Southern Mississippi Has a Surprise Party at Florida State, 30-26

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —  Southern Mississippi may have surprised Florida State Saturday, but the Golden Eagles didn’t surprise Coach Curley Hallman.

“We’ve got a bunch of doers,” Hallman said after Brett Favre’s two-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Harris in the final minute gave Southern Mississippi a 30-26 victory over the sixth-ranked Seminoles. “We knew it before we came down here.”

Florida State took a 26-24 lead midway through the final quarter on Bill Mason’s 27-yard field goal before Southern Mississippi put together a 6:34 drive to set up Favre’s winning pass with 23 seconds left in the game.

“The coach told us, ‘If you have them in the fourth quarter, you will win it,’ ” Favre said after completing 21 of 39 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns. “We knew they were scared.”

Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said he knew beforehand that Favre would be a handful for his young secondary.

“He could make big plays and keep drives going,” Bowden said. “Favre was good enough that he took advantage of mistakes we made.”

Actually, Southern Mississippi could have won the game in a runaway, but the Golden Eagles made three turnovers inside the Florida State 15.

The Seminoles took advantage of the first two Southern Mississippi turnovers to take a 10-0 lead on their first two possessions.

However, the Golden Eagles came back, capitalizing on fumbles by Florida State’s Shannon Baker and Dexter Carter to take a 17-10 halftime lead.

“We couldn’t knock them out when we had them down the first half,” Bowden said. “We couldn’t make the big plays.”

Southern Mississippi took its first lead with 11 seconds left in the first half when Favre lobbed a four-yard scoring pass to Alfred Williams.

Eddie Ray Jackson’s three-yard run tied the game, 10-10, early in the second quarter.

The Seminoles rebounded from the 17-10 halftime deficit with a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 23-17 lead.

Lawrence Dawsey caught a 23-yard scoring pass from Peter Tom Willis, and Dexter Carter added a nine-yard touchdown run. But a bad snap prevented Mason from making the extra point. Carter, who rushed for 118 yards, also scored the game’s first touchdown on an 11-yard run.

Willis completed 25 of 40 passes for 269 yards for the Seminoles, who have lost their opener two straight seasons. Miami defeated Florida State, 31-0, a year ago.

The Seminoles were 10-2 each of the last two seasons, losing both years to Miami.