HATTIESBURG (AP) — Nick Mullens stepped into the record book at Southern Miss. The next step, he hopes, is into the Conference USA championship game.

Jalen Richard ran for 161 yards and four touchdowns, Mullens passed for two TDs and ran for another, and Southern Miss rallied to beat Old Dominion 56-31 on Saturday.

Mullens threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Casey Martin in the first quarter to set Southern Miss’ single-season record. Mullens’ 31st touchdown pass of the season broke the record of 30 set by Austin Davis from 2008-11. It’s also the 13th consecutive game in which Mullens has thrown a TD pass.

“Going into today’s game, I definitely knew about the record but it feels good from all the hard work I have put in this season. To see it pay off tonight makes me happy,” said Mullens, who was 21-of-37 passing for 302 yards.

Southern Miss (8-3, 6-1 Conference USA) won its fifth straight game and stayed on course to win the West Division championship. The Golden Eagles will play at Louisiana Tech next Saturday, with the winner clinching the division crown and advancing to the C-USA championship game on Dec. 5.

Southern Miss last won the division and the C-USA title in 2011.

Although Southern Miss beat Old Dominion (5-6, 3-4) handily in the end, it had to work to get there.

Trailing 17-14 at halftime, Mullens hit Michael Thomas on a 24-yard scoring pass, but Shuler Bentley threw scoring passes of 11 and 64 yards to Jonathan Duhart and the Monarchs led 31-21.

Ito Smith scored on a 19-yard run and Richard scored the go-ahead TD on a 10-yard run. He added a 4-yard run after Trae Collins’ interception. Mullens scored from 9 yards and Richard from 54 in the fourth.

Southern Miss finished with 612 yards of total offense. Smith ran for 125 yards and one touchdown, while Martin caught eight passes for 104 yards.

“It was very positive and good to see how we came in to halftime. We have not been in that situation this year since early in the season,” Richard said. “The guys were able to dial in at halftime and come out and handle what we needed to handle. We were able to not stray away from the game plan. Sticking with the game plan ended up getting us the win.”

Up next

Southern Miss at Louisiana Tech

Saturday, Nov. 28, 11 a.m.

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