Southern Miss returns to action this Saturday after a two week hiatus. As a result of Hurricane Florence and the ensuing cancellation of last Saturday’s game against Appalachian State, the Golden Eagles had extra time to prepare for their Conference USA opener against Rice.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6 pm at M.M. Roberts Stadium.
The Owls enter the matchup 1-2 having lost two straight against Hawaii and Houston. In his weekly press conference on Monday, Southern Miss head coach Jay Hopson said “another good football team is coming to town”.
“They [Rice] use a lot of different looks, a lot of different personnel, groupings and I think they’re a football team that is well coached. Offensively and defensively they are a football team that has our utmost respect and we know it’s going to be a four-quarter game.”
Rice opened the season with a 31-28 win over Prairie View A&M. Through three games, the Owls are averaging 427 yards and 29 points per contest. The teams they’ve lost to thus far are a combined 5-2.
On the other side, Southern Miss sits at 1-1 heading into Saturday’s game. The Golden Eagles opened the season with a resounding win over Jackson State and followed that up with a disappointing, 21-20 home loss to Louisiana Monroe. First-year starting quarterback Jack Abraham committed four turnovers (2 interceptions, 2 fumbles) in the latter.
“We’re just trying to work on doing all the little things to the best of our ability and that’s football,” said Hopson. “The journey as a football coach is that we just want to be better every week. I think we’ve got some guys that have playmaking ability and I feel like we’re doing some good things.
“One thing you can’t do and win football games is you can’t turn the ball over. You can’t not execute on high levels and win football games.”
If the turnovers persist for Abraham, his grasp on the starting role could be temporary with the reinstatement of Kwadra Griggs. It was announced last Friday that Griggs was back with the team and in good standing following an indefinite suspension in August. A redshirt senior, Griggs saw action in 10 games last season, passing for 16 touchdowns to just 2 interceptions.
As for when he could return to game action, Hopson says a lot of that is up to Griggs.
“That’s something we’ve just got to see how he does this week and watch him closely. We’re going to give him reps and we’re going to try to get him back into the groove. We’ll see how quickly he gets back in and ready to roll. Again, he’s not a genie. You can’t just sit out for a month and magically be ready tomorrow.
“I know one thing and that is he’s going to compete and work hard to get himself back and ready to roll.”
