University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Preparation Complete; Horned Frogs Are Next
10/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Preparation Complete; Horned Frogs Are Next
Hattiesburg, Miss. -- Southern Miss had to go into recently-unused M.M. Roberts Stadium to get away from muddy practice fields Monday, but got in a full workout a day prior to heading for Texas and Wednesday night's C-USA game against TCU.
"We always want to go outside," said Head Coach Jeff Bower. "That just wasn't possible Sunday, but you really don't have a choice sometimes. Our preparation has been good, but I do wish we had had a little more dry weather, for timing and that kind of thing. I'm confident, though, that our players worked hard and that we got a lot accomplished."
Bower says his team has to a lot of things well to win at TCU. "We've got to play hard, and physical," he said. "We have to take care of the football and win the turnover margin. Our kicking game also will be important. They're (TCU) really good there and we've got to equalize that and make some plays there."
The Eagles may have lost two games, but they're on top of the league standings, at 3-0, and that only makes the TCU game all the more important. "We're undefeated in the league and we know what we're playing for," Bower said. "With the bowl tie-ins, there's a lot of incentive to play well in every game, especially the Conference USA games. The bottom line is, we want to win a championship, and, in order to do that, we have to win this one on the road, against a really good team."
The Eagles are scheduled to depart the campus at 2:20 Tuesday afternoon, make a drive-through appearance at the Hattiesburg Convention Center where Golden Eagle fans will be gathered for a team send-off, and then fly charter jet into Dallas, Texas, for the 6:30 Wednesday night game that will be televised by ESPN2. Southern Miss then will take the following weekend (Nov. 2-3) off, play at UAB, Nov. 9, host Louisville in a Thursday night ESPN game, Nov. 14, and then end the season with a Nov. 23 game at Tulane and a Nov. 30 home game against East Carolina.
