Eagles’ offense on the upswing
Published 12:00 am Friday, December 17, 2004
Southern Miss junior running back Anthony Harris (3) tries to avoid the tackle of North Texas defender Allan Harrison during the Golden Eagles’ 31-10 New Orleans Bowl win on Tuesday. Harris rushed for a game-high 104 yards and the offense generated more than 400 total yards. (Jon GiffinThe Vicksburg Post)
[12/17/04] NEW ORLEANS The one missing component over the years that has kept Southern Miss from ascending the college football mountain to consistent national prominence has been a stagnate, inconsistent offense.
The Golden Eagles’ defense has been ranked amongst the best in the country year-in, year-out, but trying to find an offense has been a challenging undertaking.
On Tuesday night in the New Orleans Superdome, the Golden Eagles laid the groundwork on what has the makings of its best offense Hattiesburg has seen since a slinger from Kiln named Brett Favre roamed the M.M. Roberts Stadium turf.
“Next year’s going to be very exciting for us,” freshman wide receiver Tavarres Williams said. “We have a lot of young talent and it should be fun seeing what we can do.”
Williams, a speedster from Palatka, Fla, caught a 47-yard pass in the first quarter from quarterback Dustin Almond to set up the Golden Eagles’ second score.
Almond, a junior who spent some time hurt earlier this season, threw for 247 yards and a touchdown. He connected with eight different receivers in the 31-10 win.
Five of the receivers who caught passes were underclassmen. Junior running back Anthony Harris gained a game-high 104 yards to spark the offense.
“We played really well offensively and were able to get off to a fast start,” Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower said. “We ran the football effectively and Dustin made some really big throws for us.”
Almond gave USM a quick lead with a 37-yard touchdown pass to Otho Graves, then set up the second score with 6 minutes to play in the first quarter on a long pass to Williams. Almond’s quarterback sneak gave Southern Miss a 14-0 lead, and the Eagles extended the lead to 17-3 at halftime.
“We came out and made a statement early,” Almond said. “We still have to finish when we get in close, but tonight we did a good job of that.”
The defense will have to retool, especially at linebacker. But the more experienced offense could alleviate some of the pressure put on the defense to keep opponents scoring down.
As usual, the success of the offense will ultimately lie with Almond under center.
“When Dustin is able to make big throws like he did tonight, it opens up a lot of things,” Bower said. “We were able to take advantage of some things because of that.”