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Call this win an escape for Southern Miss, who nearly put their chances at the Conference USA crown in jeopardy against upset-minded Central Florida.
Danny Hrapmann kicked five field goals, and No. 25 Southern Miss hung onto its Conference USA title hopes with a 30-29 win on Saturday night.
Central Florida's J.J. Whorton caught a 25-yard touchdown pass as time expired, but Southern Miss safety Jacorious Cotton got a hand on Blake Bortles' 2-point conversion pass to seal the win.
Hrapmann made all five field-goal attempts, including kicks of 42, 44
and 48 yards, and made both of his extra-point kicks to propel Southern Miss to its first 9-1 start since 1962.
USM quarterback Austin Davis threw for 366 yards and two touchdowns.
''We knew they were going to be good,'' Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora said. ''And they were really good on defense. We obviously didn't play the game that we wanted. We kept shooting ourselves in the foot, but again we found a way to win.''
Bortles came on in relief of UCF starter Jeff Godfrey in the first
quarter and completed 24 of 34 passes for 248 yards and two
touchdowns, with one interception.
Godfrey completed 7 of 10 passes and didn't appear to be injured when he left the game.
The redshirt freshman who replaced him was 9 of 10 on the final drive, including the touchdown pass, and almost got the ball to Whorton again on the two-point attempt when Cotton knocked it away.
''We came in to win the game, and I thought that was our best chance to win it,'' UCF coach George O'Leary said. ''(Bortles) just threw the ball a yard short.''
Latavius Murray returned a kickoff 69 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter for the Knights' only other touchdown.
Nick Cattoi was good on all three of his field-goal attempts, from 48, 41 and 38 yards.
Central Florida (4-6) has lost four of five and six of eight.
''It's a tough loss,'' O'Leary said. ''We're 4-6 with two games left to
get bowl eligible. We've just got to grow from this game and continue
to do the things we're doing well.''
Southern Miss was turned away in the red zone four times and never
established a running game, managing 127 yards on the ground.
The Knights held Southern Miss to three third-down conversions on 14 attempts. One of those conversions came with Southern Miss trailing 23-22 on 3rd-and-7 from the Southern Miss 23. Davis found Briggs down the sideline for a 34-yard pass, and five plays later, connected for a 4-yard, go-ahead touchdown.
A screen pass to left tackle Lamar Holmes, who checked in as an eligible receiver, gave Southern Miss the two-point conversion and a 30-23 lead.
Southern Miss can clinch the East with a win over UAB on Thursday night in Birmingham or a win over Memphis in Hattiesburg on Nov. 26.
''That's been our goal all year, to win the East,'' Fedora said. ''We're
close. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We're in the
fourth quarter of our season, and we understand that.''
