HATTIESBURG - Saturday marks the beginning of the Conference USA season for the Southern Miss football team, and Golden Eagle coach Jay Hopson knows beating North Texas won’t be an easy task.
“We know we have a tough, excellent football team coming to town,” Hopson said.
Game time at M.M. Roberts Stadium is 6 p.m. Saturday.
Southern Miss is 2-1, having beaten Southern (La.) and Louisiana-Monroe, with a season-opening loss to Kentucky.
North Texas is 2-2, with wins over Lamar and UAB and losses to SMU and Iowa.
Despite North Texas’ losses, it ranks high in several offensive categories. The Mean Green ranks first in Conference USA in total offense (503.5 yards per game), scoring offense (37.8 points per game) and first downs (24.5 per game) and second in rushing offense (226.0 yards per game) and passing offense (277.5 yards per game).
“Good quarterback, good running back, good receivers, so offensively they have a lot of weapons,” Hopson said. “Their quarterback (Mason Fine) does a great job. They have talented receivers, running backs and they are a talented football team. They have some stars and they do a good job of coaching them. At the end of the day, we know what we have coming in.”
Southern Miss will show up with a stiff defense to match the Mean Green offense.
The Golden Eagles rank first in Conference USA in scoring defense (13.7 points per game), opponents’ first downs (11.3) and opponents’ third-down conversions (14.6 percent) and second in total defense (241.3 yards per game) and pass defense (122.0 yards per game). USM’s first down and third down defensive statistics rank second in the country.
“Their quarterback was a true freshman last year and by the time they got to us, he was injured,” USM defensive coordinator Tony Pecoraro said. “Their running back Jeffery Wilson (129.5-yard average) was injured last year, too. Their receiver No. 9 (Nate Brooks) is a transfer.”
The Southern Miss defense has started the same 11 players all three games.
Free safety Tarvarius Moore and nickel back Kelsey Douglas lead the team in tackles with 17 total, followed by linebacker Rakeem Boothe with 14 and lineman Rod Crayton and rover Jomez Applewhite with 11 each.
The Southern Miss offense got a big game out of running back Ito Smith in the 28-17 win over Louisiana Monroe. Smith ran 27 times for 219 yards and one touchdown.
“It was one of those games where you just keep getting him the ball,” USM offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said. “I thought we really did a good job up front at the end of the game, too.”
For the season, Smith has gained 333 yards on 60 carries, a 111.0-yard average per game.
Junior quarterback Kwadra Griggs also played well at Monroe, completing 17 of 32 passes for 250 yards and a score. For the season, Griggs is 47 of 81 (58.0 percent) for 681 yards.
Southern Miss’ 1997 Conference USA championship team will hold its 20-year reunion at Saturday’s game. Jeff Bower was the coach captains were Tyrone Boleware, Marchant Kenney, Lytrel Pollard and Patrick Surtain.
