University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Football Opens Home Season Saturday with Savannah State
9/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - During his six seasons as a Southern Miss assistant football coach, Jay Hopson gathered plenty of memories about game day at Roberts Stadium.
Saturday evening, Hopson will add another to the collection.
The first-year Southern Miss head coach will lead his Golden Eagles through the pregame Eagle Walk before later bringing them into the stadium for the home opener against Savannah State.
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
"It's just special," Hopson said of playing in front of the home crowd. "I was talking with (long-time director of sports broadcasting John Cox) and he said, ‘What's your most memorable one?' and I said, ‘I don't know. Of course, TCU was a fun night, and then there's the Oklahoma State game and the N.C. State game, then another game of two. I don't know that you can name one.
"It's just a great environment and I know the players are excited to be home and looking forward to the fans packing The Rock. We know what a special environment it is when it's a packed house."
Southern Miss (1-0) opened the season last weekend with a stirring, 44-35 victory at Kentucky that saw the Golden Eagles complete the largest comeback in the program's history after trailing 35-10 with less than a minute to play in the first half.
Running backs Ito Smith and George Payne combined for 263 yards and touchdown rushing, while quarterback Nick Mullens threw for two scores and ran for two more. Parker Shaunfield hit all three of his field goal attempts, including a career-best 49-yarder.
Savannah State (0-1) dropped a 54-0 decision at Georgia Southern. The Tigers, which play in the Football Championship Subdivision, managed just 114 total yards and eight first downs, while allowing 605 total yards, including 420 yards rushing.
But Hopson said the Golden Eagles not only had plenty to correct from their game against the Wildcats, but also could not afford to take Savannah State lightly.
"We know we have to get better from week one to week two," Hopson said. "That's our charge if we hope to be successful. We have to correct our mistakes, and we know that.
"As a coach, you're looking at what's actually happening on the field, and in the first half, we were physical, too. We had some missed assignments, and you have some missed assignments, and a guy runs free and scores a touchdown two or three times, well, guess what? That scoreboard isn't going to look too good. But the reality was, we were playing hard, and we played hard for 60 minutes, and as a coach, that's what you're proud of."
Southern Miss defensive coordinator Tony Pecoraro said the Golden Eagles had to prepare for a little bit of everything this week.
"They've got a spread-run game, like kind of everyone does right now," Peconaro said. "They're going to throw it around the yard a little bit. They do multiple things, a lot of different personnel groupings, a lot of different run-game concepts, a lot of different passing-game concepts, so they're very multiple."
Hopson said the Golden Eagles just have to keep taking steps forward and strive to play better each week.
"If there's one thing that football has taught me is that you better be ready every week," Hopson said. "As a coaching staff, I think we were up here longer (Sunday) night for Savannah State than we were (for Kentucky) because as a coach you have to live it just as much as you do as a player."
Both Hopson and Pecoraro had been on the opposite sideline at Roberts Stadium in 2014, when Pecoraro was on Hopson's staff at Alcorn State and the Golden Eagles squeezed past the Braves 26-20.
Pecoraro said he expected the Golden Eagles to be ready to roll Saturday night.
"I know it's an exciting environment and I'm excited to be part of that," he said. "The players, they'll be ready. Number one, we're not going to treat any team differently. We're going to give every team they respect they deserve in our preparation.
"Number two, it's the first home game. So, you have to be excited, you have to be jacked up, to come home after a big win, and hopefully, a big crowd supporting a big win. So, they're going to be excited about coming out there and playing."
