A pair of teams from the Sun Belt’s West Division do battle in search of a victory in the Lone Star State. The Southern Miss Golden Eagles are on the road as they make the trip to take on the Texas State Bobcats Saturday afternoon. Southern Miss rallied to take down Arkansas State 20-19 at home last Saturday in their previous contest. Texas State was edged by a 17-14 score on the road against Troy in their most recent game last Saturday. These programs split two previous meetings with the Golden Eagles winning a wild game, 56-50, on the road in the most recent matchup on September 19, 2015.
Southern Miss won for the third time in four games as they took down Arkansas State at home last week and look to keep their momentum going here. The Golden Eagles improved to 3-3 on the season overall and are 1-1 in Sun Belt play entering this game. Against Arkansas State, Southern Miss was down 10-0 after the opening quarter, 10-7 at the half and 19-7 after three quarters before rallying. The Golden Eagles tallied two fourth-quarter touchdowns, the last with 2:12 to play, to earn the win. Southern Miss held a 345-286 edge in total offense, had 22 first downs while allowing 20 and controlled the clock by a 30:20 to 29:40 margin. Those numbers helped the Golden Eagles offset committing a pair of turnovers while not forcing one and giving up a safety in the contest.
The Golden Eagles are 99th in the FBS in passing offense as they average 212 yards per game through the air. Southern Miss is 100th in rushing offense as they grind out an average of 123 yards per contest on the ground. The Golden Eagles are 88th in the FBS in scoring offense with an average of 25.8 points per game. Southern Miss has been above average defensively as they are 48th among the 131 FBS teams to take the field this season in scoring defense by allowing 23.2 points a game. Zack Wilcke has completed 72 of 125 passes for 792 yards with six touchdowns and six interceptions while adding 31 yards on the ground. Ty Keyes is 10 of 17 passing for 281 yards with three touchdowns against two picks plus 60 yards and a score on the ground. Trey Lowe (two of three, 79 yards, INT), Jake Lange (seven of 13, 72 yards) and Frank Gore Jr. (one of four, 48 yards) have also thrown the ball this season. Gore Jr. is the feature back in the ground game as he has 96 carries for 477 yards and four scores this year. Janari Dean (26 carries, 84 yards, TD) is the next back in line for the Golden Eagles. Jason Brownlee leads the team with 27 receptions for 370 yards and four scores on the season. Jakarius Caston (21 grabs, 264 yards, three TD) and Tiaquelin Mims (seven catches, 115 yards) are the only other players that have cracked the century mark in receiving yards. Briggs Bourgeois is 17 of 17 on extra point attempts and seven of eight on field goals with a long of 53. Andrew Stein hit his lone extra point attempt while not attempting a field goal this season.