss by TCU may have cost Conference USA almost $14 million. That's in
the ballpark of the potential payout the league could have received and
distributed among its members, including Southern Miss from an appearance
by the Frogs in a BCS bowl.
Dustin Almond threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns and the Golden Eagles
capitalized on four turnovers to hand the 10th-ranked Horned Frogs their
first loss of the season.
USM (8-3, 7-0) clinched at least a share of the C-USA title with TCU and can
win it outright with a victory at struggling East Carolina on Saturday, Nov.
29.
TCU (10-1, 7-1) trailed by 31-6 early in the fourth quarter before scoring
three touchdowns in a span of 4:30 with the aid of two straight recovered
onside kicks.
Brandon Hassell led the comeback attempt with his passing and running.
He swept around right end for a 1-yard TD with 6:55 left and then threw for
the 2-point conversion to cut the lead to 31-28. Hassell finished 18-for-31
for 260 yards.
Southern Miss kicked a field goal to make it 34-28, then put the game away
by forcing TCU's final turnover of the game. Greg Brooks got free on a
corner blitz and knocked the ball from Hassell. Rod Davis recovered inside
the TCU 20 with less than three minutes left and moments later Anthony
Harris bulled into the end zone from 2 yards out to make it 40-28 with 1:30
left.
TCU was eighth in the Bowl Championship Series standings this week and
needed to stay unbeaten to have any shot of becoming the first school from a
non-BCS league to receive an invite to one of the four high-dollar major
bowls.
Now, the best the Horned Frogs can hope for is a piece of the league title
and a spot in one of five bowls with C-USA ties.
Southern Miss, which has won five straight games, will be favored to earn a
bid to the Liberty Bowl when it faces ECU after a nine-day layoff. The 1-9
Pirates play at Tulane on Saturday.
Almond, who has thrown 12 TD passes since regaining the starting job five
games ago, was 14-for-23 with an interception.
Southern Miss jumped out to a 24-6 lead with the help of three big plays
one by the offense, one by the defense and one by special teams.
The offense was first up as Almond and DaRon Lawrence took advantage of a
fallen TCU defender for a 50-yard touchdown pass that made it 7-3 in the
first quarter.
Midway through the second quarter the Golden Eagles' defense struck. Etric
Pruitt picked off Hassell's throw deep down the middle and returned it 32
yards to the Horned Frogs 24.
Five plays later, Harris spun out of the pile, just barely keeping his knee
off the ground, and dived across the goal line for a 1-yard TD to make it
17-6.
Marvin Young capped the outburst with a 52-yard punt return the TCU's 33.
That set up Almond's 9-yard TD pass through traffic to Anwton Courington.
It marked just the second time this season TCU was down at halftime and by
far the biggest deficit the Horned Frogs have faced at any point this
season.
Almond's third TD pass a 21-yarder to Young made it 31-6 late in the
third quarter, but TCU wouldn't let its 12-game winning streak die without a
fight.
Kenny Hayter capped two short drives with 1-yard touchdown runs in the
fourth quarter for Frogs, who successfully covered two on-side kicks and
made a pair of two-point conversions during a lightning comeback attempt in
which they quickly sliced the deficit to 31-28 with time on the clock to
spare.
©2003 The Associated Press. Bonesville.net contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02.23.07 10:48 AM
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