There’s no longer any question who’s the starting quarterback at Southern Miss.

Austin Davis, who narrowly beat out Martevious Young for the starting position, shooed away doubts with a strong second half in a 27-13 loss to No. 9 Auburn on Saturday.

The 6-foot-2, 206-pound redshirt freshman from Meridian completed 33 of 50 passes for 268 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He began the game by completing 10 of his first 11 passes, taking what the Auburn defense would give him.

But his best play came midway in the second half when he connected on a pair of touchdown passes to tight end Shawn Nelson.

He’ll have to continue his rapid improvement if Southern Miss is to win what will likely be a difficult game at Arkansas State on Saturday.

• Also, Southern Mississippi has signed a new home-and-home football series deal with former Conference USA foe Louisville.

The Golden Eagles will travel to Louisville on Oct. 10, 2009 and the Cardinals will make the return trip to Hattiesburg in 2012. The games were announced on Monday.

Louisville beat the Golden Eagles in 2002, the last time the two teams played. It was the third straight victory in the series for Louisville.

Southern Miss leads the series 18-8-1.

The Golden Eagles’ other non-conference games next season, including home matchups with Alcorn State and Virginia, and a road game at Kansas.