2008 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl

2008

TROY MAKES RETURN TRIP TO NEW ORLEANS BOWL

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Sam Glusman’s attempt at a game-tying field goal was blocked in the first overtime by Southern Miss defensive back Michael McGee giving USM the 30-27 victory in the 2008 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl at the Superdome.

Britt Barefoot tied the game with a 46-yard field goal with 2:57 remaining and Troy could not muster a score on its final drive sending the game to overtime.

Southern Miss lost the toss and went on offense first and after being stopped on third down, settled for a 39-yard field goal and gave the Trojans the ball.

Troy picked up a first down on their possession on a swing-pass to Jerrel Jernigan. Faced with a third-down just three plays later, the conversion failed.

“We knew the game was going to be a close game,” Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said. “We knew that both teams would probably score some points. We thought that we would be able to move it a little bit better. I said last week that whoever rushes it the best will wind up winning the game and that’s what happened. We got to overtime tied at 27. They get a ricochet field goal for three and we get one blocked. That’s about as close as it gets.

“Our kids played hard, played together and never gave up and we lost the game. We are going to get home and get back to work. I’m very proud of this team and especially our seniors for what they have done.”

Scoring Summary

TROY - Calvin 17-yard fumble return (Glusman kick), 14:10, 1st USM - Baptiste 64-yard pass from Davis (Barefoot kick), 13:22, 1st TROY - Burton 4-yard pass from Brown (Glusman kick), 2:58, 1st USM - Fletcher 8-yard run (Barefoot kick), 14:25, 2nd TROY - Glusman 20-yard FG, 3:03, 2nd USM - Barefoot 38-yard FG, 0:00, 2nd TROY - Glusman 34-yard FG, 4:34, 3rd TROY - Jernigan 6-yard run (Glusman kick), 2:01, 3rd USM - Massey 35-yard pass from Davis (Barefoot kick), 7:20, 4th USM - Barefoot 46-yard FG, 2:50, 4th USM - Barefoot 39-yard FG, OT

Team Statistics

First Downs Rushes-Yards Passing Yards Passes Att-Comp-Int Total Offense Plays-Yards

USM

20 37-146 276 34-20-0 71-422

TROY

21 35-73 255 44-26-0 79-328

RUSHING - (USM) Fletcher 14-78, Davis 18-37, Harrison 5-31; (TROY) Harris 19-52, Moreland 4-28, Jernigan 6-22 (TD), Burton 1-(-2), Brown 5-(-27)

PASSING - (USM) Davis 20-34-0-276 (2 TD); (TROY) Brown 26-43-0-255 (TD), Jernigan 0-1-0-0

RECEIVING - (USM) Baptiste 5-88 (TD), Morris 4-61, Parham 3-26, Fletcher 3-23, Nelson 2-16, Massey 1-35 (TD), Spight 1-18, Brown 1-9; (TROY) Jernigan 9-65, Tate 3-47, Burton 3-30 (TD), Harris 3-20, Williams 2-36, Silvoy 1-16, Turner 1-13, Davis 1-10, Marcum 1-8, Bray 1-7, Terry 1-3