University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
From the Broadcast Booth: 4th Entry
9/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 26, 2011
*Written by the 'Voice of the Golden Eagles' John Cox
The Golden Eagle football team will travel to Charlottesville, Va., this weekend to meet the Virginia Cavaliers for just the second time in history. The only other time that the two teams played was back on Sept. 19, 2009, when the Golden Eagles rallied from a 17-point deficit to win 37-34 at the Rock. In that game, the Golden Eagles held the Cavaliers to just seven points in the second half and rallied thanks to a couple of big plays - a 100-yard kick-off return by Freddie Parham with just over 13 minutes to go and a 57-yard touchdown run by tailback Tory Harrison with eight minutes left - that gave the Golden Eagles their only lead of the game and proved to be the game winner.Of the original members of the Atlantic Coast Conference (Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest) when it was founded in 1953, the Golden Eagles have played only two of those teams, North Carolina State and South Carolina. The Golden Eagles and the Wolfpack have met 10 times, with each team winning five games, although Southern Miss won the last meeting in Hattiesburg, 37-17, back in 2006. The only meeting between the Golden Eagles and South Carolina was the 2010 season opener in Columbia, S.C. The seven charter members of the ACC left the Southern Conference to form the league in June of 1953, while Virginia was asked to join in December of 1953. Of course, since then, the ACC has expanded and the Golden Eagles have also played games against current ACC members Virginia Tech and Florida State.
The first-ever meeting between Southern Miss and the ACC occurred in 1958 when they played North Carolina State at what was then Ladd Stadium in Mobile, Ala. It was the first of six straight years the two teams would meet. Southern won the first two meetings in that series 26-14 in that 1958 matchup and 19-14 in 1959 in another game played in Mobile.
M-Club Induction Ceremonies
Last week was a great weekend on the campus with the 52-6 victory over Southeastern Louisiana, but also with the M-Club Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies and as well as addition of the 1958 and 1962 UPI College Division National Championship teams into the Legends Club. It was wonderful to see all of the inductees last weekend, including three former Golden Eagle football players and former NFL standouts Adalius Thomas, Todd Pinkston and Patrick Surtain. Thomas and Pinkston were a part of three Conference USA championships and Surtain was a part of two championships.
It was fun to sit and reminisce with those three about their terrific careers at Southern Miss and they all had great stories to tell. AD, who played from 1996 to 1999, remembers that former Southern Miss assistant coach Randy Butler came to watch him play in a basketball game and the Golden Eagles offered him a scholarship without even seeing him play in person in a football game. Thomas, from Equality, Ala., began his Golden Eagle career as a tight end, listed on the depth chart behind Larry Norton and Terry Hardy. After a short time on offense, he was switched to defensive end and became an important part of defensive coordinator John Thompson's Nasty Bunch and his "Chaos" defense. He still got a chance to play tight end from time to time in his career, because as he always said "I could catch the ball blindfolded in a sandstorm." I don't doubt that he could.
Surtain, who played from 1994 to 1997, surprisingly had never played defensive back in high school; he was a quarterback at Edna Karr high School in New Orleans. He had opportunities to go to a lot of schools but they all wanted him to play defensive back and the Golden Eagles told him he could play quarterback. But that didn't last very long, because Golden Eagle defensive backs coach Everett Withers (now head coach at North Carolina) convinced him to give defense a try and the rest as they say is history. Surtain became one of the best cornerbacks in school history and a Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year in 1997. Surtain says the switch to defense at Southern Miss was "the best thing that ever happened to me." It turned out pretty good for Southern Miss as well.
Pinkston, who now coaches at Petal (Miss.) High School and played for the Golden Eagles from 1996 to 1999, developed into one of the school's finest receivers, and remembers most of all being a part of three Conference USA championships in 1996, 1997 and 1999. He teamed with Sherrod Gideon to give the Golden Eagles the best wide receiver tandem in school history. Pink always played with a lot of heart and determination and never left anything on the field during a game. Time after time during his career he made sensational catches and used his speed and quickness to catch up to passes that other receivers wouldn't even have tried to catch. He probably never got the credit he deserved for his contributions to those championship teams.
All three of those guys talked about how Southern Miss and the coaches that they played for, taught them the things that they needed to be successful both on the football field and away from the football field. You can tell that they all take a lot of pride in Southern Miss and our football program and are proud of the accomplishments of the school and the athletic department.
There was a great turnout for the banquet and the induction ceremonies and hats off to the M-Club and president Tim Hallman for doing a great job and a special thanks to Magnolia State bank for once again serving as sponsor of the event.
Now, we get set to head to Charlottesville, Va., and Scott Stadium, which seats 61,500 fans. The stadium has a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains and specifically Monticello Mountain, the home of Thomas Jefferson, who founded the University, out the south end of the stadium. It will be a great atmosphere for a game.
Hope you will be listening this week on the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network. Broadcast time this week is 1 p.m. central time with our pregame show.
