University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Bower Says Memphis "Will Be Tough"
9/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Bower Says Memphis "Will Be Tough"
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Coming off an impressive victory over Illinois, Southern Miss wraps up a three-game, season-opening homestand Saturday, when the Golden Eagles take on a Memphis team in a game always proves to be entertaining. The 6 p.m., game will be televised live back to the Memphis market.
The Tigers bring a 1-1 record into the game, but Head Coach Jeff Bower says the game will be as tough as ever, and is THE most important game on the schedule. "This is a conference game, and you better bear down and play hard and try to get some early momentum," he said. "Every game is as important as the other, but this is the next game, and that makes it the most important one."
And don't think that Bower and his coaching staff will let their players attach too much importance to Memphis' loss to Ole Miss. "Actually that game was close," he said. "It may have looked a little out of whack, but it was a close game late. It was a 24-16 game with less than five minutes left, but Ole Miss scored and then ran back a punt for another touchdown to make it look worse than it was."
Bower also says the Tigers won't do much different from last year, but will be an even better team than the one that beat the Eagles, 22-17, last season in Memphis. "We really don't expect them to be much different," he said. "They may actually run less of their offense than they did last season, maybe a little more simplified version. There are a few differences, but the big difference will be that Memphis is even more experienced than a year ago."
The Golden Eagles will practice Wednesday and Thursday, and Bower says those days are important as his team tries to get some of its injured players back into action. "We still have several players who are limited, and we need them to make progress between now and the game."
