ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Charlie Strong is making good on his pledge to turn around the Louisville Cardinals.

A lot sooner than some people expected, too.

Justin Burke threw for two touchdowns and Jeremy Wright scored on a 95-yard kickoff return Tuesday night to help Louisville beat Southern Mississippi 31-28 in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl and finish its first winning record in four years.

“It’s so big, just from where we started out,” said Strong, the former Florida defensive coordinator who took over the Cardinals last December, inheriting a team that went 4-8 and lost six of seven games in the Big East in 2009.

“Nobody ever gave us a chance. And to watch this football team fight through so much adversity, go work so hard, develop trust, develop commitment — that’s what it’s all about, getting a foundation within this program.”

Burke tossed scoring passes to 11 yards to Cameron Graham and 10 yards to Josh Chichester while the Cardinals (7-6) were overcoming an early 14-point deficit, then produced a go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter.

Austin Davis threw 205 yards and two touchdowns to become Southern Mississippi’s career TD pass leader, moving ahead of Brett Favre and Lee Roberts in the Golden Eagles record book with 53 in three seasons.

The Southern Miss quarterback also scored on a 17-yard reception from receiver Quentin Pierce.

Wright’s long kickoff return made it 28-all early in the fourth quarter. Chris Philpott’s 36-yard field goal gave the Cardinals their first lead with 6:30 remaining.

“It was amazing. I just thank all the people that were blocking for me,” Wright said. “We needed a game changer, and we were able to do that all together.”

Davis completed 19 of 32 passes, including TD throws of 32 yards to Pierce and 8 yards to Zeke Walters for the Golden Eagles (8-5).

In addition to becoming the Southern Miss career TD pass leader, the junior moved into second place on the school’s career passing list with 7,396 yards — 299 short of the 7,695 Favre threw for from 1987-90. Meanwhile, Desmond Johnson scored on a 62-yard run and finished with a season-high 107 yards.

“Definitely a very tough loss for our football team,” Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora said. “They’re always tough when they’re close and you realize that you’re a play away here or a play away there. It’s kind of been that way for us this season with our five losses.”