Abraham burns Owls’ defense

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Jack Abraham passed for 428 yards and four touchdowns, and Southern Miss rolled to a 40-22 victory over Rice on Saturday in the Conference USA opener for both teams.

Abraham, a sophomore, completed 25 of 34 passes and finished with the fourth-highest single-game yardage total in Golden Eagles history.

Southern Miss (2-1) jumped out to a 10-0 firstquarter lead on Parker Shaunfield’s 28-yard field goal and Abraham’s 28-yard scoring strike to Quez Watkins.

The Owls (1-3) pulled within two points by quarter’s end on Austin Walter’s 62-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion run by Jordan Myers.

Abraham connected with Tez Parks for a 14-yard touchdown and a 17-8 lead early in the second quarter. Rice again cut its deficit to two on Aaron Cephus’ 5yard pass from Shawn Stankavage, but the Golden Eagles answered with Steven Anderson’s 1-yard plunge to lead 24-15 at halftime.

Abraham sandwiched touchdown passes to Jaylond Adams and Tim Jones around Shaunfield’s 44yard field goal to pull away in the second half.

Stankavage was just 13of-26 passing for two touchdowns and two interceptions for Rice. Walter had 81 rushing yards on six carries, and Austin Trammell had a team-leading six receptions for 60 yards.

It marked the eighth straight meeting that the winning team has scored at least 40 points.