Southern Miss vs. Rice: Postgame Notes

Saturday, October 1

Hattiesburg, Miss.

6:00 PM

Southern Miss

Rice

Southern Miss vs. Rice: Postgame Notes

10/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football

Oct. 1, 2016

Final Stats | Quotes | USATSI Gallery | Photo Gallery

Southern Miss Captains: 8 - Deshadrick Truly, 11 -- Julian Allen, 40 - C.J. Perry
Coin Flip: Southern Miss won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Southern Miss defended the north end zone.

Team Notes:

•Southern Miss has won consecutive games in the Rice series for the first time and has a 3-4 record against the Owls.
•The Golden Eagles are now 2-0 in C-USA and have extended their regular-season win streak to eight games.
•Southern Miss is 4-1 for the first time since 2011.
•Head coach Jay Hopson is the first Southern Miss coach to win four of his first five games since Curley Hallman in 1988. That squad finished 10-2.
•The squad's winning streak versus Texas schools reached seven contests.

Offensive Notes:

•The 702 yards of offense broke the school record that was set at Rice (682) in 2015. It also set a new M.M. Roberts Stadium record, breaking the 654 against Rice in 2011.Four of Southern Miss' seven 75-plus yard plays on the year came Saturday.
•Those four included Julian Allen's career-long 82-yard catch and Allenzae Staggers' receptions of 75, 81 and 93 yards.
•Nick Mullens' 591 yards passing shattered Austin Davis' previous school record of 461 yards at Rice in 2008. He now has three of the top four passing games in Golden Eagle history.
•Mullens has thrown a touchdown in 21 straight games.
•Mullens has thrown for 200 yards or more in 31 games. He has thrown for over 300 yards 15 times in his career and 400 or more yards three times.
•Allenzae Staggers' total receiving yards of 292 is the most receiving yards in Southern Miss history. The previous record was 260 yards set by Kendrick Lee at Houston in 1996. That C-USA Championship squad was also honored tonight.
•Staggers' three TD catches were the most by a Golden Eagle since Mike Thomas had the same in 2015 vs. North Texas.
•Southern Miss had four pass plays of over 75 yards tonight. The last time Southern Miss completed a pass play of 75 yards or more was at Marshall in 2013 (Nick Mullens to Markese Triplett, 81 yards).
•Mullens pass play to Allenzae Staggers in the third quarter was the longest pass play of his career.
•Mullens passing TD to Staggers in the third quarter put him over 10,000 yards for his career.
•Ito Smith has scored a touchdown (rushing or receiving) in 10 straight games.

Defensive Notes:

•Southern Miss posted seven sacks on the night, its most since having seven at Marshall in 2009.
•The Golden Eagles entered Saturday No. 8 in passing yards allowed (144.8 per game) and held Rice to 166.
•Dylan Bradley had 3 ½ of those. The school record (4) was set by Cedric Scott at Houston in 2000 and Chris Jackson vs. Louisiana Tech in 1983.
•D'Nerius Antoine's game-high 11 tackles were a career-high.
•Rice's touchdown in the fourth quarter was the first allowed by Southern Miss in that stanza on the year.
•Southern Miss shut out an opponent in the first quarter (3-0) for the second time this season. (Savannah State, 21-0).

Special Team Notes: