SOUTHERN MISS FOOTBALL NOTES
12/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Southern Miss Captains: 9 â€" Nick Mullens, 11 â€" Kalan Reed, 41 â€" Lance Schuffert, 73 â€" Rashod Hill
Coin Flip: Southern Miss wins the toss and elects to receive.
Attendance: 16,823
Team Notes:
* Southern Miss played in its third C-USA Championship game, all on the road, and fell to 1-2 in those contests. Since this format was established for the 2005 season, the Golden Eagles lost at H1ouston 34-20 in 2006 and beat the Cougars 49-28. Both games were played at then Robertson Stadium on the UH campus.
* Southern Miss has won more C-USA Championships than any other school in league history as they have captured five league titles in football (1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2011).
* Ito Smith finished the game with 105 yards on 15 carries to go over the 1,000-yard mark for the season for 1,088 yards for the season, joining Jalen Richard, who has 1,098 for the season. It is the second time in school history that two players have gone over 1,000 yards in the same season since RB Sammy Winder (1,029) and QB Reggie Collier (1,005) did it in 1981.
* Smith rushed for a Southern Miss best 105 yards in a C-USA Championship game. It was his sixth 100-yard game of the year and eighth for his career.
* Jalen Richard's 2-yard TD run in the first quarter gave him 14 for the season, tying him for third on the school's single-season rushing touchdown chart. Richard is tied with Damion Fletcher (2007) and Sam Dejarnette (1982) on that list.
* Smith tallied his eighth touchdown of the season on a 37-yard run up the middle in the third quarter. It was the fourth game this season that both Smith and Jalen Richard each had at least one rushing score, including the last three contests.
* Mike Thomas became the school's single-season leader in yardage with 1,201, surpassing Sherrod Gideon, who notched 1,186 yards in 1998. With a five-yard TD reception in the second quarter, Thomas has now caught a touchdown pass in nine consecutive games. He also has 12 TD catches on the year which is tied for second on the school chart with DeAndre Brown (2008).
* Kalan Reed set a single-season record for most pass breakups with 19 (he had one in the contest), and now has 35 for his career.
* Reed also intercepted a Brandon Doughty pass in the second quarter and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown. It was his second INT for a score this season (76 yards vs. Austin Peay) and third for his career. It was the first INT returned for a touchdown in the C-USA Championship game since Ronnie Thornton returned a Case Keenum pass 26 yards against Houston in 2011.
* QB Nick Mullens threw for a touchdown pass for the 15th-straight game with his 5-yard strike to Mike Thomas in the second quarter. Mullens has thrown for more than 4,000 yards this season (4,145).