University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss-Marshall Post Game Notes
11/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 8, 2005
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - **Tonight's game marked Southern Miss' first ever meeting with Marshall, as the Golden Eagles claimed a 27-24 overtime victory. It was also the second time this season Southern Miss played an opponent for the first time, as it played UCF on Oct. 15.
**Tonight's game marked the fifth overtime game in school history. With the victory, Southern Miss is now 3-2 in overtime games. The school's first overtime game came against Houston in 1996, a 56-49 loss. The team then won 33-30 in double overtime against UAB in 2000, fell 20-17 in double overtime to Louisville in 2002 and defeated Houston 35-29 in 2004.
**Redshirt Larry Thomas scored on a three-yard touchdown in the first quarter, giving him four rushing touchdowns on the season. He has now scored a touchdown in two consecutive games, also scoring on a one-yard touchdown run last week against N.C. State.
**Sophomore Brandon Sumrall posted his third interception tonight in the first quarter, breaking a four-way tie for the team lead. Southern Miss now has recorded an interception in 14 consecutive games.
**Sumrall's interception gives Southern Miss 24 turnovers on the season, and has now scored 93 points off turnovers this season. Southern Miss now has 24 turnovers and two turnovers on down, turning those into 107 points.
**Junior Darren McCaleb kicked a 40-yard field goal in the first quarter tonight, giving him 218 points in his career, adding an extra point in the fourth quarter for career point 219. With that field goal, McCaleb moved into second place all-time in scoring, only behind Sammy Winder's total of 234 he set during his career from 1978-81.
**With his 34-yard field goal in overtime, McCaleb has 16 on the season, which ties him for the second-best single-season performance in school history, matching his 2004 performance, Rex Banks' 1984 performance and Steve Clark's 1983 performance. McCaleb is now 16-of-19 in field goal attempts this season.
**James Denley blocked a field goal in the first quarter tonight, the team's first since Seth Cumbie blocked a 40-yard attempt by USF's Santiago Gramatica (10/25/03). Since 2000, Southern Miss has blocked 12 field goals.
**Jasper Faulk blocked a field goal with seven seconds remaining in the game. Southern Miss has now blocked two field goals in a game for the first time in school history.
**Senior tight end Pedi Causey caught a 58-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter tonight, for his first career touchdown. It was Causey's first pass reception of the season, but he caught a two-point conversion against UCF. He has two catches for six points on the season. Causey entered the game with four career catches for 48 yards.
**With his touchdown pass, Almond has 16 this season, which ties for the third best single-season performance, matching Lee Roberts in 1997 and Brett Favre in 1998. Almond has 10 touchdown passes in the last four games.
**Redshirt freshman Larry Thomas had the third 100-yard rushing game of his career tonight, with 24 carries for 115 yards. He also had 100-yard performances against UAB (28, 129) and McNeese State (22, 115).
**Redshirt freshman Cole Mason had four carries for 19 yards tonight, scoring his first career touchdown on two-yard run in the third quarter. He played in his fourth game this season, but for the first game since UCF. Mason had five carries for 14 yards against McNeese State, including a career-long run of 11 yards. He had three carries for nine yards against East Carolina and one carry for no gain against UCF, entering the game with nine carries for 23 yards.
**Southern Miss outscored Marshall 10-0 in the first quarter tonight, and has outscored opponents 96-24 in the first quarter this season. Southern Miss has led after the first quarter in every game this season, Alabama (14-10), McNeese State (14-7), East Carolina (3-0), Tulsa (10-0), UCF (21-7), UAB (17-0) and against N.C. State (7-0). In addition, the team has posted five shutouts in the first quarter this season.
**Pedi Causey, Caleb Hendrix and Tavarres Williams returned to the field tonight. Causey pulled his hamstring during practice before the UAB game, and he missed the game with the Blazers and last week's N.C. State game. Hendrix injured his hamstring against UAB, missing the second half of that game and all of the N.C. State game. Hendrix returned to the starting lineup tonight. Williams strained his MCL against UCF, and missed the UAB and N.C. State games.
**Tonight's captains were Dustin Almond, Brandon Sumrall and Kevis Coley.