The Golden Eagles didn't play close to their best game of the season, but they did enough to clip Nevada 24-17 Saturday in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl at Aloha Stadium.  The figures on the stat sheet didn't stand out for USM Saturday night, but it's the number in the win column that says it all.  Southern Miss ends the campaign 12-2, smashing the previous USM mark for wins in a season of 10.  To get the latest sports news from USA TODAY, including game results, columns and features, follow us on Twitter at @USATODAYSports.  "I'm proud to have been the coach of arguably the greatest team in the history of Southern Miss football," an emotional Fedora said after Saturday's game. "That's 100 years of history. This football team went 12-2, won the conference championship and the Hawaii Bowl."  The win sends Fedora off on a bright note as he now turns his focus to his new job at North Carolina.  Davis threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Bolden with 5:48 remaining for the deciding score.  It wasn't Davis's best performance as a Golden Eagle. He completed just 18 of 41 passes for 185 yards, but came through with the big play in the end.  "I think it hasn't hit me yet," Davis said of playing his final game at USM. "It may be a couple of weeks until I realize I won't play college football again. You can ask every senior. There were no individuals on this team. We had good juniors and we were good as a team. We wanted to do something special."  Khyri Thornton and Kendrick Presley combined on a big 4th-and-1 stop at the Nevada 49 with 4:01 remaining the game to end any chance the Wolf Pack had of a late rally.  After the USM defense gave up 235 yards of total offense in the first half, Nevada could only manage 78 yards in the second half.  "We just went into halftime and made some adjustments," defensive end Cordarro Law said. "We just had some guys that weren't in the right gaps."  The first 28 minutes of the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl were among the ugliest of the season for the Southern Miss football team.  But the final two minutes of the first half proved to be a turning point that allowed USM to stay in the game despite a sloppy effort for much the contest.  USM's reversal of fortunes started when Danny Hrapmann nailed a 48-yard field goal with 1:21 left in the first half to cut the Nevada lead to 14-10.  On the following kickoff, Cameron O'Neal popped the ball from the arms of Nevada return man Khalid Wooten. USM's Emmanuel Johnson recovered the fumble at the Nevada 24 and, nine plays later, Davis threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tracey Lampley with 12 seconds left in the first half.  The Golden Eagles entered halftime with a 17-14 advantage despite being out-gained 235-109 in the first half.  "That was big," Davis said. "It felt so odd that we played so bad and we were winning at halftime. That's a credit to how well our defense and special teams played. That's been an unbelievable difference in the season this year."  Nevada running back Lampford Mark constantly gashed the Southern Miss defense up the middle in the first half.  In the first 30 minutes of the game, he had 20 carries for 162 yards and two touchdowns. Those numbers in the first half were good enough to make him the fifth-best rusher in the history of the bowl game.  In the second half, Mark managed just 21 yards rushing.  "We made a few changes and got the corners more involved in the run game," USM safety Jacorius Cotton said. "We came out and really played better."  After a messy, scoreless first quarter, USM was the first team on the scoreboard when backup linebacker Tim Green blocked a Nevada punt 54 seconds into the second quarter.  Tray Becton-Martin fell on the ball, giving USM a 7-0 advantage.  "They were backed up in the end zone," Green said. "I went to (Fedora) said and 'Let's go get the ball.' Either we block it or get good field position. I ran up to the shield and I just took off, flipped over and blocked the punt."  Nevada answered on the following possession with a 13-play, 81-yard drive that culminated in a 5-yard touchdown run by Mark with 7:40 left in the second quarter.  Southern Miss responded with a three-and-out possession, giving the ball right back to Nevada.  It took a much shorter drive by the Wolf Pack to get in the end zone on its next possession as Mark capped a four-play drive with a 45-yard run right up the middle for a touchdown to grab a 14-7 lead with 4:39 left in the first half.  Mark ended the game with 29 carries for 183 yards and two scores.  Neither offense could accomplish much in the third quarter before Nevada was helped by a special teams miscue by Southern Miss.  Punt returner Tracey Lampley collided with a teammate and the ball bounced off his foot, allowing Nevada to recover and set the ball up at the Golden Eagle 14 with 1:57 left in the third quarter.  But the USM defense stiffened as a Law sack on third down pushed Nevada back 8 yards and the Wolf Pack had to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Allen Hardison.  Law, who was the USM MVP for the game, was a terror for the Nevada offense all day, gathering seven tackles, 4.5 of those for lost yardage and two big sacks.  "It was nice ending with (the MVP)," Law said. "I wasn't shooting for the MVP, but I went to get a win to end my career."  Nevada coach Chris Ault admitted after the game that his offensive line's inability to win the battle up front led to his team's demise.  "Defensively, we played well enough to win," Ault said. "In the second half, our offensive line couldn't get off the ball."  Nevada ends it season with a record of 7-6
Austin Davis threw a touchdown to Kevin Bolden to give the Golden Eagles the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl over Nevada Saturday night in Honolulu.