November 15, 2011 Volume 96 Issue 23

STUDENT PRINTZThe

SERVING SOUTHERN MISS SINCE 1927

www.studentprintz.com

INDEXCalendar ........................ 2News .............................. 3Eaglepalooza...................4Feature ...........................6Opinion............................7 Sports...............................8

EAGLEPALOOZA

Page 6

Tuesday

80/64Wednesday

81/45Thursday

65/36Page 4 Page 8

FOOTBALL RECAPWISTERIA ROOM WEATHER

Despite Karmin’s last minute can-cellation due to “travel issues,” Ea-glepalooza 2011 was still a success, according to artists, students, locals and coordinators.

Glenn Chandler Project was the � rst group to hit the Coca-Cola stage downtown at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Performing a combination of origi-nal songs and alternative covers, the group compares their style to artists such as Kings of Leon, Mumford and Sons and Matt Nathanson.

“We’ve been coming to Eagle-palooza for years, and it was cool to be on the other side of the con-cert this year,” lead singer Glenn Chandler said.

Chandler and many of his band-mates either currently attend South-ern Miss or are USM graduates.

Glenn Chandler Project’s � rst performance was opening for Train in May at a music festival in Biloxi.

Chandler was excited to expose

his band to Hattiesburg in such a large way.

“I wanted to build a fan base in my hometown,” Chandler said.

At 6:45 p.m., Ca$h Fountain Pro-ductions took the stage and pumped fans up with creative dubstep beats that got bodies moving and hands waving in the air. � e group includes four deejays who were on stage to motivate the audience.

“We remix everything - country, rock, rap, everything,” the band said. “� e four of us are very dy-namic. We’re playing for free be-cause we just like doing it. We only charge one or two dollars when we play around town. It’s not about the money, anyway.”

When asked what they thought about Karmin not showing up, the band said that as long as it was for a good reason, they understood.

“I think they just need to book better next year,” the band said.

Promptly at 8 p.m., R&B pow-erhouse Melanie Fiona gave en-ergy and soulful emotion as she

Students on probation after blackface incident

LOCAL

Justin Mitchell and Rachel Beech

Printz Writers

See EAGLEPALOOZA, 4

Rachel Vigres, a senior from Baton Rouge, La., introduces herself at a pep rally Monday afternoon. The pep rally was held in front of Bolton Hall to get people excited for that night’s game against William Carey in Reed Green Coliseum.USM led 29-25 at the end of the fi rst half, and the Lady Eagles were able to defeat their crosstown rivals, the Lady Crusaders of William Carey, 62-46. The Lady Eagles will be back on the court on Wednesday to play UT-Martin.

Justin Sellers/Printz

Eaglepalooza: wows despite woes

ON CAMPUS

Southern Miss made national headlines Monday when a Hat-tiesburg American article about six USM sorority women was picked up by online media out-lets across the country.

The women, members of Phi Mu sorority, were placed on probation from their national organization after dressing up as members of the Huxtable family from a hit TV show, The Cosby Show, at an off-campus 1980s

themed party Wednesday.Monday night, media outlets

such as The Washington Post, The Miami Herald, CNN and MSNBC had picked up the story.

The women, whose names have not been released, were in a picture submitted to the Hat-tiesburg American and accused of participating in blackface be-cause they painted their skin as part of their costumes.

“Though it is clear that these women had no ill intent, it was also clear that they had little cultural awareness or compe-tency, and did not understand

the historical implication of costuming in blackface,” Dean of Students Dr. Eddie Holloway said in a press release Monday afternoon.

By definition, blackface is makeup applied to a performer portraying a black person and historically has racist implica-tions. It is not illegal.

Sunday evening, officers of Phi Mu, along with the women involved in the incident, met with leaders of African Ameri-can organizations on campus.

Deola Jones, a senior busi-ness management major and

president of the NAACP chap-ter at Southern Miss, attended Sunday’s meeting.

