University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Football Completes New Orleans Bowl Preparations
12/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 19, 2005
LAFAYETTE, La. - The Southern Miss football team completed its preparations for Arkansas State in Tuesday's New Orleans Bowl at Lafayette with a 30-minute walk through at the ULL practice field.
The team attended a luncheon with Arkansas State this afternoon, which featured former NFL Pro Bowler Brian Mitchell as a guest speaker. Following the luncheon, the team went straight to the walk through.
Southern Miss' preparations were slightly adjusted, due to recruiting, exams and graduation. Still, Head Coach Jeff Bower said the team is ready to play.
"We got together as a full team on Sunday for practice and that went well," Bower said. "We did the best we could. We had to make adjustments in our schedule with recruiting, exams and guys graduating. Everything worked out well. I'm pleased with it."
Southern Miss enters the game with a 6-5 record, its 12th consecutive winning season. The Golden Eagles will play in their fourth consecutive bowl game, and eighth in the last nine seasons, as they play in the New Orleans Bowl for the second consecutive season.
"The 12 consecutive winning seasons are the something our players take pride in," Bower said. "It's very important to our players."
Tuesday's game will be the ninth meeting between Southern Miss and Arkansas State, with the Golden Eagles holding a 6-2 series advantage. Southern Miss has won the past three meetings, including a 35-0 victory in Hattiesburg in 1980 in the last game. The first meeting was in 1960, with Arkansas State claiming a 14-13 victory. Southern Miss then won the next three games, 20-0 in 1961, 20-7 in 1962 and 25-0 in 1963. Arkansas State won 14-10 in 1977, before the Golden Eagles won 21-6 in 1978, 14-6 in 1979 and 35-0 in 1980.
Arkansas State enters Tuesday's game with a 6-5 record, and will make its first bowl appearance as a Division I-A program. The Indians are the 2005 Champions of the Sun Belt Conference.
"Arkansas State is a good team," Bower said. "They are a team that takes care of the ball, creates turnovers and are very good at running the football. They play hard on defense and are a good kicking team. They are a well-coached football team and our players know that we need to play our best. A big key for us will be stopping their running game."
Bower said that everyone that "is able to play" will play Tuesday against Arkansas State.
Tickets are still available for Tuesday's game. Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets from the Southern Miss Ticket Office. Premium sideline tickets are $40 each, Goal line tickets are $20 each and Southern Miss student tickets are $20 each. Priority ticket deadline is Fri., Dec. 9 at 1 p.m., and for ticket information call 1-800-844-TICK, 601-266-5418 or visit www.southernmiss.com.
Game time is set for 7 p.m., on Tuesday, and will televised nationally on ESPN.
