Southern Miss Finishes Season with Papajohns.com Bowl Saturday
12/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 21, 2007
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Southern Miss makes its sixth-straight bowl appearance, Saturday, when they meet No. 20 Cincinnati at 12 noon in the second annual Papajohns.com Bowl. The game will be played at Legion Field.
The Golden Eagles enter the contest 7-5, after securing its 14th-straight winning season while appearing in their 10th bowl game in the last 11 years. It will be the second ranked opponent for the Golden Eagles this season, as they battled at No. 24 Tennessee during the first month of the campaign.
Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower will be coaching his final game, after resigning Nov. 26. Bower, who has coached more games than any head football coach at the school (202), has compiled a 119-82-1 mark over his 17 seasons leading the program. He has enjoyed 15 winning seasons during his tenure as head coach.
It has been a fun week for the Golden Eagles as they have been treated to a visit to the Civil Rights Institute, a night of bowling, and a Friday luncheon which featured keynote speaker Lou Holtz.
The Golden Eagles, which arrived Wednesday afternoon, had its lone practice Thursday at Birmingham-Southern College, which was a one hour, 30-minute workout in a steady rain.
It will be the final game for 21 Southern Miss seniors who have compiled a 30-20 record over their time. This senior class, one of just three to reach a bowl game in all four seasons, has a chance to become the first to win a bowl game in all four years.
Sophomore running back Damion Fletcher must rush for 69 yards against the Bearcats to become only the second Golden Eagle rusher to record 1,500 yards for a season. The Biloxi, Miss., product also needs just 115 yards to become the all-time single-season rushing leader and 181 for 3,000 yards on the ground in his career.
This will be the 15th meeting between the two teams as each school has won seven games in the series. The squads last met in 2004 when both teams were part of Conference USA. UC, 9-3 in 2007 and 4-3 in the Big East, won that contest 52-24.
The game, which will be televised nationally on ESPN2, can also be heard on the Southern Miss ISP Sports Network with affiliates throughout the state of Mississippi, as well as ESPN Radio nationally.