Southern Miss uses furious rally to down ODU, 56-31

HATTIESBURG - It was only fitting that the final home game for the Southern Miss football team's 20 seniors involved some struggles.

Down 31-21 midway through the third quarter, the Southern Miss football team appeared in danger of taking a loss on Senior Day. With four touchdowns in the span of less than seven minutes and 42 points in the second half, the Golden Eagles erased Old Dominion's lead to earn a 56-31 victory at Roberts Stadium.

The Golden Eagles responded to their first real test in six weeks with a dominating finish to push their win streak to five games.

"It wouldn't be right if it wasn't hard fought," USM junior quarterback Nick Mullens said. "Like coach said, nothing is given. The finish line is right in front of us, but it's not going to come to us. We've got to go chase it. We realized that tonight. That was a testament to our hard work. The whole game reflects what type of year it's been - summer, winter, the whole season."

Southern Miss (8-3, 6-1) will travel to Louisiana Tech (8-3, 6-1) at 11 a.m. Saturday in a game that will decide the C-USA West and a spot in the Dec. 5 conference championship game.

Mullens passed Brett Favre on the career passing yardage list at USM Saturday and also established single-season marks of touchdowns (32) and passing yardage (3,578), which were previously held by Austin Davis.

"It's definitely an honor," Mullens said. "Those are two tremendous quarterbacks. It's awesome to do something like that."

Mullens completed 21-of-37 passes for 302 yards and two touchdowns, but he also had to overcome a pair of mistakes - an interception returned for a touchdown in the first quarter and an interception at the goal line in the second quarter.

USM senior linebacker Anthony Swain, who is one of several FBS transfers who had a single year of eligibility to play at USM, played a large role in Saturday's rally.

USM safety Devonta Foster forced ODU receiver Zach Pascal to fumble and Swain was there to recover, setting the USM offense up at the ODU 29. Eight plays later, senior Jalen Richard rushed up the middle 10 yards for a touchdown to give Southern Miss the 35-31 lead with 1:34 left in the third quarter.

On the first play of the following ODU possession, Swain swatted a Shuler Bentley pass into the backfield, where defensive end Naim Mustafaa was waiting to scoop the ball up for an improbable interception.

"We dialed up a blitz and I was just coming off hot," Swain said. "I saw the quarterback point. I knew I wasn't going to make it to the quarterback in time so I just batted the ball. I was hoping to jump up and catch it, but Mustafaa came off the ball full speed (and was there to catch the ball.) We were just out there playing with our hair on fire."

On the very next play, Richard ran 4 yards for the touchdown to give USM a 42-31 lead with 1:21 left in the third quarter.

Southern Miss continued to build on its momentum and Old Dominion, which led 17-14 at the half, could do little on defense to slow down USM.

Southern Miss totaled 612 yards of offense - 310 rushing and 302 passing.

Richard rushed 22 times for 161 yards and four touchdowns, the second time this season he has run for four scores in a game after doing it at Texas State on Sept. 19.

"It was a little scary at first. I had got a little banged up with my shoulder early on," Richard said. "I didn't know how much more I'd play, but I toughed it out and ended up having a great game."

Richard became the first USM running back to eclipse 1,000 yards in a season since Damion Fletcher did it in 2009. He now has 168 carries for 1,056 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Senior receiver Casey Martin pulled in eight receptions for 104 yards and a score as he set the USM single-season mark for receptions with 68.

"I am just so proud of our team," USM coach Todd Monken said. "I am so happy for our seniors. I've said it all along, those guys that stayed around and believed in our staff and wanted to be a part of this university."

Old Dominion (5-6, 3-4) will host FAU in the regular season finale in need of a win to reach bowl eligibility.

This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Southern Miss uses furious rally to down ODU, 56-31 ."