30 27 7 10 0 10 | Southern Miss 7 10 0 10 3 | |
The 2008 R+L CarriersNew Orleans Bowl was the eighth edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Southern Miss Golden Eagles defeated the Troy Trojans, 30-27 in a dramatic overtime game. Troy had qualified for the game by winning the Sun Belt Conference title, while Southern Miss had roared back from a 2-6 start to fill the game's slot from Conference USA.
Kickoff time was 7:15 p.m. U.S. Central time and the game was shown live on ESPN.
Game summary
Southern Miss was designated as the away team; however, instead of wearing the visitor white jerseys, the Golden Eagles started the game in yellow home jerseys (Troy wore its maroon home jerseys). Due to NCAA rules, Southern Miss was penalized one time out after the opening kickoff and played the first half with two timeouts to Troy's three.
Southern Miss came from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to force overtime and, after a Britt Barefoot 39-yard field goal on the Golden Eagles' possession, Michael McGhee blocked Troy kicker Sam Glusman's 28-yard field goal attempt that would have tied the game. The block sealed the win for Southern Miss, ensuring the school's 15th consecutive winning season.