Southern Miss Golden Eagles vs Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Match Player Stats On Oct 04, 2014

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Oct 4, 2014

Middle Tennessee 37, Southern Mississippi 31: Austin Grammer completed 21-of-26 passes for 332 yards and two touchdowns as the host Blue Raiders remained unbeaten in Conference USA play.

Shane Tucker rushed for 60 yards and two touchdowns, caught six passes for 78 yards and also completed a halfback pass for 12 yards to lead Middle Tennessee (4-2, 3-0 C-USA), which moved a half-game ahead of Florida International (3-3, 2-0) and into first place in the East Division. Safety Kevin Byard had five tackles to go with his 13th career interception and a blocked extra point and Reggie Whatley rushed for 100 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter that sealed the win for the Blue Raiders, who finished with 583 yards in total offense.

Nick Mullens completed a school-record 36 passes in 54 attempts for 426 yards, three touchdowns and an interception and George Payne rushed for 89 yards and a touchdown for Southern Mississippi (2-4, 0-2). Michael Thomas caught nine passes for 114 yards and two touchdowns for the Golden Eagles, who finished with 537 total yards and 30 first downs.

Middle Tennessee needed just 15 plays to score 24 points en route to a 24-12 halftime lead with Tucker scoring on runs of 1 and 44 yards, Grammer connecting with Tyler Pettis for a 59-yard touchdown and Cody Clark booting a 40-yard field goal. Southern Mississippi controlled the ball for almost 22 minutes in the first half (21:52) and rolled up 251 yards and 15 first downs but also turned the ball over twice and had just a pair of Corey Acosta field goals from 25 and 26 yards and a 1-yard touchdown run by Payne to show for it.

Middle Tennessee increased its lead to 31-12 early in the fourth quarter on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Grammer to Devin Clarke to cap a 13-play, 93-yard drive, but Southern Miss answered with a 92-yard drive of its own ending with a 17-yard TD strike from Mullens to Thomas. Whatley's 64-yard touchdown run upped Middle Tennessee's lead to 37-18, but Mullens answered with another 17-yard touchdown pass to Thomas and a 8-yarder to Marquise Ricard with 27 seconds remaining to conclude the scoring.