SAN ANTONIO — Jalen Rhodes and Jarveon Williams each had 100-yard games on the ground and UTSA rushed for a school-record 339 overall en route to a 55-32 victory against Southern Miss in Conference USA action on Saturday at the Alamodome.
Rhodes carried 14 times for a career-high 165 yards and a school-record-tying three touchdowns en route to becoming the third Roadrunner to score three times on the ground in a game (Evans Okotcha/Eric Soza, 2012). The sophomore from Rowlett had a career-best 80-yard TD scamper that helped give the Roadrunners (2-3, 1-1 C-USA) a 35-14 lead midway through the second quarter.
Williams added 122 yards on 15 totes, including the longest play in program history, a 92-yarder in the final stanza that helped seal the victory.
In fact, UTSA recorded four of the 13 longest plays in school annals in piling up a school-record 532 yards of offense on just 47 plays, including an all-time high of 339 rushing. The Roadrunners averaged 11.3 yards per play, also a new program standard, and scored their most points against both a Football Bowl Subdivision and conference opponent.
The Golden Eagles (4-2, 2-1) posted 557 yards of offense, 378 through the air, but they could not overcome UTSA's offensive output in falling for the second time in three tries against the Roadrunners.
UTSA stormed out of the gates and built a quick 21-0 advantage through the first seven minutes, using only 11 plays in the process.
On the third play from scrimmage, Dalton Sturm found a wide-open Kerry Thomas Jr. deep over the middle for a 71-yard touchdown pass. Thomas tied the school's career TD receptions record of eight held by former All-American and current Minnesota Vikings tight end David Morgan II.
Sturm, who finished 10-of-12 passing for 193 yards, then hit Josh Stewart for a 77-yard pass down to the Southern Miss 3-yard line on the first play of UTSA's next possession. One play later, Williams punched it in to put the Roadrunners up by two scores.
UTSA struck again on their third drive on a six-play, 57-yard march that was capped with Rhodes' first TD of the day, a 4-yard scamper.
After UTSA went up 28-7 on a 6-yard run by Williams near the end of the opening quarter, the visitors cut the deficit to two scores on an Ito Smith 1-yard TD run that finished off a 10-play, 79-yard march highlighted by a 33-yard pass from Nick Mullens to Allenzae Staggers.
The Roadrunners responded with Rhodes' 80-yard score that came on the first play of their next possession, and the home team eventually held a 38-21 lead at the break after Victor Falcon's 45-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.
Southern Miss used a 28-yard field goal on its first drive of the second half to pull to within 38-24, but that was as close as the Golden Eagles got the rest of the game.
Matt Guidry took a jet sweep 20 yards around left end for his first career touchdown on UTSA's next possession to make it 45-24, and Falcon later booted his second field goal of the day, this one from 26 yards, to double up the visitors.
Southern Miss made things interesting when Mullens, who threw for 370 yards on 24-of-47 passing, hit Chase Whitehead on a 33-yard TD pass and then found Julian Allen on the two-point conversion to make it a two-possession contest with 6:47 left to play.
The Golden Eagles got the ball back on the UTSA 31 after a 31-yard punt return by D'Nerius Antoine, but Josiah Tauaefa stepped in front of a Mullens pass on the goal line three plays later to give the ball back to UTSA.
Williams' 92-yard dash set up Rhodes' third score of the day and provided the final 23-point margin.
Tauaefa led the defense with 12 tackles, his third double-digit outing of his redshirt freshman campaign, and the interception. Nate Gaines added 10 stops, a pair of pass breakups and a forced fumble, while La'Kel Bass turned in eight tackles and a fumble recovery.
The Roadrunners will travel to Houston to face Rice (0-5, 0-3) on Saturday, Oct. 15. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Rice Stadium and the game will be televised on beIN Sports.
