Pirates Fall at Southern Miss, 24-7
November 30, 2002 | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) -- Micky D'Angelo and Dustin Almond have gone from battling for the No. 1 quarterback job to sharing it for Southern Mississippi.
D'Angelo threw for 208 yards and a touchdown and Almond ran for a touchdown as Southern Miss finished the regular season with a 24-7 victory over East Carolina on Saturday.
Derrick Nix ran for 139 yards and a touchdown for the Golden Eagles (7-5, 5-3 Conference USA), who probably are headed to the Houston Bowl. Nix's 4-yard TD run made it 24-0 with about 11 minutes left.
East Carolina (4-7, 4-3) played without 1,000-yard rusher Art Brown, who was sidelined with groin and abdomen injuries. He was badly missed, as the Pirates were held to a season-low 154 total yards and never mounted a scoring threat.
"Our offense got whipped by a very good defense," East Carolina coach Steve Logan. "It was just kind of a slow death."
East Carolina appeared to score a touchdown on its first drive with a fake field goal, but the long run by holder Jarad Preston was wiped out by a holding penalty and the Pirates ended up punting.
"It took a lot of wind out of our sails," Logan said.
Almond and D'Angelo have taken turns starting this season for Southern Miss. Neither has distinguished himself, and the Golden Eagles' offense has sputtered. So instead of deciding on one quarterback, coach Jeff Bower played both, at times alternating from one play to the next.
Bower downplayed the strategy, saying it was just a matter of matchups. "We wanted to do it because we had some option in the plan," Bower said.
Almond, the more athletic of the two players, started the game and directed most of the first-down plays. He ran for 31 yards and completed 2 of 3 passes for 11 yards. D'Angelo was 12-for-22 with an interception.
"When you got an opportunity to go back in there you were hungry. I'm going to do good on this play, so I can stay in some more plays," said D'Angelo, who began the season as the starter. "Actually, it worked out,"
East Carolina's only score came on an 82-yard fumble return by Kelly Hardy with 3:30 left to play.
In a surprising move by Logan, Christshawn Gilliam, who has started the last nine games at outside linebacker, was moved to tailback. Gilliam, a senior, had not carried the ball since his sophomore season. He finished with 59 yards on 15 carries.
Both Golden Eagles quarterbacks had a hand in the team's first scoring drive. Almond started the series with a 12-yard option keeper. D'Angelo completed two passes, including a 19-yarder to Chris Johnson to convert a third-and-12 at the Pirates 26. Almond then finished the drive with a 7-yard run to make it 7-0 in the first quarter.
"Both of us bring different aspects to the game," said Almond, who has started three games. "He's got a little bit more accurate arm. He was a little banged up, so I came in a ran a little bit more."
The second TD drive was all on the arm of D'Angelo. He hit Marvin Young, who made a nice fingertip grab for 44 yards, then D'Angelo found LeRoy Handy for 26.
On the next play, Johnson made a juggling catch on a middle screen and went 15 yards for the score to put the Golden Eagles up 14-0 in the second quarter.
Johnson had five catches for 103 yards.
Nix is 12 yards shy of becoming Southern Miss' career rushing leader. He trails Ben Gary, who had 3,595 yards from 1974-77.
Nix carried the ball on 13 of Golden Eagles' final 15 plays, trying to get the record. The NCAA changed its rules this year to allow bowl stats to count in season total, so Nix still has a shot.
"The record means a lot but it didn't mean more than winning today," the senior said.
