South Alabama is bowl-eligible for the third straight season after beating Southern Miss 35-14 in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Saturday.

The Jaguars (6-5) are also still alive for the Sun Belt West Division championship at 5-2 in conference play heading into the final weekend of the season. South Alabama hosts Texas State at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

On Saturday, Gio Lopez threw three touchdown passes and Wesley Miller returned an interception for a score as the Jaguars overcame a lackluster first half at M.M. Roberts Stadium. South Alabama outscored Southern Miss — which falls to 1-10, 0-7 after its ninth straight loss — 21-3 in the second half in getting over the .500 mark for the first time this year.

Lopez ended up 15-for-42 for 193 yards and the three TDs, while Fluff Bothwell ran for 104 yards and a score on just six carries. Lopez hit Kentrel Bullock on a 21-yard touchdown, Jeremiah Webb on a 32-yard score and Jamaal Pritchett on a 40-yarder.

The touchdown to Pritchett put the Jaguars up 21-11 early in the third, then Miller’s 57-yard pick six made it at the 2:42 mark of the quarter. Miller stepped in front of a John White pass on a third down play and went untouched to the end zone for his first career defensive touchdown to make it 28-11.

Southern Miss got Connor Gibbs’ 28-yard field goal with 11:34 remaining to cut the lead to 28-14, but South Alabama got another touchdown to go up 35-14. Fluff Bothwell ran 59 yards to the Southern Miss 3, then barreled into the end zone on the next play for the touchdown and a 21-point Jaguars lead with 8:48 left.

South Alabama led by just three at halftime, though the Jaguars were mostly in control statistically. Southern Miss drove 75 yards in 14 plays with the opening kickoff, scoring a touchdown on Tate Rodemaker’s 7-yard pass to Davis Dalton and getting a two-point conversion on a fake extra-point run by Reed Jesiolowski.

South Alabama pulled within 8-7 with 13:29 left in the second quarter, when Bullock took a Lopez screen pass 21 yards for a touchdown. The Jaguars took the lead at 14-8 when Lopez found Webb on a 32-yard score with 8:33 remaining in the half.

The teams traded punts the remainder of the half, setting up arguably the most-exciting play of the day. Southern Miss’ Gibbs drilled a 59-yard field goal on the final play of the half, the second-longest field goal in program history after a 61-yarder by future NFL Hall-of-Fame punter Ray Guy vs. Utah State in 1972.

Kickoff for South Alabama-Texas State is set for 2:30 p.m. Friday at Hancock Whitney Stadium. The game will stream live via ESPN+.