HATTIESBURG (AP) — Nick returned in time to save Southern Miss’ season.

Quarterback Nick Mullens threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns and sneaked in for another in his final home game as Southern Miss defeated Louisiana Tech 39-24 on Friday night to become bowl-eligible.

Mullens, who sat out the last two games because of a concussion after having a 25-game starting streak end, became the Eagles’ all-time touchdown passing leader with 86, passing Austin Davis (2008-11).
D.J. Thompson caught 12 passes for 135 yards and two scores. Ito Smith added 127 rushing yards.

“When you have your backs against the wall, you see true character,” said Southern Miss safety Picasso Nelson, who had nine total tackles and two interceptions. “We started out so well at the beginning of the season, and then it sunk, but throughout it all, we kept fighting.”

Southern Miss (6-6, 4-4 Conference USA) became eligible for a bowl bid by beating Louisiana Tech (8-4, 6-2), the C-USA West Division champion. The Golden Eagles will have to wait until after next week’s league championship game to find out their bowl assignment.

Louisiana Tech will play Western Kentucky or Old Dominion in the C-USA title game next Saturday.
Southern Miss had lost five of six coming into Friday’s regular-season finale, a streak that derailed a promising start to Vicksburg native Jay Hopson’s first season as coach.

“This football team has been a special blessing to me,” Hopson said. “A lot of people on the outside don’t understand all of the battles and adversities this team went through. This team never quit. Even though we didn’t win all the games we wanted to win, we battled through a lot. I don’t know if I’ve ever been prouder of a football team in my life.”

In the final home game of his stellar career, Mullens started and led Southern Miss to a touchdown on its first possession. He completed three of his four passes on the drive, which was capped by a 4-yard touchdown run by backup QB Keon Howard.

Mullens later threw touchdown passes of 21 and 8 yards to Thompson in the second quarter as the Golden Eagles took a 23-17 halftime lead. He threw a 6-yard TD pass to Korey Robertson late in the third quarter, and then scored one himself on a 1-yard sneak with 2:19 left in the game.

Mullens’ rushing touchdown on fourth-and-goal was the clincher. It put USM ahead 39-17. Mullens completed 29 of 33 passes in the game.

Louisiana Tech quarterback Ryan Higgins was 21-of-27 passing for 246 yards, and threw three interceptions after coming in with just four this season. Trent Taylor had 119 receiving yards.

Higgins was sacked three times and Louisiana Tech only had eight rushing yards. The Bulldogs came in averaging 183.5 rushing yards per game.

Higgins failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time this season. He had multiple touchdowns in Tech’s first 11 games, and 34 total.

Nelson had two interceptions in the fourth quarter, and the Golden Eagles’ defense had a big goal line stand in the third.

“I thought Ryan was forcing the ball a little bit, trying to get to a couple people,” Louisiana Tech coach Skip Holtz said. “It was a frustrating night, and we turned the ball over. We made the mistakes that you can’t make if you want to win.”