Southern Miss was designated as the away team, however instead of wearing the visitor white jerseys, the Golden Eagles started the game in yellow home jerseys (Troy wore its maroon home jerseys). Due to NCAA rules, Southern Miss was penalized one time out after the opening kickoff and played the first half with two timeouts to Troy's three.
Southern Miss came from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to force overtime and, after a Britt Barefoot 39-yard field goal on the Golden Eagles' possession, Michael McGhee blocked Troy kicker Sam Glusman's 28-yard field goal attempt that would have tied the game. The block sealed the win for Southern Miss, ensuring the school's 15th consecutive winning season.
Barefoot made all three of his field goal attempts, from 38, 46 and 39 yards. Prior to this, his longest field goal of the season had been 29 yards.
Southern Miss head coach Larry Fedora's decision to wear home uniforms when the team was not supposed to do so was not the only such maneuver this season. On December 6, Southern California head coach Pete Carroll had the Trojans wear red uniforms instead of white in the annual rivalry game against UCLA. The same penalty was incurred against USC.
Southern Miss received an extra allotment of tickets from the New Orleans Bowl committee after selling out all of the seats it had previously received.[3]
Golden Eagles wide receiverDeAndre Brown spent Sunday overnight at a local hospital after literally snapping his leg in half in the first quarter.[1]
The audio of the ESPN telecast was also available on ESPN Radio through a simulcast.
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