The Southern Miss football team pulled off a remarkable, thrilling come-from-behind Conference USA victory over Louisiana Tech last weekend.
Trailing by 11 points with 1:23 to play in regulation, the finish was about as exciting as could be.
But UAB, the team that the Golden Eagles will host at 6 p.m. Saturday, might say that’s nothing. The Blazers might say that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
Here’s why.
In UAB’s last four games, all of them have been decided by a total of seven points.
And get this: All four games were decided on the final play.
“That's tough, I don't think there is any way around it,” UAB coach Bill Clark said at his weekly press conference. “It is hard on you emotionally. As a coach and as a player you just have to be resilient.”
So, Saturday’s game may be close if recent history is any indication, but for sure it is important.
First, it’s a Conference USA game, and the Golden Eagles (5-2 overall, 3-1 Conference USA) are tied for first place in the West Division with North Texas, although North Texas would win a tiebreaker if they each wound up with one loss at season’s end because it defeated USM on Sept. 30.
Second, UAB (4-3, 2-2) could jump up in the standings with a win over Southern Miss.
And then, there is the bowl picture. A team needs six wins in the regular season to become bowl eligible, although, with 40 bowls, there may be a team or two with only five wins get invited, and that would be based on the teams’ APR (academic standing).
But despite the major implications of Saturday’s game, the powers that be on campus aren’t talking big. Matter of fact, they’re trying to downplay the bowl aspect. USM coach Jay Hopson said he hasn’t even talked to the players about a possible bowl berth.
“Bottom line is, it’s a new week,” Hopson said. “It’s a new game and it’s a new challenge.”
The challenge for the Eagles will be UAB’s dual-threat quarterback A.J. Erdelly, who has run for nine touchdowns and passed for eight scores this season, a strong running game that is averaging more than 200 yards per game (led by freshman Spencer Brown with 700 yards), a defense that ranks 25th nationally in tackles for loss with 51, and the coaching of Clark.
Clark has, in effect, resurrected the UAB program twice. The first time came in his first season at the school, when he turned a team that was 2-10 in 2013 into one that went 6-6 in his debut season in 2014.
But after that season, UAB shut down the football program. The Blazers did not have a team in 2015 and 2016, then they revived it for this year. Clark stayed at the school and basically started from scratch, signing a number of junior college players to be competitive again.
“You have a lot of junior college players that were able to get in the system for a year and really have that eligibility frozen,” Hopson said. “Therefore, you're in the system and older. They're an older football team. An athletic team that plays hard.”
Southern Miss will respond with either Keon Howard or Kwadra Griggs at quarterback. Howard has played the past three games, all of them wins.
USM will have Ito Smith, who missed the second half of the Tech game, and Tez Parks ready to go at running back and Korey Robertson and Allenzae Staggers are the top two wide receivers.
Defensively, there have been many stars this year for USM, with safety Tarvarius Moore drawing raves from Hopson for his play against Louisiana Tech.
Saturday’s game has been designated at a blackout game, with the school asking fans to wear black clothing.
