Southern Miss Holds Bowl Practice
12/7/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Southern Miss Holds Bowl Practice
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss Head Football Coach Jeff Bower and his Golden Eagles worked out at M. M. Roberts Stadium, today, for a little over an hour and a half and then held post practice conditioning in preparation for the Houston Bowl, on Dec. 27, at Noon. The Golden Eagles will face a Big 12 opponent, which is yet to be determined, at Reliant Stadium, in Houston, Texas.
"Today's practice wasn't bad, even though we were a little sluggish," Bower said. "We lost some conditioning, which you would expect, but it was good to give them some time off, and we'll get it back. We conditioned after practice, and we'll work four times next week. We'll get them ready to play. The health of the team at this point is also good."
Bower did say that it was somewhat difficult practicing without knowing who the opponent was going to be. "You have to come out and get tuned up the best that you can. I don't think we could afford to stay away from practice too much longer so it was good to get out and get the kinks out."
Southern Miss will hold bowl practices on Tuesday (12/10), Wednesday (12/11), Friday (12/13) and Saturday (12/14). The Golden Eagles will then have time off to go home for a few days, before reporting back on Wednesday evening (12/18) for a meeting, before practicing on Thursday (12/19), Friday (12/20), Saturday (12/21) and Sunday (12/22), before leaving for Houston on Monday (12/23). The Golden Eagles will then practice on Tuesday (12/24), Wednesday (12/25) and Thursday (12/26) before playing the game on Friday.
After meeting with the media in Houston on Thursday, Bower said he was very impressed with Reliant Stadium, the venue, which is going to host the Houston Bowl. "The stadium is very impressive and is a tremendous facility. The hotel our team is staying at is in a good area, and we have a good practice facility to use. We will practice at the University of Houston, so we'll be able to have good practices. If the weather is bad, they have an indoor facility so that is a plus as well."
In reference to the All-Conference USA team that was released earlier this week, Bower did say he was pleased with the selections for the most part. "We had five players who made first team, two who were selected to the second team and one to the all-freshman team. I think it was good, but I was a little disappointed that Greg Brooks didn't make the team. He had a good year for us and covered well. We manned him up against the opponent's best receiver for the most part, and he did a good job. Other coaches study tape like we do, and we weren't allowed to vote for our own players but I thought the guys that were selected were most deserving, and we are very proud of them."