University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Houston Visits Southern Miss For Homecoming Saturday
10/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 12, 2006
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss returns to M.M. Roberts Stadium for the first time in three games when they entertain Conference USA foe, Houston, in a 6 p.m. contest Saturday for the school's homecoming.
The Golden Eagles (3-2 overall, 1-1 C-USA) look to rebound from a 20-6 loss at Tulsa two Tuesdays ago, while Houston (4-2, 2-0) comes into the game with two straight losses to Miami, Fla., and Louisiana-Lafayette, after opening the season with four consecutive wins, including C-USA victories over Rice and Tulane.
This will be the 10th meeting between the two schools with Southern Miss holding a 6-3 advantage in the series. The Golden Eagles had a six-game winning streak over the Cougars snapped last season in a 27-24 loss at Houston. The game was moved back to Nov. 13, after Hurricane Rita delayed the game from its original Sept. date.
Southern Miss will face the top scoring offense in C-USA, which is led by senior quarterback Kevin Kolb. The Cougars are scoring 32.2 points per game, while Kolb has thrown for 1,756 yards in 2006 with 14 touchdowns and just one interception. Kolb holds that school's top career marks in completions (808), passing yards (10,911) and total offense (11,535).
The Golden Eagles expect to counter with redshirt junior quarterback Jeremy Young, who ranks 10th in the league in both passing yards per game (125.0) and total offense (141.0), despite being hampered with a turf toe injury that has slowed him down since midway through the UCF game. Backup quarterback Stephen Reaves is doubtful for the game after sustaining an ankle injury at Tulsa last week, while redshirt sophomore Todd Wilson could see action in a backup role.
Freshman running back Damion Fletcher looks to extend his 100-yard game streak to five, but will only have a half to do it as he and redshirt sophomore tight end Shawn Nelson have been suspended for the first half of the contest due to a curfew violation. Fletcher leads the Golden Eagles in rushing with 601 yards on 110 carries this season for a 5.5 yards per rush average. Fletcher is the top true freshman running back in the country at this point of the season and No. 2 among all freshmen in Division I-A.
Nelson leads the receiving corps with 15 catches for 189 yards and senior Damion Carter follows with nine catches for 188 yards. Freshman Rodney Gray has 11 catches for 131 yards.
Defensively, the Golden Eagles their top tackler junior Brandon Sumrall, who has 34 total stops on the year, including 24 solos and two sacks, to go along with an interception and three forced fumbles. Sumrall also returns kickoffs and leads that category for the squad at 22.5 yards per return average for 10 kicks.
Redshirt sophomore Gerald McRath, redshirt junior LeVance Richmond, redshirt sophomore Ladarius Webb and redshirt junior Robert Henderson are all next with 25 total tackles each.
As for the Cougars, Vincent Marshall is Kolb's biggest target of the UH receivers, having caught 30 passes for 382 yards and Donnie Avery has caught 29 throws for 453 yards.
On the ground, Jackie Battle paces the Cougar running backs with 302 yards on 61 carries.
Trent Allen paces the defense with 46 total tackles and interception, followed by Cody Lubojansky with 39 stops including five for loss and Kenneth Fontenette, who has been credited with 33 tackles.
Tickets still remain for the contest and can be purchased by calling 1-800-844-TICK or go by the Athletic Ticket Office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Following the Houston game, Southern Miss hits the road again for a tilt at Virginia Tech the following Saturday. Game time is set for 6 p.m. CT, and will be shown live nationally on ESPN U. The game time was changed earlier in the week from 12:30 p.m. to accommodate television.
