Southern Miss rallies in the second half to beat Nebraska 21-17.
By Associated Press
Published September 12, 2004
LINCOLN, Neb. - Southern Miss converted four of Nebraska's five turnovers into points, winning 21-17 on Saturday.
The Huskers, 102-7 at home since 1988, lost at home to an unranked opponent for the first time since 20-16 to Texas in 1998.
"We showed if we make errors, we can get beat by lower opponents," Nebraska defensive tackle Le Kevin Smith said.
Nebraska went up 17-9 on Joe Dailey's touchdown passes of 9 yards to Grant Mulkey and 13 yards to Matt Herian on the first two series of the second half.
But Naton Stewart's 49-yard interception return at the end of the third made it 17-15. The Eagles, who won despite being outgained 476-239, got the ball back when Darrell Bennett recovered Tierre Green's fumble at the Nebraska 49. Two plays later, Almond lofted a 46-yard touchdown to Marvin Young with 7:47 left.
But the victory wasn't secured until the final minute.
Nebraska started its last drive at its 41 with 3:18 left and moved to the Southern Miss 12. Bennett got his right hand in front of Terrance Nunn in the end zone. Then Caleb Hendrix made up ground to deflect a ball away from Matt Herian in the corner of the end zone.
Then on fourth and long, linebacker Dillon Cleckler chased Dailey out of bounds short of a first down with 37 seconds left.
Eagles linebacker Michael Boley said he pleaded with his teammates during the final drive.
"We were giving up a lot of yards early in drives, and there comes a point where we say we have to stop them and create some type of play," Boley said. "I was telling the players in the huddle, "Fight, scratch. Don't let them in the end zone."'
Coach Bill Callahan won his first game with the Cornhuskers 56-17 over I-AA Western Illinois last week. But their new West Coast offense had a tougher time against the defending Conference USA champion.
"This is a game that was there for the taking, and we gave it away," Callahan said. "There's nobody to look at but ourselves."
