University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Practice Continues as Football Readies for LA Tech
10/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss football team continued practice for its upcoming game against Conference USA West Division leader Louisiana Tech in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts at the Joe P. Park Practice Facility.
On the heels of a solid Tuesday practice, second-year Southern Miss Todd Monken said his team enjoyed a better day of preparation in its Wednesday workout.
"It was good," Monken said. "We backed up a good Tuesday with a really good Wednesday."
The Golden Eagles enter the week fresh off of its first league victory last weekend at North Texas. The Black and Gold, 3-4 overall and 1-2 in C-USA play, return to M.M. Roberts Stadium this weekend for the school's annual BLACKOUT game. Southern Miss will look to improve on a 2-1 home record against one of the league's best teams.
The Bulldogs, fresh off a 27-20 league home victory over UTSA last Saturday, bring a 4-3 overall mark as well as a 3-0 C-USA record to lead the West Division by two games over both Rice and UTEP.
Louisiana Tech was able to capitalize on some UTSA turnovers to shorten the field and score some points.
"The reality is they won the game because of their defense," Monken remarked. "I don't know how many turnovers they created, but I know there were four of them on their end. One was fumbled snap, picked it up and scored. Another ended up on about the eight. Another one ended up on the 30 and another one was on the 50. That is how they won. Their offense played good enough to win, but really their defense created turnovers that got them going."
The Golden Eagles will look to counter LA Tech's stingy defense with an every improving offense. Southern Miss has posted at least 500 yards of total offense in each of its last two games - Middle Tennessee (537) and North Texas (506).
Southern Miss rushed for over 200 yards for the second time this season against the Mean Green. Freshman Ito Smith just missed eclipsing the 100-yard plateau finishing with 95 yards on the ground. Junior Jalen Richard, in his first game since the season opener at Mississippi State, collected a career-best eight receptions for 71 yards.
USM was effective against North Texas on the perimeter thanks to the return of Richard and Monken expects his running back to factor into the game once again.
"Every week is a little bit different," said Monken. "What Tech does and what North Texas does is a little bit different. Jalen is one of those guys who is a good guy to get the ball to in space."
In addition, the Black and Gold controlled the clock against the Mean Green. Southern Miss finished the North Texas contest with a season-best 37:11 time of possession.
Game time is set for 2:30 p.m., Saturday and tickets can be purchased by going online at SouthernMissTickets.com, by calling 1-800-844-TICK (8425) or by visiting the Pat Ferlise Ticket Office weekdays from 8 a.m., until 5 p.m.
BLACKOUT t-shirts are available for purchase at Barnes & Noble, Campus Book Mart, Academy Sports and Outdoors as well as at SouthernMiss.com
