HATTIESBURG – Southern Miss defensive coordinator Jay Hopson is glad he may have to see the likes of Houston quarterback Kevin Kolb and receiver Jeron Harvey again.

If he does, it’ll mean Hopson’s Golden Eagles and the Cougars would be playing in the Conference USA Championship game.

Southern Miss (4-2, 2-1 C-USA) took a step in that direction by beating Houston 31-27 Saturday before a homecoming crowd of 32,317, the 11th largest crowd ever at M.M. Roberts Stadium.

Hopson’s defense did its part by holding Houston (4-3, 2-1) to a single score in the first half and then forcing two straight three-and-outs to begin the second half.

&#8220There is a reason why they are the No. 1 offense in Conference USA,” Hopson, a Warren Central product, said afterwards. &#8220Kevin Kolb is a great quarterback and Harvey showed he’s a game-breaking receiver.

&#8220But I thought we contained them for the better part of the game tonight.”

The Southern Miss stops helped the Eagles enjoy second half 10-point leads of 17-7, 24-14 and 31-21. But each time, Houston came back.

The most disturbing for the Golden Eagle faithful was a coverage breakdown that allowed Kolb to find Harvey for a 74-yard touchdown pass with eight minutes left that made it 24-21.

&#8220We had a coverage bust and that allowed Harvey to get 1-on-1 with our free safety,” Hopson said. &#8220The safety (LeVance Richmond) was supposed to have help out there and it didn’t come.”

Southern Miss’ offense, however, came up with an answer, going on a five-plus minute drive capped by Jeremy Young’s 11-yard pass to tight end Shawn Nelson that made it 31-21 with 3:46 remaining.

Kolb’s troops could not convert on a fourth down play at their own 40 and the Golden Eagles got the ball back with 1:29 left.

&#8220I thought that, and the two stops at the start of the second half, were the big series in the game for our defense,” Hopson said. &#8220That’s where we needed stops.”

Southern Miss was unable to kill off the rest of the clock and went for it on fourth down, giving Kolb another 29 seconds to pad his stats.

He did just that by marching the Cougars 60 yards on three plays. The score came on the game’s final play, a 13-yard pass to Harvey that got tipped up in the air twice before the 6-foot-5 receiver from Jacksonville, Fla., finally clutched it.

The officials signaled touchdown and then vacated the field amid a storm of protest from several Cougar players and a couple of coaches.

Kolb will maintain his standing as the league’s top quarterback after going 22-of-38 for 339 yards. Harvey had more than half the yardage total at 174 on five catches.

Despite the gaudy numbers for the Houston duo, Hopson feels his defensive unit is right where it needs to be at the season’s halfway point.

&#8220I feel pretty good because we were leading Conference USA in scoring defense,” Hopson said. &#8220Even though we might now be No. 2, this was a good team win. Now we can get ready for Virginia Tech … a tough team that can always run the ball well.”