Southern Miss vs. Washington: Postgame Notes
12/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
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SOUTHERN MISS FOOTBALL NOTES
Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl - Washington
December 26, 2015
Southern Miss Captains: 9 â€" Nick Mullens, 11 â€" Kalan Reed, 73 â€" Rashod Hill; 91 â€" Michael Smith
Coin Flip: Southern Miss has won the toss and deferred the ball until the second half.
Attendance: 20,229
Team Notes: * The Golden Eagles played in their 23rd bowl game to conclude the 2015 season, and fell to 10-13 in those contests. It also was the fourth time the school played in a bowl in the state of Texas (1953 and 1954 Sun Bowls and 2002 Houston Bowl), falling to 0-4 in the Lone Star State.
* This was the first time Southern Miss has played in historic Cotton Bowl stadium and the contest pitted Conference USA and the Pac-12 in a bowl contest for the first time.
* The loss dropped Southern Miss 0-4 all-time against current members of the Pac-12 â€" 0-2 against Cal and 0-1 against Utah (2003 Liberty Bowl).
* The game marked the first time Southern Miss played on grass since a game at Alabama on Sept. 13, 2014.
* The Golden Eagles, which registered a school-record for total offensive yards, finished over the 7,000-yard mark for the first time in school history with 7,133 after compiling 375 against UW.
* Sophomore RB Ito Smith collected his ninth and 10th rushing touchdowns of the season. It was his second multi-rushing TD of the year.
* Senior WR Mike Thomas registered a 56-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter and now has notched a TD catch in each of his last 10 games. The touchdown catch was the fifth of at least 50 yards this season for Thomas. His second TD, in the fourth quarter, allowed him to set a new Southern Miss single-season record with 14 TD catches (Sherrod Gideon held the record with 13 in 1998).
* Thomas also moved into second place on the single-season school charts in the contest for receptions with 71, after finishing with 9 catches for a career-best 190 yards (previous best was 162 earlier this season at Louisiana Tech. It was his eighth 100-yard receiving game â€" tying a Conference USA single-season record - and 10th of his two-year Golden Eagle career. He also set a Southern Miss bowl record for most receiving yards and the yardage total is the most by any player so far this bowl season.
* With his touchdown pass in the first quarter, junior QB Nick Mullens threw a scoring pass for the 16th consecutive game. Mullens also threw for over 200 yards for the 27th time in his career and the ninth time this season. He finishes the season with 4,476 yards and 38 passing touchdowns, both new school records. As of today, his 38 touchdowns are tied for third-most in the FBS.
* Senior DB Kalan Reed finished with 9 tackles and also forced and recovered a fumble â€" the first turnover of the day â€" marking the third forced fumble of his career and fourth recovery.
* Sophomore PK Stephen Brauchle converted his second-straight field goal from 22 yards dating back to the Louisiana Tech contest. He has also made eight of his last nine attempts.
* Junior punter Tyler Sarrazin completed his second pass of three attempts for the season on a fake punt late in the second quarter for 22 yards and now has 28 passing yards with a TD pass this season.
*Despite the loss, Southern Miss finished tied with Washington State for the largest increase in victories from the 2015 season. Both the Golden Eagles and WSU went from three wins last season to nine wins this year.