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So. Miss defeats La. Tech 58-24 to claim C-USA West title

In this Aug. 15, 2015 photograph, Southern Mississippi football coach Todd Monken discusses improvements he has seen with this C-USA affiliated school in Hattiesburg, Miss., as they prepare for their season opener against Mississippi State on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In this Aug. 15, 2015 photograph, Southern Mississippi football coach Todd Monken discusses improvements he has seen with this C-USA affiliated school in Hattiesburg, Miss., as they prepare for their season opener against Mississippi State on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Three years ago, Southern Miss failed to win a game.

On Saturday, the Golden Eagles became Conference USA West Division champions.

Southern Miss scored three touchdowns on three Louisiana Tech turnovers in the fourth quarter to blow out the Bulldogs 58-24 and earn a berth in the Conference USA title game. The Golden Eagles will play at Western Kentucky next weekend.

Southern Miss jumped out to a 24-3 lead late in the second quarter thanks to a balanced passing and rushing attack. But the Bulldogs cut the lead to 24-10 right before halftime to give themselves a chance.

Louisiana Tech scored first in the third quarter to cut the Golden Eagles lead to a touchdown, but Southern Miss quarterback Nick Mullens answered quickly with a one-yard touchdown pass to Korey Robertson. After that, the wheels fell off for Louisiana Tech.

The Bulldogs turned the ball over on three consecutive plays and Golden Eagles running back Ito Smith rushed for touchdowns on each subsequent possession. In less than a minute at the start of the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs went from trailing by 14 points to 51-17 deficit.

The division title capped a dramatic turnaround for a Southern Miss team that had won four games in the previous three seasons.

In 2011, Southern Miss, behind coach Larry Fedora, won 12 games, including beating Houston in the C-USA title game and besting Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl. But since Fedora left for North Carolina, the Golden Eagles have fallen on tough times. They went winless in 2012 and won just one game in 2013. But this year, coach Todd Monken finally had the right players in place to become competitive in C-USA again.

Next week’s game against Western Kentucky will not be easy. The Hilltoppers are undefeated in conference play and are averaging 44.2 points per game.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!

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