Southern Mississippi faked a punt in its own end zone and the Golden Eagles later converted it into a long scoring drive on the way to a 30-24 win at Virginia in a non-conference game Saturday.

Punter Danny Hrapmann ran 31 yards for a first down from his own end zone on a 4th-and-14 play to spark the Golden Eagles on a 14-play, 87-yard drive capped by one of three touchdown passes by Austin Davis on the day.

There was very little conventional abut the game from the onset. Virginia (2-2) failed to convert on a fake extra point on its first touchdown and later the Cavs went with freshman quarterback David Watford after starter Mike Rocco was banged up throwing one of his three interceptions in the first half.

Watford, however, had little success until the fourth quarter when he hit Jeremiah Mathis on a 2-yard touchdown pass and then converted the two-point play to cut the deficit to 27-24.

But Southern Mississippi (3-1) used a big catch-and-run by Tracy Lampley of 42 yards and Hrapmann booted his third field goal of the second half to cap the scoring.

Davis had all three touchdown passes in the first half as Southern Miss took a 21-13 lead into intermission. Davis finished 27 for 41 for 313 yards.

Kelvin Bolden had seven catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns for Southern Miss.

Virginia led 13-7 in the first quarter. Rocco scored on a 6-yard run and Kevin Parks barreled his way into the end zone from 9 yards out.