NEW ORLEANS BOWL: Blue Raiders roll with Dasher

— Dwight Dasher ran for a bowl-record 201 yards and two touchdowns and threw two scoring passes to lead Middle Tennessee to a 42-32 victory over Southern Mississippi in the New Orleans Bowl on Sunday night.

Dasher completed 15 of 25 for 162 yards and ran 26 times. He finished the season with 1,175 yards rushing. His rushing total for the game was the most for a quarterback in a bowl game, breaking the old mark of 200 yards set by Vince Young in the 2006 Rose Bowl.

Middle Tennessee (10-3), playing in the second bowl game in school history, concluded its best season since joining the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1999 with a seven-game winning streak and its first bowl victory.

Southern Miss (7-6) was playing in its eighth consecutive bowl game and 12th in the past 13 seasons. The Golden Eagles had won their three previous New Orleans Bowls, including an overtime victory against Troy last season.

Southern Miss running back Damion Fletcher ran for 78 yards and became the ninth player in major college football to reach 1,000 in all four seasons.

He did it despite a hamstring injury that causedhim to sit out one game this season.

Southern Miss started strong, scoring on its first possession as Tory Harrison rushed for a 2-yard touchdown. On their second possession, the Golden Eagles stretched their lead to 14-0 on a 24-yard reception by DeAndre Brown.

The Blue Raiders pulled even in the second quarter on an 11-yard reception by Garrett Anders, and - after Alex Suber interceptedYoung on the Southern Miss 12 - a 9-yard touchdown catch by Shane Blissard.

Southern Miss held a 17-14 edge at halftime thanks to Daniel Hrapmann’s 20-yard field goal as time expired.

Dasher opened the third quarter with a 35-yard touchdown run. When Dasher left briefly with an ankle injury, Brent Burnette capped 76-yard scoring drive with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Chris McClover.

Hrapmann hit a 38-yardfield goal to cut the Blue Raiders’ lead to 28-20 at the end of three quarters.

Southern Miss had a chance to tie it early in the fourth, making it 28-26 on DeAndre’s 7 yard touchdown reception, but the two-point conversion failed.

Benjamin Cunningham and Dasher ran for touchdowns to put it out of reach for Middle Tennessee.

Southern Miss added a final score with 27 seconds left the draw within 10.

Sports, Pages 24 on 12/21/2009

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