Southern Miss turns it over five times, loses to UTEP 35-14

UTEP beat Southern Miss 35-14 tonight in El Paso, TX as they scored 21 points on defense/special teams. UTEP scored first in the form of a 1 yard pass from Jameill Showers to Katrae Ford early in the first quarter. The teams then exchanged punts for the remainder of the first half as shown in the picture below (#puntingiswinning).

Southern Miss struck first in the second half with a 55 yard touchdown pass from backup QB Cole Weeks to Casey Martin. But UTEP took the ensuing kickoff to the house for a touchdown which gave the Miners the lead again at 14-7. UTEP extended the lead to 21-7 after a Jameill Showers 10 yard touchdown run.

UTEP was in position to make it a three possession game late in the fourth quarter as they lined up for a short field goal, but it was blocked by Southern Miss and Cornell Armstrong picked up the ball and returned it for a touchdown to cut the UTEP lead to 7.

Southern Miss was driving early in the fourth quarter but Cole Weeks had his pass tipped and intercepted by Trey Brown of UTEP who returned it for a 51 yard touchdown. UTEP all but iced the game when Nick Gathrite recovered a Cole Weeks fumble and ran it in for another defensive score, this time a 59 yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.

Southern Miss is now 3-6 (1-4 in CUSA) and will host undefeated Marshall next Saturday in Hattiesburg for homecoming. UTEP is now 5-3 (3-1 in CUSA) and remains somewhat alive in the race for the CUSA West title. They'll face off against Western Kentucky next week on the road.