Southern Miss smashes Rice in historic performance

HOUSTON — Southern Miss put together an effort to remember Saturday at Rice.

The Golden Eagle offense ran roughshod over the Owls, and the defense stymied David Bailiff’s homestanding squad from start to finish.

The result: Southern Miss’ fourth consecutive victory, this one in dominant fashion, a 65-10 decision over Rice. The Golden Eagles improve to 7-3 overall and 5-1 in Conference USA play, tying them for first place in the West Division with Louisiana Tech. The Owls fall to 4-6 and 2-3.

“We just had a number of guys make plays, that’s really what it was,” Southern Miss coach Todd Monken said. “And I thought our defense didn’t give up any big plays right away and got after them up front. That’s probably as complete a game as you’re going to get on both sides.”

Quarterback Nick Mullens had a historic day, tying the school record with five touchdown passes. His scoring tosses also give him 30 this season, tying him with Austin Davis for most in a single season. Davis threw 30 in 2011. Mullens was 23-for-31 for 386 yards at Rice Stadium.

As a team, Southern Miss put up a school-record 682 yards of offense and the team’s 501 yards passing, which included 109 from back-up Tyler Matthews, is also the most in school history.

“We did a great job of preparing and I think that’s why we played so well,” Mullens said. “It’s kind of hard to worry about what the opponent is going to do. But being able to score fast, that was one thing that really surprised me.”

The Golden Eagles jumped on top late in the first quarter when Mullens hit Ito Smith on a wheel route that the running back took 28 yards for the touchdown. But it was a fake field goal that resulted in a 6-yard touchdown pass from holder (and punter) Tyler Sarrazin to defensive lineman Xavier Thigpen that ignited things for the Southern Miss offense.

Following Thigpen’s touchdown, the first of his career, the Golden Eagles scored four more touchdowns in the second quarter and took a 42-0 lead into halftime. The 35-point second quarter is the most Southern Miss has ever scored in one frame, breaking the old record of 33 set in 1967.

“(Sarrazin) is a good athlete,” Monken said. “The opportunity just happened to be there. It’s about the execution, though. It’s not about the call. It was a great job by Xavier to get in.”

A big reason why Southern Miss had so much second-quarter success was the connection between Mullens and senior receiver Mike Thomas. The pair hooked up for two touchdowns – a 50-yarder and 51-yard score – in a span of less than 90 seconds.

Following a fumble recovery, Mullens found D.J. Thompson for a 13-yard score and with 30 seconds left in the half, Smith caught his second touchdown of the game, a 16-yarder.

“Being able to score fast, one play after another like that, I think we are pretty good at getting a rhythm offensively,” Mullens said. “I think we play well off rhythm. So to have that going for us from the second quarter on, really made our offense feel comfortable.”

Thomas and Casey Martin each eclipsed 100 yards receiving, notching 126 and 109 respectively. Senior running back Jalen Richard led the way with 78 yards on six carries. Sixty of those yards came on a touchdown run less than two minutes into the third quarter.

The Golden Eagles return to action at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 21, when they host Old Dominion.