Southern Miss
Old Dominion
Southern Miss Rallies to Beat Old Dominion 56-31
11/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
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HATTIESBURG - When it comes to the University of Southern Mississippi offense these days, opponents are discovering it's become a daunting case of pick your poison.
A week after establishing a school record for passing yards in a game, the Golden Eagles turned to its ground game to overcome a 10-point, third quarter deficit to roll over Old Dominion 56-31 Saturday at before 29,568 at Roberts Stadium.
In his final home game, senior Jalen Richard rushed for 161 yards and four touchdowns on 22 carries, becoming the first Golden Eagle to break the 1,000-yard mark in a season since Damion Fletcher in 2009.
"The game wasn't easy," Southern Miss coach Todd Monken said. "Sometimes you win a game the week before and everything kind of comes easy and you can think that is going to be every week ... Life is not easy and it throws you curves."
Trailing 31-21 with 7 minutes, 30 seconds left in the third quarter, the Golden Eagles (8-3, 6-1 Conference USA) reeled off 35 unanswered points to win their fifth consecutive game and finish the conference home slate unbeaten.
The victory sets up a winner-take-all, regular-season finale on Nov. 28 in Ruston, Louisiana, where USM will meet Louisiana Tech (8-3, 6-1) for C-USA's West Division crown and a berth in the Dec. 5 C-USA Championship Game.
Richard and sophomore Ito Smith, who had 125 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, powered a rushing attack that averaged 9.5 yards a carry in the second half and gained 284 yards of the team's 310 rushing yards total over the final two quarters.
"They made some really nice adjustments," ODU coach Bobby Wilder said. "They have two of the best running backs in the league. It's really a tremendous, one-two punch.
"They were able to hit us hard in the second half and we weren't able to handle that."
Junior quarterback Nick Mullens, who set a school record for touchdown passes in a season, balanced out the Golden Eagles' offense, completing 21 of 37 passes for 302 yards and two touchdowns and his first interception in four games.
He also ran for his second touchdown of the season in USM's five-touchdown spree to end the game as the Golden Eagles topped 600 yards total offense for a second, consecutive game with 612 yards.
"I have a lot of good receivers who can make a lot of plays," said Mullens, who has thrown for a touchdown in 13 consecutive games. "I have a really good offensive line and it helps to be balanced on offense.
"As you can see, we really came along in the second half."
While the avalanche of points eventually buried ODU, the Monarchs (5-6, 3-4) turned in one of the best efforts by a conference foe against USM in the past six weeks.
ODU led 17-14 at halftime, the first time USM had trailed at the break since Oct. 9 at Marshall.
Though only allowing the Monarchs 338 total yards, the Golden Eagles saw a streak of five games holding opponents to less than 300 yards offense come to an end.
Southern Miss had not allowed more than 13 points in each of its past four games. ODU's 31 points were the most since the Golden Eagles' Marshall trip in early October.
And those 31 points were accompanied by momentum, after the Monarchs carried a strong second-quarter effort through the midpoint of the third quarter.
Mullens, who shared the single-season passing touchdown mark of 30 set by Austin Davis in 2011, threw his second score of the day on the Golden Eagles' opening drive in the second half. He connected with Michael Thomas on a 24-yard scoring pass to give USM a 21-17 lead.
But ODU freshman quarterback Shuler Bentley, who took over late in the first quarter after starter David Washington was injured while trying to escape a collapsing pocket, capped a 83-yard drive with an 11-yard pass to Jonathan Duhart (134 yards on nine catches) to put ODU back on top.
Then, after USM failed on a fourth-and-6 from ODU's 36 yard-line, Duhart got behind the Golden Eagles' coverage on a 64-yard scoring play that put the Monarchs up 31-21 with 7:30 left in the third quarter. "It was just a slip screen, and the defense bit hard on the screen," Duhart said. "I was able to slip out and get wide open."
Southern Miss answered on Smith's 19-yard run to cut the deficit to 31-28, and then senior linebacker Anthony Swain had a hand in a pair of forced turnovers that changed the complexion of the game. ODU junior receiver Zach Pascal fumbled away a screen pass after being hit by junior safety Devonta Foster and Swain recovered at the Monarchs' 29-yard line.
Southern Miss faced a fourth-and-1 at the ODU 10, and after first trotting out the field goal unit, called a timeout and sent the offense back out to the field. The gamble paid off when Richard found a huge crease over left tackle and scored to put the Golden Eagles up 35-31.
On ODU's next possession, Swain batted a Bentley pass into the air and sophomore bandit end Naim Mustafaa made a diving interception at the Monarchs' 4-yard line.
Richard scored on the first play to give USM a 42-31 lead, and the roll had begun.
"It's about guys making plays and believing that they can make plays," Monken said.
Early in the fourth quarter, Mullens tacked on a 9-yard scoring run after being flushed from the pocket, and Richard capped the binge with a 54-yard run with nine minutes left to play.
"It was very positive and good to see how we came out after halftime," Richard said. "We had not been in that situation this year since early in the season.
"The guys were able to dial in at halftime and come out and handle what we needed to handle. We were able to not stray away from the game plan."
Richard opened the scoring on a 1-yard run, but ODU tied the game 7-7 when junior defensive end Terrell Reid sacked Mullens and stripped him of the ball. Senior linebacker Martez Simpson, Pearl River Community College transfer, scooped up the fumble and ran 33 yards for the score.
Mullens answered with a 34-yard TD pass to Casey Martin, who would finish with eight catches for 104 yards. The eight catches gave Martin 68 receptions on the season, breaking the mark of 67 set by DeAndre Brown in 2008.
"Going into (the) game, I definitely knew about the record, but it feels good from all the hard work I have put in this season," Martin said. "To see it pay off makes me very happy."
But Bentley - who would complete 22 of 41 passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns - found Pascal for a 16-yard score to tie the game, and Chris Kirtley hit a 25-yard field goal on the last snap of the first half to send the Monarchs into the locker room with the lead.
