HATTIESBURG

&045; It was all about the beginning and ending.

The Golden Eagles (4-0, 2-0 in Conference USA) beat Houston (1-5, 1-2) 35-29 to keep their record perfect on the season.

Anyone who didn’t watch the middle two quarters of Thursday’s game between Southern Miss and Houston didn’t really miss much. All but 23 of the games’s total 64 points were scored in the first six minutes and the final 3:21 of regulation and overtime.

During the rest of the game, the Golden Eagles struggled, scoring only eight points and allowing Houston to climb back into a game Southern Miss could have won easily.

Houston led 29-21 in the fourth quarter and appeared to have the game won. Southern Miss had a chance to tie the game with 4:12 left in the fourth quarter, but Dustin Almond’s pass attempt on fourth and goal fell incomplete. Houston took over on downs but couldn’t run out the clock.

Southern Miss got the ball back with 2:30 remaining. Almond led his team to a touchdown. Almond ran 18 yards into the end zone, suffering a pulled hamstring on the play.

Backup quarterback Damion Carter came in and handed the ball to Anthony Harris, who ran for the two-point conversion, tying the game and sending it into overtime.

&uot;There were so many big plays at critical times at the end of the game,&uot; Southern Miss head coach Jeff Bower said. &uot;Dustin made a heck of a play, and then Damion Carter comes in there and converts the two-point play.&uot;

In overtime, Carter stayed in for the injured Almond. Opening on offense, the Eagles scored when Carter threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Otho Graves at the very back of the end zone.

&uot;(Carter) made a good throw, and I made the catch,&uot; Graves said. &uot;I knew I got one leg in, but I saw the refs were hesitating.&uot;

That missed extra point turned out to be inconsequential. Houston quarterback Kevin Kolb’s fourth down attempt sailed out of bounds, ending the game.

Carter came into the game and played like he had been starting all season, leading the game-winning drive in overtime and capping it off with the touchdown pass.

&uot;Carter was really cool. He cherished that opportunity to make those plays,&uot; Bower said. &uot;Our kids expected to win, and they did what they had to do to win.&uot;

For the first time this season, the Southern Miss defense didn’t look up to the task of stopping the opposing offense. Houston racked up 518 yards and scored 29 points, the most the Golden Eagles have allowed this year.

Much of the game may have been a grind-it-out affair, but any fans who went to the concession stand in the first quarter probably regretted their decision. After all, they easily might have missed three touchdowns. The first two Southern Miss scores and Houston’s first touchdown came in a span of one minute, 10 seconds.

On their first drive, the Eagles took the ball on an eight-play 65-yard drive capped off by Houston struck back, using a four-play, 80-yard completion to wideout Vincent Marshall to set up five-yard rushing touchdown by backup quarterback Kendal Briles. The entire drive took just 58 seconds.

At halftime, Southern Miss led 21-16.

From the second quarter on, the Golden Eagle offense sputtered, allowing the Cougars to climb back into the game. Trailing by just five points at halftime, Houston opened the second half moving the ball down the field on a methodical drive.

In the end, it didn’t matter. Houston came back on their next drive to score a touchdown, again set up by a 69-yard reception by Marshall. The score gave Houston its first lead of the game at 22-21.

Kolb shredded the Southern Miss defense, throwing for 345 yards and a touchdown.

Both Marshall and Briles had more than 100 receiving yards in the game.

But it was Almond’s heroics that determined the outcome of the game, as he scored the touchdown that sent the contest into overtime.

Southern Miss is atop the Conference USA standings and has a good chance of being ranked in the polls this week. The Golden Eagles have been hovering just outside the top 25 in both major polls.

&uot;We have a good football team,&uot; Houston head coach Art Briles said. &uot;I’m having a hard time getting people to believe me. But I know that we have a good team.&uot;