NEW ORLEANS — Dwight Dasher ran for a bowl-record 201 yards and two touchdowns and threw two scoring passes to lead Middle Tennessee to a 42-32 victory over Southern Mississippi in the New Orleans Bowl on Sunday night.
Dasher completed 15-of-25 passes for 162 yards and ran 26 times. He finished the season with 1,175 yards rushing. His rushing total for the game was the most for a quarterback in a bowl game, breaking the mark of 200 yards set by Vince Young in the 2006 Rose Bowl.
Middle Tennessee (10-3), playing in the second bowl game in school history, concluded its best season since joining the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1999 with a seven-game winning streak and its first bowl victory.
Southern Miss (7-6) was playing in its eighth consecutive bowl game and 12th in the last 13 seasons. The Golden Eagles had won their three previous New Orleans Bowls, including an overtime win against Troy last season.
Southern Miss running back Damion Fletcher ran for 78 yards and became the ninth player in major-college football to reach 1,000 in all four seasons despite a hamstring injury that caused him to sit out one game this season.
Martevious Young completed 18-of-34 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns for the Golden Eagles. He was intercepted twice.
Southern Miss started strong, scoring on its first possession as Tory Harrison rushed for a 2-yard touchdown. On their second possession, the Golden Eagles stretched their lead to 14-0 on a 24-yard TD by DeAndre Brown.
Southern Miss held a 17-14 edge at halftime thanks to Daniel Hrapmann’s 20-yard field goal as time expired.
The Blue Raiders’ victory gave the Sun Belt Conference three victories against Conference USA in the last four New Orleans Bowls.
