‘Back to where it should be.’ Southern Miss eyes C-USA title shot with WKU looming.
It will be a bittersweet occasion for 18 Southern Miss football seniors Saturday when the Golden Eagles take the field at M.M. Roberts Stadium for the final regular-season game of the 2019 season.
USM battles Western Kentucky in a 2:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday, with the Golden Eagle seniors scheduled to be honored before the game.
“It means a lot to play here in my home state,” said Drake Dorbeck, a senior from Vicksburg who has started all 10 games at left tackle so far this season, at Monday’s press briefing on the USM campus.
“I came in when it was a culture of rebuilding, and we’ve fought like heck to get back to where Southern Miss needs to be and compete for championships. It’s meant a lot for me to get the program back to where it should be.”
And Southern Miss is right where it wants to be with two games on the 2019 schedule left to be played. The Golden Eagles are 7-3 overall and 5-1 in Conference USA after defeating UTSA this 36-17 this past Saturday.
“I felt like it was a tough game,” said Southern Miss head coach Jay Hopson. “Give San Antonio a lot of credit. We played well. We can certainly play better, but I thought offensively and defensively, we created some things. We had some turnovers defensively, and we had some explosive plays offensively. On the whole, it was an overall good team win.”
With a three-game winning streak, the Golden Eagles are still in the hunt for the West Division title and a berth in the C-USA Championship Game, especially after Louisiana Tech lost on Friday to Marshall.
“We’ll count those poker chips up at the end,” said Hopson. “Everybody knows where you are (in the standings). We’re human, they see where they’re at. But we know this is a big ball game, and you’ve got to handle business week to week in football.”
Western Kentucky (6-4, 4-2) still has slim hopes of playing in the championship game as well, sitting third in the East Division standings behind Marshall and Florida Atlantic, who are both 5-1 in C-USA.
The Hilltoppers will bring a seasoned offense and a stout defense to Roberts Stadium. Senior quarterback Ty Storey is the leader for WKU, with 163 completions in 234 attempts (69.7 percent) for 1,690 yards and eight touchdowns, to go with five interceptions.
“They’re a really good, fundamental offensive football team,” said defensive coordinator Tim Billings. “The offensive line are all old, and they’ve played together. The quarterback is a grad transfer (from Arkansas). He’s older and mature and knows what to do with the football.”
The Golden Eagles, though, have turned into one of the premier big-play offensive teams in Conference USA.
Saturday against UTSA, USM got touchdown runs of 56 and 33 yards from DeMichael Harris, a 39-yard scoring run by Kevin Perkins and a 77-yard touchdown pass from Jack Abraham to Quez Watkins.
After being injured earlier this season, Harris was back to full strength against the Roadrunners, finishing with 128 rushing yards in 16 carries, and he caught five passes for 22 yards.
“He brings so much to the table, and not just in the running game, but in the passing game and in the locker room,” said offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner. “He’s a team guy. You just hate that you’ve only got a few more games with him.”
Watkins, though, has been the big revelation for Southern Miss. Against UTSA, he had seven catches for 137 yards, and for the season, he’s got 921 receiving yards on just 44 catches, a 20.9-yard average.
“He’s a playmaker with big-play capability,” said Hopson. “One of the true advantages we have is, not only is Quez a really good football player, but we’ve got a lot of other really good football players out there too.
“If you want take Quez away, fine. Double-team him, do whatever you want. The problem is, we’ve got three other guys on the other side who are just as good. Tim Jones is probably as talented as any receiver in the country.”
Whether redshirt sophomore receiver Jaylond Adams will be available for Saturday’s game remains to be seen. Adams did not make the trip to San Antonio after suffering an unspecified injury.
Adams, who has three kick returns for touchdowns this season, has 48 catches for 483 yards and two touchdowns at receiver.
USM’s abundance of talent at wide receiver this season has allowed Abraham to climb to the top of the passing rankings in C-USA with 217 completions in 312 attempts (69.6 percent) for a league-high 2,924 yards, more than 260 yards ahead of any other quarterback in the league.
With a winning season assured, a bowl bid likely and the possibility of a conference championship still in play, the Golden Eagles have a lot to play for as the season winds down. But Hopson said the trademark of this team is a focus on the task at hand.
“This team goes to work every week,” Hopson said. “They’ve been very business-like. I think they understand that our season isn’t over.
“We have goals out there, things we want to accomplish, and now’s not the time to feel good about anything. Now’s the time to keep practicing, put your nose down and go to work. We’ve got a big game this weekend, a good team coming to town, so we’ve got to bring our A game.”
To reach the C-USA Championship Game, USM still needs to win Saturday then at FAU next week, and hope Louisiana Tech loses at least one of its final two games, at UAB this week and at home against UTSA.
“Being able to play for the championship, that’s in the back of everyone’s mind,” said senior nose tackle Demarrio Smith. “But it won’t happen if we don’t win this week. So we just focus on Western Kentucky. We’ve got to take care of business this week and worry about (a possible championship) later.
This is just the third meeting between Southern Miss and Western Kentucky, with the Hilltoppers winning both previous meetings, in 2012 and 2015, both on the WKU campus in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Saturday’s game will be televised over ESPN-Plus.