Southern Miss running back Jalen Richard is tackled by Louisiana Tech’s Terrell Pinson during Saturday’s game at M.M. Roberts Stadium. (Photo: Eric J. Shelton/Hattiesburg American )
A week after Jalen Richard set a career-high in receptions and receiving yards and put up 104 all-purpose yards, Southern Miss' junior running back struggled to get going in Saturday's 31-20 loss to Louisiana Tech.
Richard finished with four rushes for 13 yards and collected three catches for just 19 yards.
Golden Eagle head coach Todd Monken said when starting quarterback Nick Mullens left the game early in the first quarter with an injured right foot, that altered the game plan.
Southern Miss head coach Todd Monken spoke with the media after Saturday's loss to Louisiana Tech. Jason Munz/Hattiesburg American
"Some of the things we probably had in mind for Nick, staying in four-wide (receiver sets), is where we have Jalen in (more)," he said. "We didn't do as much of that (after Mullens left the game). We tried to stay in 20 personnel and that lent itself to George (Payne) and Ito (Smith) a little more (at running back).
"It just didn't present itself and I wasn't thinking in terms of that."
Southern Miss rushed for 23 yards in the first quarter and was credited with minus-54 the rest of the game.
"I thought early on we ran it pretty well," Monken said. "(But) we didn't get the ball on the perimeter. We didn't make anybody miss. It's a combination. We've got to do a better job of scheming it up."
Defensive front's good effort
Southern Miss' defensive front made life very difficult on Louisiana Tech for much of the game Saturday.
The Golden Eagles tallied nine tackles for loss, tied for a season-high. Led by Rakeem Nunez-Roches' 2 ½, Southern Miss also sacked Bulldog quarterback Cody Sokol once Saturday and allowed just 30 yards rushing — the first time the Golden Eagles held an opponent to less than 50 yards rushing since 2011.
It mattered not.
"I would have never guessed that if we would have dominated up front defensively that we would have lost," Monken said. "But that's the way it is. We gave up too many big plays."
Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz said Southern Miss took it to his team in the trenches.
"I thought physically they beat us up front," he said. "They made it very difficult to run the ball when they controlled the line of scrimmage with their defensive line. We tried to get the running game going early (but) just really struggled with it."
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