Mobile Alabama Bowl
2000
So. Mississippi 28
TCU 21
MOBILE, Alabama (Ticker) - Jeff Kelly threw a 29-yard touchdown pass
to true freshman Kenneth Johnson with eight seconds left as Southern
Mississippi stunned Texas Christian, 28-21, in the Mobile Alabama Bowl.
Kelly almost single handedly rallied the Golden Eagles (8-4) from a
21-14 deficit, tossing a 56-yard TD pass to Leroy Handy earlier in the
fourth quarter. Kelly and Handy also hooked up for a nine-yard TD in the
third period.
"Going into the game, there weren't that many people that wanted to give
us a
chance," Kelly said. "We were on the field with the No. 1 defense in the
county but we had a lot of guys that don't ever give up. We made up our
minds at halftime that we were gonna go out and cut it loose."
The loss spoiled the head coaching debut of Gary Patterson, who was
promoted from defensive coordinator when Dennis Franchione took the
Alabama job. "I take my hat off to the (TCU) players and coaches that
were here," Patterson said. "They did a good job of preparing for the
ballgame with everything that went on." The defeat also marked a bitter
end to the career of Heisman Trophy finalist LaDainian Tomlinson, who
scored on TD runs of seven and 33 yards in the third quarter to give TCU
(10-2) a 21-14 lead. Tomlinson led the nation in rushing for the second
straight season with 2,158 yards and 22 touchdowns on 369 carries. He
got off to a slow start tonight but finished with 118 yards on 28
carries. "(He's) really good," Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower said.
"Everything I thought he was, quick, strong. He was tough to tackle."
Southern Mississippi missed a chance to take the lead with 2:08
remaining when Brant Hanna's 37-yard field goal barely got off the
ground and was blocked by the middle of the TCU line. Hanna also missed
three field goals.
The game appeared headed for overtime as the Horned Frogs were content
to run out the clock. But defensive back Etric Pruitt partially blocked
Kelly O'Connor's punt, allowing the Golden Eagles to take over in TCU
territory with 33 seconds to play. "We took care of the football and we
had no turnovers in the game," Bower said. "It might be the best
ballgame we have played, when you consider that we did not turn the ball
over and we did not have many negative plays."
Kelly kept the drive alive by scrambling for a first down to the TCU 29
with 14 seconds left. On the next play, he hit a wide-open Johnson over
the middle for the winning score. "We had big plays and it was a great,
great job by Jeff Kelly," Bower said. "I thought he showed a lot of
poise. I'm really proud of this football team. We really practiced hard
for this game. I couldn't be happier about our football team, especially
our seniors."
TCU opened the scoring on Casey Printers' three-yard TD pass to George
Layne with 7:51 left in the first quarter. The Golden Eagles tied it
1:43 later on Leo Barnes' 50-yard interception.
After the first half was dominated by defense, the offenses came alive
in the third quarter. Kelly, who completed 11-of-23 for 159 yards, gave
Southern Miss a 14-7 lead just 1:54 into the second half when he found
Handy for the first of his three TD strikes. Printers completed 10-of-22
for 115 yards and two interceptions for the Horned Frogs. Kelly Nance
ran for 104 yards on 16 carries to pace the Golden Eagles' ground
attack.
Southern Miss was appearing in its fourth straight bowl game. "It's like
I told our seniors," Bower said. "You always want to leave the program
better than the previous senior class and the foundation of this program
is stronger than it’s ever been."
Southern Mississippi`s Kenneth Johnson scores with eight seconds remaining to beat TCU, 28-21.
Attendance- 40,300
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
TCU- Layne 3 pass from Printers (Kaylakie kick)
USM- Barnes 50 interception return (Hanna kick)
Third Quarter
USM- Handy 9 pass from Kelly (Hanna kick)
TCU- Tomlinson 7 run (Kaylakie
kick)
TCU- Tomlinson 33 run (Kaylakie kick)
Fourth Quarter
USM- Handy 56 pass from Kelly (Hanna kick)
USM- Johnson 29 pass from Kelly (Hanna kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
USM- Tomlinson 28-118, Layne 7-31
USM- Nance 16-104, Kelly 11-43, Woods 8-12
Passing
TCU- Printers 10-22-115
USM- Kelly 11-23-159
Receiving
TCU- Brown 3-37, Layne 3-14, Dunbar 2-42, Ti Maiden 2-22
USM- Handy 5-84, Garner 3-42, Johnson 1-29
