----------
Southern Miss, Arkansas
State kick off bowl season
FINAL ROUNDUP OF C-USA BOWLS New Orleans Bowl
[Preview]
Tuesday, December 20
Southern Miss 31, Arkansas State 19
Cajun Stadium, Lafayette, LA
Payout Per Team: $750,000
Time: 8 PM; TV: ESPN
GMAC Bowl [Preview]
Wednesday, December 21
Toledo 45, Texas-El Paso 13
Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, AL
Payout Per Team: $750,000
Time: 8 PM; TV: ESPN
Fort Worth Bowl [Preview]
Friday, December 23
Kansas 42, Houston 13
Amon G. Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, TX
Payout Per Team: $750,000
Time: 8 PM; TV: ESPN
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl [Preview]
Saturday, December 24
Nevada 49, Central Florida 48 (OT)
Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI
Payout Per Team: $750,000
Time: 8:30 PM; TV: ESPN
Motor City Bowl [Preview]
Monday, December 26
Memphis
38, Akron 31
Ford Field, Detroit, MI
Payout Per Team: $750,000
Time: 4 PM; TV: ESPN
AutoZone Liberty Bowl [Preview]
Saturday, December 31
Tulsa
31, Fresno State 24
Liberty Bowl Stadium, Memphis, TN
Payout Per Team: $1,500,000
Time: 1 PM; TV: ESPN
View schedule and final results of all bowl games involving C-USA teams... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
By NOAH TRISTER
AP Sports Writer
LAFAYETTE, LA — Southern
Mississippi had just finished a light walkthrough, and with the New
Orleans Bowl only a day away, Coach Jeff Bower took a moment to reflect.
"With all the adversity
that everybody in New Orleans has gone through, I'm thankful to the city
of Lafayette for opening their arms up to this bowl and hosting this
game," Bower said Monday. "Because if those things don't happen, there
are two teams that are at home today."
The Golden Eagles will
face Arkansas State on Tuesday night in the first of 28 bowl games — and
each team feels it has a special opportunity.
The New Orleans Bowl was
moved from the Louisiana Superdome to Cajun Stadium in Lafayette because
of Hurricane Katrina, and while Southern Mississippi is playing in it
for the second straight season, not much else about the game is
familiar.
The Golden Eagles'
opponent this year is one of the nation's unlikeliest postseason teams.
North Texas represented the Sun Belt Conference in the first four New
Orleans Bowls, but Arkansas State (6-5) shared the league title with
Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette this season — and won the
tiebreaker.
"I have to really commend
Arkansas State on what they did this season," Southern Mississippi
defensive tackle Terrance Ford said. "Great things have happened for
them this year."
Arkansas State played in
Division I-AA between 1982-91, but this is the Indians' first bowl since
returning to I-A. Their most recent postseason game was in 1987 in the
I-AA quarterfinals.
Before going to I-AA,
Arkansas State's last postseason appearance was the 1970 Pecan Bowl
against Central Missouri State, so the Indians feel they're playing for
more than personal pride.
"We're representing a lot
of groups. We're representing all the underdogs," Coach Steve Roberts
said. "We're representing the state of Arkansas. We're representing the
Sun Belt Conference. We're representing a lot of frustrated fans for the
last 30 years or so that haven't been to a bowl game."
Arkansas State's
excitement has been predictable, but Southern Mississippi is also
grateful — a season of turmoil taught the Golden Eagles (6-5) not to
take bowl appearances for granted. Southern Mississippi had two
postponements because of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and had to play its
final nine regular-season games in a nine-week stretch.
The Golden Eagles beat
Tulane 26-7 in their final regular-season game to become bowl eligible,
and they're looking forward to the chance to finish the year strong.
Southern Mississippi beat
North Texas 31-10 in last year's New Orleans Bowl — and opened as a 17
1/2 -point favorite in this year's game.
"It's been a long year,"
quarterback Dustin Almond said. "But at the same time, this team has
come together and has grown tremendously."
Almond's impressive senior
season helped the Golden Eagles earn their fourth straight bowl berth
and eighth in nine years. He's thrown for 2,607 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Southern Mississippi
linebacker Kevis Coley, Conference USA's defensive player of the year,
has 144 tackles and five sacks.
Arkansas State is led
offensively by Antonio Warren, who has 1,046 yards rushing, and kicker
Eric Neihouse, who won a pair of games for the Indians in October.
Neihouse made a 35-yard
field goal as time expired for a 39-36 win over Louisiana-Lafayette —
then the following week, the Indians beat Florida Atlantic 3-0 in the
first NCAA game to go to overtime scoreless.
"They don't beat
themselves," Bower said. "They take care of the ball and they kick it
well. They create some turnovers defensively."
Arkansas State was
involved in one controversy this weekend. Linebacker Chris Littleton was
arrested on a pair of misdemeanors for allegedly assaulting a law
officer who was breaking up a fight on the team bus.
But Arkansas State doesn't
plan to let that incident spoil its trip. Like Southern Mississippi, the
Indians are happy just to be playing.
"A lot of things that
we've been able to experience that nobody in our program has ever
experienced before," Roberts said. "So it's very, very exciting."
02/23/07 10:43 AM
©2005 The Associated Press. All
rights rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
|