University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Finish "Off-Week" Practice
10/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Eagles Finish "Off-Week" Practice
Hattiesburg, Miss. - A week ago tropical storm Isidore was affecting the Southern Miss practice schedule as the Golden Eagles prepared to play at Army. This week, Hurricane Lili brought more of the same, the only difference being that USM is in the midst of an off week and will not play this weekend.
But, practices did continue and the coaching staff again had to work around the weather. After a Wednesday afternoon practice, the team worked at 6 o'clock Thursday morning, to stay away from anticipated afternoon rains, and then finished the week with a 6 o'clock Friday morning workout that had to be moved inside, due to wet grounds on both the practice fields and in Roberts Stadium.
"This was just all we could do today, because of the weather," Head Coach Jeff Bower said. "It's hard to get things done when we have to go inside. You can get some assignment work done, but as far as throwing and catching the football and getting in any speed work, it's just hard to do inside. You do as much as you can, but staying on a routine, for the players and coaches, and getting outside is real important in getting ready to play.
"It's good that this storm came through during an off week, because if we had played this week, the situation would be exactly like it was before the Army game, and I'm convinced that the distractions during that week of practice had a lot to do with how we played in the Army game."
Following this morning's workout, the players have a rare weekend off and will resume preparations for the South Florida game Monday afternoon.
The off week is the first for the Eagles after five-straight games. Following this weekend, Southern Miss continues a three-game road trip that will see the Eagles go from Alabama, to West Point, N.Y. (Army), to Tampa, Fla. (South Florida), before finally returning home for an Oct. 19 homecoming game against Cincinnati.
