HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Darrin Reaves rushed for a season-high 223 yards and two touchdowns and Alabama-Birmingham erased a 16-point halftime deficit to defeat Southern Mississippi 27-19 Saturday night.
The Golden Eagles (0-9, 0-6 Conference USA) led 16-0 at the half, but the Blazers (2-7, 1-4) scored three second-half touchdowns and hit two long field goals to seal the comeback.
Reaves rushed for 169 of his 223 yards in the second half and scored on plays of 14 and 8 yards.
Reaves' first touchdown put the Blazers on the board just after the half. His second put the game out of reach with 2:41 left.
UAB quarterback Austin Brown recovered from a shaky first half to complete 17 of his 29 pass attempts for 228 yards, including a third-quarter, 18-yard touchdown pass to Sam Accursio.
The Blazers' defense held Southern Miss to 117 yards of total offense and forced two second-half turnovers.
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| Scoring Summary |
| USM | Jeremy Hester safety |
| USM | Anthony Alford 10 yd run (Corey Acosta kick) |
| USM | Jalen Richard 29 yd run (Corey Acosta kick) |
| UAB | Darrin Reaves 14 yd run (Ty Long kick) |
| USM | Corey Acosta 41 yd FG |
| UAB | Sam Accursio 18 yd pass from Austin Brown (Ty Long kick) |
| UAB | Ty Long 43 yd FG |
| UAB | Ty Long 40 yd FG |
| UAB | Darrin Reaves 8 yd run (Ty Long kick) |
| Team Stats | ||
| UAB | USM | |
| First Downs | 25 | 16 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 6-14 | 3-13 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 0-1 | 0-2 |
| Plays-Net Yards | 75-435 | 64-295 |
| Rushes-Yds | 46-207 | 38-183 |
| Passing Yds | 228 | 112 |
| Kick Return Yds | 23 | 112 |
| Punt Return Yds | 12 | 8 |
| Passes | 17-29-1 | 10-26-1 |
| Punts | 5-192 | 6-218 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 3-2 | 4-2 |
| Penalties-Yds | 6-61 | 4-41 |
| Time of Poss. | 33:37 | 26:23 |
| Individual Stats |
| RUSHING |
| UAB: Darrin Reaves 35-223, Bashr Coles 3-22, Austin Brown 8--38 |
| USM: Jalen Richard 9-82, Jeremy Hester 10-57, Anthony Alford 14-45, Tyre Bracken 3-5, Kendrick Hardy 1--2, Arsenio Favor 1--4 |
| PASSING |
| UAB: Austin Brown 17-29-228-1 |
| USM: Anthony Alford 10-26-112-1 |
| RECEIVING |
| UAB: Patrick Hearn 5-54, Jackie Williams 4-57, Bashr Coles 2-39, Nick Adams 2-35, Sam Accursio 2-25, Jay Davis 1-15, Darrin Reaves 1-3 |
| USM: Francisco Llanos 5-47, Jeremy Hester 2-6, Tracy Lampley 2-3, Justin Sims 1-56 |
| Standings | |||
| Team | Standings | Conference | Overall |
| UAB | 5th Conference USA East | 2-6 | 3-9 |
| Southern Mississippi | 6th Conference USA East | 0-8 | 0-12 |
