HATTIESBURG – A week after turning the ball over four times and failing to gain 200 total yards in a stunning home loss to Tulsa, the Southern Miss offense could have used all the help it could get to untrack itself against Central Florida Saturday night.

The Golden Eagles’ special teams and defense were only happy to oblige in a blockbuster first half of USM’s eventual 52-31 win – as was UCF’s offense.

The Knights fumbled three times in the first quarter and twice more in the second, allowed returns of 47 and 78 yards and also tossed an interception, each of which led to a USM score. When the dust cleared, UCF had turned the ball over six times, Southern Miss quarterback Dustin Almond had thrown four touchdown passes while running for another and the Golden Eagles (3-2, 2-1 Conference USA) had smashed the school record for points in a half with 45.

&#8221All week we said we wanted to get right back on the field after we played Tulsa,“ said Almond, who finished 23-of-37 passing for 277 yards and, with his last throw early in the fourth quarter, joined Lee Roberts and Jeff Kelly as the only Southern Miss quarterbacks to throw for five touchdowns in a game. &#8221I couldn’t tell you the difference. I guess the wind was blowing out of the East tonight or something.“

USM’s early good fortune came fast and furious. The Eagles began four of five first quarter drives deep in UCF territory and scored on each of them.

After the Knights scored on a 39-yard TD pass from Steven Moffett to Mike Walker to make it 10-7, John Eubanks put USM back in scoring position with a 78-yard kickoff return to the UCF 22 on the ensuing kickoff. McCaleb then extended the lead to 13-7 on a 20-yard field goal.

Two fumbles, one in the first quarter and one in the second, and an interception by Brandon Sumrall led to three Southern Miss touchdowns before halftime and a 45-7 lead. All three turnovers came inside the UCF 25-yard line.

&#8221It was a great job of the defense and the special teams to put us in that position,“ said Southern Miss head coach Jeff Bower. &#8221I don’t ever remember having that many short fields … that was big in the game.“