Southern Miss (4-0) at (2) Alabama (4-2)

It took nearly four years for Southern Mississippi to get back into the AP Top 25. If it wants to stay there, it’s going to have pull out a win without its star quarterback.

The 24th-ranked Golden Eagles look to win their fifth straight game to start the season when they visit Alabama on Saturday.

Southern Miss (4-0) blew a 14-point lead and trailed for most of the second half in its game against Houston on Oct. 7, but forced overtime on starting quarterback Dustin Almond’s 18-yard touchdown run with 1:22 remaining.

Almond, however, left the game after pulling a hamstring in his left leg on the run, forcing Damion Carter to come in.

Carter threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Otho Graves in overtime, giving Southern Miss a 35-29 victory.

It was just Carter’s third pass of the season, and his only attempt of the game, but it helped Southern Miss improve to 4-0 for the first time since 1981.

The victory was the Golden Eagles’ 12th straight in Conference USA play and propelled them into the Top 25 for the first time since Nov. 12, 2000, when they were also 24th before a 14-9 home loss to East Carolina knocked them out of the AP poll.

Carter will start Saturday after Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower announced Monday that Almond, 57-of-105 for 663 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions this season, will miss the game.

“Dustin will be out for a while,” Bower said. “We don’t know how long.”

Carter will be starting against the Crimson Tide for the second straight year. He was ineffective in last year’s meeting, going 5-of-8 for 29 yards before being benched for Almond midway through the second quarter of Alabama’s 17-3 win.

“He’ll be fine and will rise to the challenge,” Bower said of Carter. “It’s a confidence booster to them the way he played at the end of the Houston game. I think that will be a big help for him.”

Alabama’s up-and-down season continued last Saturday when it beat Kentucky 45-17 to snap a two-game offensive funk and losing streak.

The Crimson Tide (4-2) scored on four straight second-half possessions after scoring just 13 points in their previous two defeats, and in the process, might have found a replacement for injured quarterback Brodie Croyle.

Marc Guillon had initially replaced Croyle, but turned in two straight ineffective performances. Guillon suffered a minor back injury last week in practice, causing Alabama coaches to start Spencer Pennington against Kentucky.

Pennington, a junior making only his second career start, mostly handed off the football—Alabama ran on 63 of its 74 offensive plays—but he also passed effectively, completing his first six throws and finishing 7-of-11 for 83 yards. In the second quarter, he engineered a 99-yard touchdown drive.

“The main thing was he played smart,” Alabama coach Mike Shula said. “He made good decisions and didn’t try to force the ball. We were fortunate enough to run the ball fairly successfully. Because of that, we got some good looks in the throwing game.

“That’s going to give him a lot of confidence and hopefully we can build on that for this week.”

The celebration was muted by the loss of starting tailback Ray Hudson, who injured his right knee midway through the third quarter. Shula said the senior’s status was uncertain pending an MRI.

Hudson is the SEC’s No. 2 rusher, running for 638 yards and four touchdowns in his first season as a starter. Sophomore Ken Darby ran for 99 yards and two touchdowns in place of Hudson last week, and is expected to see more action Saturday if Hudson can’t go.

“He’s dangerous any time he’s got the ball in his hands,” Shula said of Hudson. “We think Ken Darby can be that way, too. I don’t know that he’s quite as fast as Ray, but he’s also got some explosion.”