University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Football vs. No. 3 Alabama Game Notes
9/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Coin Flip: Southern Miss wins toss; elects to receive.
Team Notes:
*Southern Miss played its first ranked team since playing at Nebraska on Sept. 7, 2013, the Huskers were ranked No. 22 by the Associated Press. Alabama is the first game since an AP Top 10 team since defeating No. 7 Houston 49-28 in the 2011 C-USA Championship game (12/3/11).
* The announced crowd of 101,821 is the fifth largest crowd ever to see the Golden Eagles play. It was also the fifth time Southern Miss has played in front of a crowd of 100,000 or more.
* The Golden Eagles have not turned the football over in the last 10 quarters. That is the longest streak since they have not had a giveaway since doing it in three-straight games from Oct. 2-16, 2010, coming against Marshall, East Carolina and Memphis.
Offense:
*The Golden Eagles' 10-play drive to start the game tied for the longest drive of the season for the Golden Eagles in terms of plays. The drive was capped off by a 33-yard field goal by Corey Acosta.
* Sophomore QB Nick Mullens threw for a season-best 97 yards in the opening quarter this season.
* Mullens threw for over 200 yards for the eighth time in nine starts in his career, finishing with 207 yards on 19-of-35 passing.
* Freshman Tez Parks had the longest rush of his young career with a 24-yard carry in the third quarter.
* Marcus Triplett notched a season-best five catches for 46 yards.
Defense:
* Junior Kalan Reed had his string of three-straight games with an interception snapped, but did collect a pair of pass break ups in the first half.
* The Golden Eagles registered their seventh takeaway of the season late in the opening half on a muffed punt that was recovered by senior Justin Penn - the first of career.
* Dasman McCullum notched his first sack of the season and fourth of his career with an 11-yard loss of Alabama QB Jake Coker in the fourth quarter.
* Junior linebacker Brian Anderson tied with a game-high nine tackles with Emmanuel Johnson, marking a season high for stops.
Special Teams:
* Tyler Sarrazin collected a 51-yard punt in his first attempt of the day, giving him three punts of 50-yards or longer this season.
* With his 43-yard field goal late in the first half, Corey Acosta notched his 10th career game of two or more field goals. This season, the senior is 6-for-8. Acosta is eight-for-nine on field goal attempts over the last two weeks.
* Acosta ties his career-high for most field goals in a contest, hitting four-for-four attempts. He also collected four last week against Alcorn State.