Southern Miss takes a trip to The Alamodome on Saturday to play the UTSA Roadrunners.
And the Golden Eagles’ opponents are not pushovers.
UTSA is 3-0, with wins over Baylor, Southern and Texas State, and ranks first in Conference USA in 13 statistical categories, including rushing offense, scoring defense, total defense, red zone offense and red zone defense.
And if the Roadrunners are not first in the league in a category, odds are that they are second, like in total offense and scoring offense.
“Another big challenge,” said USM coach Jay Hopson, whose club blew a two-touchdown lead in losing 43-28 to North Texas last week in its first C-USA game of the season.
“They’re playing physical football. They’ve been very good on defense and offense this year. They’ve got good players at their skill positions and up front. They’re a team that’s playing with a lot of confidence. They’re a football team that, athletically, is a good football team.”
Southern Miss is 2-2 overall and 0-1 in Conference USA. UTSA, coached by former USM assistant Frank Wilson, will be playing in its first C-USA game of the season.
Game time is 6 p.m. It will be web streamed by Stadium on Facebook.
“Again, another big challenge, but I worry about us and us alone,” Hopson said. “We just have to go to work and just keep executing and keep getting better.”
The Eagles’ execution was off much of the North Texas game, both offensively and defensively. The offense sputtered in the second half, with quarterback Kwadra Griggs missing receivers, and the defense allowed Mean Green receivers to get open.
“It seemed like nothing went right in the third quarter until the very end,” Hopson said.
But he also said it was a long season, and this week would be a good time to right the ship.
Saturday’s game may turn out to be a battle of running backs. For Southern Miss, Ito is the main man, averaging 108.8 yards per game this season.
“You can never have Ito touch the ball too much, but sometimes you have to take what they give you,” Hopson said.
UTSA will counter with Jalen Rhodes, a 5-foot-9, 200-pound junior who is averaging 112.7 yards per game.
“They love to run the football,” USM defensive coordinator Tony Pecoraro said. “The quarterback (Dalton Sturm) manages the game very well.”
Defensively, the Roadrunners are allowing only 13.7 points and 207.0 yards per game. Safety C.J. Levine, linebacker Le’Kel Bass and defensive end Marcus Davenport are the leading tacklers.
“They are by far our biggest challenge of the season so far,” Southern Miss offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “They’re getting a lot of three-and-outs. People are not moving the ball on them. They play with their hair on fire.”
Wilson said the same about USM’s defensive line, which shuffles about 10 people in and out of the game.
“They all end up where they belong, so it’s organized chaos,” Wilson said.
