Southern Miss Continues Bowl Preparation
12/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Southern Miss Continues Bowl Preparation HATTIESBURG, Miss.
With Wednesday's session being the first midweek practice in which the entire coaching staff was present, the Golden Eagles were able to concentrate fully on Utah, the Mountain West Conference champion.
"We have to get on this game," Southern Miss Head Coach Jeff Bower said. "We have been doing work on our gameplan, but with the whole staff in here now, all the focus is on finalizing the game plan. We got a lot of it in, but we will work hard the next couple of days. We have done some work on Utah, but we concentrated more on them today. "
The Golden Eagles will not practice on Thursday, but will hit the field on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Bower says the next two practices will be very critical in the bowl preparation.
"Friday and Saturday are going to be our most physical practices," Bower said. "We are going full gear, and we will probably scrimmage a little bit. It's been a long time since we have done that. So those will be key days for us from a practice standpoint."
Bower said that true freshman tight end Alan Whitney will be out for the game, after breaking a bone in his foot on Sunday in a non-contact drill. Whitney is expected to have surgery on his foot on Thursday. Bower also expects Eric Scott, who has been limited in practice because of a high-ankle sprain, to be ready for the bowl game.
The 2003 AXA Liberty Bowl, slated for Wednesday, Dec. 31, at 2:30 p.m., in Memphis, Tenn., will be televised by ESPN. Tickets are still available for the game and can be purchased by calling the Southern Miss Ticket Office at 601-266-5418 or 1-800-844-TICK.