NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Southern Miss’ fading hopes of another division championship disappeared on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles committed turnovers on their first three possessions and quickly fell behind by three touchdowns against Old Dominion. Despite a strong second half it was too much to overcome, and they lost 51-35.

David Washington threw two touchdown passes for Old Dominion (7-3, 5-1 Conference USA), while Jeremy Cox and Ray Lawry each ran for two touchdowns.

Southern Miss committed five turnovers in all — freshman quarterback Keon Howard fumbled three times and threw one interception in his first career start — and lost despite outgaining Old Dominion 452-370.

The loss ended Southern Miss’ chances of repeating as C-USA West Division champions. The Golden Eagles (5-5, 3-3) lost for the fourth time in five games and are now 2 1/2 games behind division leader Louisiana Tech with two to play.

Louisiana Tech (8-3, 6-1) clinched the West Division title by beating Texas-San Antonio 63-35 on Saturday.

Old Dominion is 1 1/2 games behind Western Kentucky in the East Division.

Old Dominion quickly turned fumbles by Howard on USM’s first two drives into touchdowns with scoring runs by Lawry to take a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter. Two plays into USM’s fourth drive, Brandon Addison picked off a Howard pass and Cox ran it in for the Monarchs three plays later to make it 21-0 with 3:58 left in the period.

Old Dominion led 42-7 after Cox broke off a 67-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter. The Monarchs also scored on a safety and a fumble return by Rashaad Coward in the fourth quarter, and sacked Howard six times.

Howard was starting because Nick Mullens and Parker Adamson were both out with injuries.

“We talked about trying to go after the ball if the young quarterback played because he doesn’t have a lot of experience,” Old Dominion coach Bobby Wilder said. “Generally, a quarterback doesn’t get hit in practice. That’s not something a young quarterback is adept at.”

Howard was 12-of-24 passing for 230 yards and one touchdown. He also ran for 98 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries.

Ito Smith ran for 97 yards and three touchdowns for the Golden Eagles. He became one of just four Southern Miss players with multiple 1,000-yard rushing seasons.