Southern Miss focus returns to football

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Posted 10:10PM on Thursday, September 8, 2005

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) It's about football again for Southern Mississippi for a few hours, at least. The Golden Eagles can temporarily forget the hardships and emotional turmoil from Hurricane Katrina and having to relocate the team to Memphis Saturday night when they open their season finally at Alabama. ``They're excited to play a game,'' coach Jeff Bower said in a likely understatement. The Crimson Tide players, many of whom helped serve lunch Monday at a shelter for evacuees, have seen Southern Miss' plight on television and gained plenty of empathy. Of course, that compassion extends only to kickoff. ``We show our empathy and sympathy for those guys but at same time we have a game to play Saturday and can't let that affect us,'' tailback Ken Darby said. Tide defensive back Roman Harper doesn't think the Golden Eagles will be distracted once the game starts. ``All that stuff goes to back of your mind whenever you step on the football field,'' Harper said. ``I know they'll come out there and play their best game.'' This could be the end of a nonconference rivalry that's produced some strong games over the years. The teams' contract expires after this season, and they've played all but three years since 1980. The Golden Eagles have been training at the University of Memphis and had to postpone their scheduled opener with Tulane. They missed five days of practice and even had trouble getting film from Alabama's opener with Middle Tennessee after leaving Hattiesburg. ``Considering what we've been through, we'll be ready to play,'' Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower said. ``We've played catch-up and we'll be as ready as we can be. We've made a lot of progress'' in Memphis. Bower has been impressed with his players' resilience amid tying circumstances, noting that more than 35 of them are from Hattiesburg or south. ``I think this has brought our team together,'' Bower said. ``We all care about each other. We all hate to see teammates go through tough times with their families.'' The biggest challenge for Alabama was to get a handle on a Southern Miss team that hasn't played a game under new offensive and defensive coordinators. The Tide also didn't face quarterback Dustin Almond last season because of an injury. ``We may anticipate a few changes with them. We won't know,'' Tide coach Mike Shula said. ``They've had a whole offseason, just like we did, to make any tweaks and things as well as to look at us. Darby doesn't believe the Golden Eagles are necessarily ``a mystery team'' not in terms of effort, at least. ``They play us hard every year we play them,'' he said. ``We expect them to come out and play us extremely hard like they always do. ``We aren't expecting anything less from them than what they've been giving us the last few years, maybe even more. We know what they can do and we're going to take this game very seriously.'' (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)