FACTS & STATS: Site: ASU Stadium (30,406) -- Jonesboro, Arkansas. Television: None. Home Record: Southern Miss 1-0, ASU 1-0. Away Record: Southern Miss 0-1, ASU 1-0. Neutral Record: Southern Miss 0-0, ASU 0-0. Conference Record: Southern Miss 0-0, ASU 0-0. Series Record: Southern Miss leads 8-2.
GAME NOTES: Making their first trip to Jonesboro since 1962, the Southern Miss Golden Eagles are set to take on non-league foe Arkansas State at ASU Stadium. Southern Miss put up a decent fight against SEC power Auburn last week, although the Tigers came out on top, 27-13. Now, the Golden Eagles look to get back to their season-opening form, when they notched a 30-point victory over UL-Lafayette. Following this bout, Southern Miss plays its next three at home. Meanwhile, the Red Wolves are trying to improve to a perfect 3-0 on the season. They turned heads with a gritty win at Texas A&M in the opener, then routed Texas Southern last weekend, 83-10. This is the second of three consecutive home games for ASU. Southern Miss has an 8-2 edge in the head-to- head series, including last November's 16-10 win over ASU in Hattiesburg. The Golden Eagles have won five straight in the series.
Golden Eagles' quarterback Austin Davis, only a redshirt freshman, has already stamped his name in the school record books. His 33 completions and 50 attempts last week are both single-game highs at Southern Miss. He guided the offense on two second-half touchdown drives -- converting a fourth-and-long on both drives -- to cut the deficit from 24-0 to 24-13. However, it was too little, too late. After posting a school-record 633 yards of offense against UL-Lafayette, the Golden Eagles were brought back down to Earth with just 305 yards. Damion Fletcher, who racked up 220 yards on the ground in the opener, was held to 29 yards on 13 carries. Wideout Shawn Nelson had a career day, catching a personal best 12 balls for 118 yards and two TDs against Auburn. Freshman DeAndre Brown emerged as well, with 88 yards on eight catches.
The Southern Miss defense allowed a 12-play, 75-yard drive midway through the third quarter, which put Auburn ahead 24-0 and seemed sure to take the wind out of the Golden Eagles' sails. But to their credit, the defense held tough the rest of the way. Eddie Hicks led the team with 13 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss. Gerald McRath added nine tackles, a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry. The defense was rather disruptive, forcing four fumbles and recovering three, while adding seven TFL. They also did a decent job against the run, holding the Tigers to 3.2 ypc for the game.
ASU coach Steve Roberts won't exactly have a lot of adjustments to make this week. Not after watching his offense pile up 670 yards, second-most in school history. Freshman tailback Derek Lawson broke out with 209 yards and a touchdown on the ground, while junior tailback Reggie Arnold stated his case with 123 yards and two scores. Quarterback Corey Leonard attempted only 10 passes, though he completed nine and finished with 229 yards and four scores. David Johnson caught three of those passes, which went for 87 yards and two TDs. While it was certainly a nice stat-padding day, the Red Wolves were never exactly tested from the Texas Southern defense. After all, they faced only three third downs, and led 52-3 at the half.
Not to be outdone, the ASU defense also put up video game-type numbers. Texas Southern was held to just 13 first downs and 223 yards of total offense. The Red Wolves also came away with five turnovers (three fumbles, two interceptions). Javon McKinnon scored on a 25-yard fumble recovery, and Demario Davis added a 53-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Ben Owens had a big day, recording a team-high seven tackles, as well as 1.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and an interception, which he returned 31 yards. Jeremy Gibson also was all over the field, recording five tackles (two TFL), a forced fumble, fumble recovery and a sack. Texas Southern saw each of its first seven drives stall.
Coach Roberts knows not to let his team get too carried away with last week's results against an outmatched FCS squad. Southern Miss however, put together a solid effort against a tough Auburn squad and will be well-prepared for this one.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Southern Mississippi 27, Arkansas State 21
Game Date and Time
Saturday, September 13th, 7:00 p.m. (et)
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