Thursday night's Southern Miss-Boise State matchup may feature two unranked teams, but it's an intriguing game between two programs with hopes, if not expectations, of breaking into the BCS bowls on a regular basis.
Last season, Boise State was the darling of the college football world. The Broncos went undefeated, earned a trip to the Fiesta Bowl, then beat Oklahoma in one of the best games ever played. Oh, and tailback Ian Johnson became a national celebrity with his postgame wedding proposal on national TV
"It's a program that I think everyone is trying to emulate if you're not a BCS school," Jeff Bower, the Golden Eagles' head coach, said of Boise State. "They arguably might be the best football team ... we face this year. I think there's a lot of things that make the game attractive."
Southern Miss, meanwhile, was similar to Boise State in the late 1990s, carrying the swagger of an upstart program.
Included in the preseason rankings, Boise State (2-1) crushed Weber State in the opener but then fell to Washington on the road, which took them from national spotlight, to the extent where the Broncos failed to earn even a single point in the AP poll. Boise bounced back with a victory over Wyoming.
The Golden Eagles (2-1, 1-0 Conference USA) beat Tennessee-Martin in their opener, then hung tough against the real Tennessee before the Volunteers pulled away late in a 39-19 loss on Sept. 8. Southern Miss responded the following week, beating East Carolina in the league opener.
This is the first-ever meeting between the schools.
Boise State is again led by Johnson, who may not have Heisman-like numbers, but is averaging nearly 100 yards a game on 4.7 yards per carry. QB Taylor Tharpe is a first-year start despite being a senior and is hitting 60.4 percent of his passes and throwing for 217 yards a game.With Tharp still getting comfortable at quarterback, opposing defenses are loading up to stop the run - a challenge Johnson says he relishes.
"Teams are preparing for us a little different than they did last year," Johnson said. "So you have to approach it with the mind-set that not every play is going to be a hundred yards ... or a touchdown. There are going to be times you have to cover up and take what you can get, and know that a four-yard gain in our scheme it a very good gain."
The Golden Eagles' offense is led by senior quarterback Jeremy Young and sophomore running back Damion Fletcher, who rushed for 1,692 yards last season, 11th best in the nation. In its first three games, Southern Miss has been hurt by turnovers, including three costly ones in the loss to Tennessee.
But Young is coming off his best game of the season, completing 18 of 28 passes for 237 yards and a touchdown, plus another two rushing TDs, in the 28-21 victory at East Carolina. Like Johnson, Fletcher is
off to a slower start than 2006, averaging 101.3 yards per game.
The blue turf of Boise could be the difference tonight, as the Broncos are 27-1 since 2003 at Bronco Stadium and haven't lost a regular-season home game since 2001, carrying a 38-game regular-season winning streak into tonight's game.
Southern Miss players say the won't be intimidated.
"We want to show the country that we can play," USM defensive end Robert Henderson said. "We want to show people around the country that we aren't a sleeper team that we can play with the big teams, even though they may not consider us a big team."
Boise State is a 10.5-point favorite on WagerWeb.com, and that number seems about right on. I expect a
Broncos victory, but Southern Miss covering is certainly not out of the question.
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