University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Golden Eagles and Pirates Play for East Division Title
11/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 27, 2009
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - It comes down to one game for the Conference USA East Division crown.
Southern Miss and East Carolina will play for the division title at 12:30 p.m., CT, Saturday, in Greenville, N.C. The game will be televised on CBS College Sports (Comcast Digital Cable 735 in Hattiesburg as well as channel 613 on DirecTV and channel 152 on DISH network). The game also can be heard on the Southern Miss ISP Sports Network.
The winner of the contest will play either Houston or SMU next week in the C-USA title game. Southern Miss enters the weekend with a 7-4 overall record and 5-2 in league play, while ECU is 7-4 and 6-1.
The Golden Eagles, which have won four C-USA titles in 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2003, will also look to capture its second East Division title with the other one coming in 2006.
The Golden Eagles travel to a place where they have enjoyed great success, as the have won seven straight over ECU and are 15-2 overall at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Still, Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora told the media earlier this week that it did not matter about the past and that all he concerned himself with was this game this week.
"If you really think about it, 2007 or 2008 will have no impact on this game, much less all those years before," Fedora said. "I really don't think what happened in 1994 (the last time USM lost in Greenville) is going to have much outcome in this game. They're going to have a great crowd and this game is for everything. They're going to play their best and we're going to need to play our best."
The Pirates enter the game having won two straight and four of the last five contests, while the Golden Eagles have done the same.
Southern Miss brings a team that is ranked No. 14 in scoring offense as well as No. 8 in turnover margin.
On the offensive side, the Golden Eagles need 27 points to establish a school record for points in a season as well as 410 yards to reach 5,000 total yards in a season for the third-straight year.
The defense has forced 25 turnovers this season and also ranks tied for seventh nationally in sacks (3.1 per game) and 16th in tackles for loss (7.4 per game).
The Pirates are No. 74 in total offense and No. 64 in total defense this season and have been almost as opportunistic in forcing turnovers as they ranked No. 12 nationally in turnover margin.
A win for the Golden Eagles would give them their first eight-win season since 2006.
