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The Miners gear up to play at home against
Southern Mississippi, after a resounding win against the UTSA Roadrunners.
For the second straight week the Miners have left fans in awe as they continue to rack up important conference wins. The big win on the road gave fans a lot to cheer about as they shut out the Roadrunners in
San Antonio.
The 34-0 win on the road not only boosted morale around campus, but also brought lot of confidence to a team seeking its third win in conference play. The Golden Eagles, on the other hand, are coming off a difficult 31-20 loss to Louisiana Tech at home.
After the win against the Roadrunners, the Miners seem to be firing on all cylinders as it was a combined air and ground attack that won the game on the road. Jameill Showers hopes to improve on the performance he had on the road here at home at the Sun Bowl as he threw for two touchdowns and was just shy of a
200-yard performance.
Aaron Jones may also improve on the good season he has had with another big game at home. He rushed for 89 yards Saturday, but more importantly caught a 40-yard touchdown pass that started at the line of scrimmage. Jones now has the opportunity to push his way up through the rankings for total rushing yards since he is now in the top 20.
The Golden Eagles come into the Sun Bowl with a lot to play for, their season may very well stand in the balance after this game. They are 3-5, but more importantly 1-3 in conference play. A loss to the Miners could end the season for Southern Mississippi and almost certainly eliminate them from bowl contention. Nevertheless, coach Kugler holds the Golden Eagles in high regard, considering the fact that they had one of the toughest out-of-conference schedules
in the nation.
“I think they’re one of the most talented teams athletically in Conference USA,” Kugler said. “They played No.1 Alabama, No.1 Mississippi State, they beat North Texas, who was a bowl team last year at their place handily, they played Rice, Middle Tennessee and Louisiana Tech–arguably three of the top teams in our conference–down to the wire. This is a very talented team, with a lot of athletes on both sides of the ball.”
The Miners shouldn’t consider the Golden Eagles as an after thought either. Their quarterback, Cole Weeks, ranks in the top 30 in the nation for passing yards. In the loss to Louisiana Tech, he still threw for more than 330 yards and a touchdown.
Their quarterback also has close to 2,000 yards passing and 10 touchdowns already,” Kugler said. “He was injured on the seventh play of this past game, but the guy that came in, #11, had 338 yards and a touchdown and kept those guys in the game the entire time. It might be a situation where we’ve got to prepare for two quarterbacks again, but they seemed to run pretty much the same system when this guy was in the ball game.”
The Miners’ defense will focus on neutralizing the senior quarterback and forcing the Golden Eagles to run the ball. The Golden Eagles are coming off a tough game in terms of its running game, which resulted in a negative 31 yards and a negative 1.2 yards per rush. The Miners could take control of the game if they make the Golden Eagles
run the ball.
A win against a slumping Golden Eagles’ team not only helps the Miners get a streak of wins going, but more importantly gets them closer to a place in post-season play.
More than just a win at home, beating the Golden Eagles helps the Miners improve their 4-3 record and their 2-1 conference record. A win at home also means the Miners could start building on wins toward the latter part of the season.
A win at home would also put the Miners a win away from becoming bowl eligible. The Miners will look to take advantage of a team that is struggling and use their home-field advantage to start the second half of the season with a win.
“I only know one way and that’s to go back and work hard,” Kugler said. “I think this team is really starting to understand our practice habits throughout the week really do translate into our quality of play on Saturdays. I really feel they’ll come out and practice hard this week.”
Juan Carlos Navarrete can be reached at [email protected].
