University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Football Season Starts Saturday with Kentucky
9/1/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Football returns to The Rock this Saturday.
Under second-year head coach Jay Hopson, Southern Miss opens its 101st season when they meet Kentucky at Carlisle-Faulkner Field at M.M. Roberts Stadium this Saturday at 3 p.m. The game can be heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss IMG Sports Network as well as be seen on the CBS Sports Network.
Kentucky makes its first-ever trip to Hattiesburg and becomes also the first non-Mississippi team from the Southeastern Conference to play in Hattiesburg. The Wildcats, which dropped the season opener to the Golden Eagles last fall in Lexington, 44-35, rallied to collect a 7-6 record and a berth in the TaxSlayer Bowl last December.
Saturday's tilt will be a rematch of last year's game that saw a combined 79 points scored and 929 total offensive yards.
Southern Miss returns its two top weapons from a season ago, seniors Ito Smith (Mobile, Ala.) and receiver Allenzae Staggers (Woodville, Miss.).
Smith rushed for a team-best 1,459 yards and looks to become only the third Southern Miss player to rush for 1,000 or more yards in three seasons, with the other two being Damion Fletcher (four times) and Derrick Nix (three times). Smith sits in third on the Golden Eagle rushing chart with 3,123 yards and third in all-purpose yards with 4,629.
As for Staggers, who has played just one year in the program, he tallied 1,165 receiving yards on a team-best 63 catches and collected two of the five top receiving games in school history with a record-breaking 292 yards against Rice and a 230 output in the air against Louisiana-Lafayette in the New Orleans Bowl en route to being named that game's most valuable player.
On defense, the Golden Eagle return five starters from a year ago including senior Cornell Armstrong, who notched 47 tackles and registered one interception a season ago. Also back is Xavier Thigpen, who notched 33 stops of which 12.5 were for loss. Against UK last season, Thigpen blocked a punt on the game's first possession, added a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the 25-point come-from-behind victory for the Golden Eagles.
This will be the fourth game in the series with UK holding a 2-1 advantage. This game also marks the first time the two teams have played outside of Lexington.
For tickets on game day, fans can purchase seats at the Ferlise Center from 8 a.m., until 11:30 a.m., and then from 12 noon until halftime at the Southwest Ticket Office at M.M. Roberts Stadium.
Click here to visit fan tailgating guidelines as well as the new clear bag and golf cart policies.
