Southern Miss Looks for Bowl Eligibility in Final Regular Season Contest at ULM
Published 12:00 pm Friday, November 25, 2022
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Southern Miss football team completes its 2022 regular season this Saturday, Nov. 26, with a chance to extend their season with a bowl game when they meet ULM to complete their school’s first Sun Belt Conference schedule.
Game time takes place at 4 p.m., from Malone Stadium in Monroe and can be seen on ESPN+, as well as heard on an affiliate of the Southern Miss Sports Network by Learfield.
The Golden Eagles (5-6 overall, 3-4 Sun Belt) look to snap a current three-game losing streak and reach at least the six-win mark for the 67th time in the school’s history.
A victory over the Warhawks puts Southern Miss into its 19th bowl game since the 1997 season and first since going to the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas, following the 2019 campaign.
The meeting with the Warhawks (4-7, 3-4) marks the seventh game between the two schools in football as the Golden Eagles lead 4-2 in the series. This will be only the second trip to Monroe for Southern Miss, who collected 28-17 victory there in 2017. ULM won the last meeting between the two schools, 21-20, during the 2018 season.
The Golden Eagles enter the game with their biggest offensive weapon in Frank Gore, Jr., who has 95.2 all-purpose yards per game this season. Gore, Jr. has rushed for 854 yards this season, averaging 4.7 yards per carry and 77.6 yards on the ground per contest. He has also caught 17 passes for 193 yards, while throwing 159 yards on 4-of-10 throws with a pair of touchdown tosses.
Senior wide receiver Jason Brownlee leads the team in receiving, by posting 51 catches for 796 yards and seven touchdowns. He tallied his fifth 100-yard receiving game last week versus South Alabama to give him 10 for his career. That ranks him tied for second on the career school listing with Mike Thomas and Quez Watkins and trailing only Sherrod Gideon (11) by one game.
In his three seasons, Brownlee also enjoys 20 touchdown catches to his ledger, which ranks No. 4 on the school’s career listing as well. He had tallied 2,049 career receiving yards and is five shy of tying Shawn Nelson (2,054) for No. 5 on USM’s career list.
Quarterback Trey Lowe started the last two games for the Golden Eagles and has averaged 231 yards passing on 37-of-70 passes with a touchdown and an interception.
On defense, Malik Shorts continues to lead the squad in tackles with 86, while Santrell Latham is next at 75. Daylen Gill ranks third with 72 stops.
Dominic Quewon leads the team in sacks with 8.5 this season, which ranks second in the Sun Belt and No. 15 nationally, while he and Averie Habas each leads the way at 9.5 tackles for loss.
Over the first 11 games, the Golden Eagles forced 20 turnovers this season, including 16 interceptions which ranks tied for fourth in the FBS in 2022.