EL PASO, Texas (AP) — Autrey Golden scored a 98-yard kickoff return, Trey Brown and Nick Gathrite scored fourth-quarter defensive touchdowns, and UTEP beat Southern Miss 35-14 on Saturday night.
Brown intercepted Cole Weeks’ pass and returned it 51 yards to give UTEP (5-3, 3-1 Conference USA) a 28-14 lead early in the fourth and Gathrite returned a fumble 59 yards to cap the scoring with 9:31 left.
Southern Miss (3-6, 1-4) closed to 21-14 with its own special teams touchdown late in the third when Rakeem Nunez-Roches blocked Jay Mattox’s kick and Cornell Armstrong returned it 78 yards.
UTEP gained just 234 yards in total offense but forced five turnovers to win a third consecutive conference game for the first time since 2008.
Weeks was 20 of 46 for 309 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Casey Martin had six catches for 129 yards and a touchdown.
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