Southern Miss beats La. Tech 58-24, clinches C-USA West

RUSTON, La. (AP) — Nick Mullens threw three touchdown passes and Ito Smith ran for three scores and Southern Mississippi rolled to a 58-24 victory over Louisiana Tech on Saturday to clinch the Conference USA West Division title.

Southern Miss (9-3, 7-1) has won six straight games, and has scored 50-plus points for a program-best fifth time.

Mullens was 24 of 37 for 386 yards passing with scoring strikes of 1, 7, and 22 yards to three different receivers. Smith had touchdown runs of 57, 17, and 11 yards on consecutive drives in the fourth quarter, all on first down plays. He finished with 169 yards on 22 carries.

Devonta Foster had a 26-yard interception return for a touchdown for the Golden Eagles. And Michael Thomas had seven catches for 162 yards.

Jeff Driskel was 27 of 44 for 355 yards passing with three touchdowns, but he threw three interceptions for Louisiana Tech (8-4, 6-2).

Western Kentucky 49,

Marshal 28: Brandon Doughty threw for 370 yards, including five touchdowns, as Western Kentucky routed Marshall 49-28 to win the East Division of Conference USA on Friday.

The Hilltoppers (10-2, 8-0) earned the right to host the conference championship game on Dec. 5 against Southern Miss to determine the West Division champion.

Doughty also became the first quarterback in Division I history to have consecutive seasons with more than 4,000 yards passing and 40 touchdown throws. Doughty completed 27 of his 39 passes against the Thundering Herd (9-3, 6-2). He has 42 touchdown passes for 4,214 yards this season.

The Hilltoppers needed just three plays and 44 seconds to find the end zone in the opening series. Nicholas Norris hauled in Doughty’s pass on a short inside route and turned it into a 35-yard catch and run for the game’s first touchdown.

Western Kentucky added two more touchdowns early in the second quarter, a 15-yard run from Anthony Wales, followed by Doughty’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Higbee that pushed the lead to 21-0 with 6:21 to play in the half.

Marshall finally got on the scoreboard when Deandre Reeves returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards up the right sideline to make it 21-7.

But Western Kentucky’s offense continued to pile up points and yards, scoring three more times in the period as part of a first half that included 54 plays and 424 yards of total offense in the two quarters. The Hilltoppers led 35-14 at halftime and coasted to victory by adding a pair of field goals from Garrett Schwettman in the third quarter and Doughty’s fifth TD pass, a 19-yarder to Antwane Grant in the fourth quarter.

In addition to Doughty’s big day passing, the Hilltoppers rushing attack was strong as well. Wales had 24 carries for 131 yards, while D’Andre Ferby added 62 yards on 12 carries.

Florida Atlantic 33, Old

Dominion 31: Greg Joseph’s two fourth-quarter field goals — including the 29-yard game-winner — saved Florida Atlantic as it rallied to beat Old Dominion 33-31 on Saturday.

Florida Atlantic (3-9, 3-5 Conference USA) built a 24-3 lead just before halftime, but that was the beginning of the game getting away from the Owls.

ODU’s Shuler Bentley found Zach Pascal on a 45-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds left before half.

Out of the break, Bentley ran 26 yards to make it 24-17. A Joseph field goal pushed the lead to 10, but Bentley connected twice more with Pascal for 49 and 15 yards and Old Dominion (5-7, 3-5) had its first lead at 31-27.

Joseph’s field goals with 9:15 and 5:26 to play made the difference. He finished 4 for 5.

Jay Warren carried 29 times for 150 yards and a score.

Bentley threw for 287 yards and Pascal had 163 receiving.

Middle Tennessee 42, Texas

San Antonio 7: Brent Stockstill passed for 257 yards and a touchdown, and Middle Tennessee rolled to a 42-7 win over Texas San Antonio on Saturday.

Stockstill, who finished his redshirt freshman season with 3,678 yards passing and 27 TDs, found Terry Pettis for a 7-yard score late in the first half to give Middle Tennessee (7-5, 6-2 Conference USA) a 21-0 advantage.

Shane Tucker scored on a 3-yard run on the Blue Raiders’ first drive of the second half, and Alex Dale returned an interception 34 yards for a touchdown as Middle Tennessee’s lead grew to 35-0 after three quarters.

Tucker ran for 57 yards and two TDs on 12 carries. Kamani Thomas ran for 56 yards and a TD, and Jordan Parker had 51 yards and a rushing score.

Dalton Sturm’s 31-yard TD pass to JaBryce Taylor with 6:33 left prevented a shutout for Texas San Antonio (3-9, 3-5).

Rice 27, Charlotte 7: Running back Luke Turner threw a four-yard touchdown for Rice, which scored all its points in the second-half and beat Charlotte 27-7 on Saturday in the season finale.

Turner’s 4-yard TD pass to Cole Hunt added to Hayden Tobola’s 19-yard field goal and Rice led 10-0 after the third quarter.

Driphus Jackson scored on a 3-yard run early in the fourth quarter. He finished 14-of-22 for passing for 122 yards and an interception.

After Tobola’s 23-yard field goal, Jowan Davis scored on an 11-yard run for Rice (5-7, 3-5 Conference USA), which posted 433 yards of total offense to 285 for Charlotte, including 307 on the ground.

Deadlocked with no scoring at the halftime, Rice missed a field goal and Charlotte failed on three.

Matt Johnson hit Trent Bostick on a 56-yard TD pass in the fourth for Charlotte (2-10, 0-8). UTEP 20, North Texas 17: Kavika Johnson passed for a touchdown and ran for another and Dashone Smith returned an interception 65 yards for a score to help UTEP beat North Texas 20-17 Saturday.

Johnson completed just 4 of 11 passes for 43 yards, but added 75 yards rushing on 16 carries and his 32-yard touchdown pass to Warren Redix with 7:51 left proved to be the winner.

Trevor Moore’s 28-yard field goal with 2:18 left in the first quarter opened the scoring and North Texas (1-11, 1-7 Conference USA) took a 3-0 lead into halftime.

Johnson scored on a 5-yard run early in the third but UTEP (5-7, 3-5) missed the PAT and led 6-3.

North Texas sandwiched Tre Johnson’s 53-yards punt return for a score and Cortney Finney’s 13-yard fumble return for a touchdown around Smith’s pick-6 to take a 17-13 lead into the fourth.

The teams combined for 461 total yards and seven turnovers.