‘We took offense.’ How the USM D got its swagger back and earned revenge vs. UAB
A month ago, Southern Miss defensive end Jacques Turner was frustrated with the way the season was going for him.
When the defense fell short of expectations to begin the season, no player put more pressure on himself to step it up than the redshirt junior from D’Iberville.
Turner had just half a sack to his name after seven games — a surprising stat considering he was expected to be one of Conference USA’s best defensive players following an all-conference selection in 2018.
“To be honest, I’ve got to play more dominant,” Turner said on Oct. 7 when asked about how he’d grade himself. “Even if I’m getting double-teamed, I’ve got to affect the game.”
Fast forward to the press conference after Saturday’s 37-2 victory over UAB in Hattiesburg, Turner recalled that self critique with a smile.
“I think I’m getting the job done,” he said.
USM defensive coordinator Tim Billings is pleased to see Turner reaching the level of play that was expected of him.
“Sometimes the first place to get an evaluation is in the mirror,” Billings said. “You go in there in the meeting room and watch film and other guys are doing what you should be doing. Jacques needed to play better. I’m just excited he rose to the occasion.”
Turner has collected 4 ½ sacks over the last two games, leading the USM defense to back-to-back performances of holding opponents under 200 yards. After piling up 3 ½ sacks to help limit Rice to 139 yards, he got to the quarterback again on Saturday as UAB managed just 173 yards.
“He’s been very physical, very active,” Billings said. “The last two games, he’s played like we thought he would. He didn’t play bad early, but he’s stepped it up a notch. He’s making a lot more plays and helping dominate the line of scrimmage.”
With Turner getting to the QB, that takes the pressure off a secondary that faced its own troubles early in the season.
“The quarterback doesn’t have time to make his reads,” sophomore safety Shannon Showers said. “He’ll throw an inaccurate pass, and that’s how I got my interception (against UAB).”
USM (6-3, 4-1) travels to Texas-San Antonio (4-5, 3-2) for a 5 p.m. kickoff on Saturday. The game will be shown on ESPN-plus.
USM irked by UAB
The Southern Miss football team was annoyed by a Friday post on the UAB football program’s twitter account saying that, “The Blazers are taking over Hattiesburg for the next 24 hours.”
On Monday, Showers said that the tweet wasn’t the only reason that USM was determined to take it to the Blazers in Hattiesburg. He pointed to a moment at the end of USM’s 26-23 overtime loss to UAB in Birmingham a year ago.
“We felt like they were wanted to come in and take our manhood,” Showers said. “We know their coach (Bill Clark) didn’t shake Coach (Jay) Hopson’s hand last year after the game. We took offense to that too. We just wanted to show them how the ‘Nasty Bunch’ plays.”
Southern Miss-UAB has been a strange football rivalry that’s featured tight games, blowouts and lengthy winning streaks. USM’s victory on Saturday ended a three-game skid against the Blazers and gave the Eagles an 11-7 edge in the series.
Uptick in playing time
Redshirt sophomore running back Steven Anderson received his most carries of the season in Saturday’s victory over UAB, carrying 13 times for 41 yards and a six-yard touchdown run in the first quarter on Saturday.
It was the most action that the 6-foot-2, 242-pound Anderson has seen since carrying nine times for 26 yards and a TD on Sept. 14 against Troy.
USM offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner said Anderson’s increased playing time was the result of his improved health and the game plan needed for UAB.
“Some of it is he’s healthy and he had two good weeks of practice. He had been dealing with a toe injury,” Faulkner said. “The other part of it is we knew it was going to be a power, physical game. (The UAB defense) did a good job of running sideline to sideline. There were going to be more straight-ahead runs. That’s where Steven is special. He’s 255 pounds. I think he led us in carries and that was by design. Hopefully he’ll continue to do that each week. If it’s De’Michael (Harris), Kevin (Perkins) or Jack (Abraham), it doesn’t matter who is running the ball. We’re doing what we think is best to win the game.”
Perkins led USM in rushing with six carries for 94 yards, including a season long of 79 yards. The Golden Eagles ran 34 times for 161 yards as a team to help Hopson pick up his first win against the Blazers as a head coach.
This story was originally published November 11, 2019 at 3:59 PM.