“I was disappointed by their actions, but I do understand that they didn’t do it out of ha-tred or maliciousness,” Jones said. “We understood that they didn’t do it on purpose to of-fend anybody, and now they’ve apologized.”

� e photo submitted to the Hattiesburg American showed the women with their faces paint-ed, wearing wigs and clothes that would have been considered popular in the 1980s.

Wendy Martin, a senior Eng-lish major, was at the Sunday meeting and saw the picture.

“Because I know the history of blackface, at first I was a lit-tle offended, but after knowing why they did it my understand-ing of the incident was a little more clear,” Martin said. “It was just their intent to have fun, and I don’t think it was mali-cious at all.”

Amber Grubbs, a senior news-editorial major, had a di� erent perspective on the incident.

Mary Margaret HalfordExecutive Editor

See PHI MU, 3

ON CAMPUS

CalendarPage 2, Student Printz Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Student Printz

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Serving Southern Miss since 1927

� e Student Printz is published every Tuesday and � ursday during the fall and spring semesters. Signature O� set of Hattiesburg provides printing services.

Opinions expressed in � e Student Printz are those of the writer and not necessarily those of � e Student Printz, its publications manager, USM, the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning or the USM Board

of Student Publications.

Sports EditorTravis � ornelltravis.thornell@eagles.usm.edu

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Mark Your Planner15 16 17 18 19

9 a.m. SAI Can Food Drive LAB Lobby

11 a.m. Food Drive for the Salvation Army TCC Lobby

11 a.m. Rhyme & Reason Union Lobby

8:30 a.m.Magnolia Civitan District Fall Meeting TCC 210

9 a.m.SAI Can Food Drive LAB Lobby

9 a.m.Anthropology Society Bake Sale LAB Lobby 2nd Floor

10 a.m. Rock and Mineral Sale Union Lobby

11 a.m.Support Head Start TCC Lobby

11 a.m.Y2I Clothing Drive Union Lobby

7 p.m. Black and Gold Comedy Jam Bennett Auditorium

9 a.m.SAI Can Food Drive LAB Lobby

10 a.m. Rock and Mineral Sale Union Lobby

10:30 a.m. Campus Wide Can Food Drive Union Lobby

11 a.m.HUB City Entrepreneurship Forum Union Lobby

7 p.m.Generation 6:20 Thursday Night Live TCC 214, 218

10:30 a.m. Campus Wide Can Food Drive Union Lobby

12 p.m. Taste the World, Experience the FashionTCC Lobby

5 p.m. CP Is The Place To Be Century Park

6 p.m. The Legacy Series Part 3: University History with Dr. Bo Morgan Bennett Auditorium

7 p.m.“No More Tear: Domestic Violence” R.C.’s Lounge

7 p.m.Alpha KappacinoPower House

5 THINGS YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW

*More than 2.5 billion pictures are uploaded to Facebook each month. *Facebook is second-ranked site overall in the U.S. behind Google. *If Facebook were a country, it would be the fi fth largest coun-try in the world after China, India, the U.S. and Indonesia.*While stressing that correlation does not equal causation, a recent poll suggested that Facebook users have lower overall grades than non-users. *A recent survey of 500 top colleges found that 10% of admis-sions offi cers acknowledged looking at social networking sites such as Facebook to evaluate applicants. Thirty-eight percent of admissions offi cers said that what they saw negatively affected the applicant.

*More than 2.5 billion pictures are uploaded to Facebook each month. *Facebook is second-ranked site overall in the U.S. behind

*If Facebook were a country, it would be the fi fth largest coun-try in the world after China, India, the U.S. and Indonesia.*While stressing that correlation does not equal causation, a recent poll suggested that Facebook users have lower overall

*More than 2.5 billion pictures are uploaded to Facebook each month.

sions offi cers acknowledged looking at social networking sites such as Facebook to evaluate applicants. Thirty-eight percent of admissions offi cers said that what they saw negatively affected

*More than 2.5 billion pictures are uploaded to Facebook each month. *Facebook is second-ranked site overall in the U.S. behind

*If Facebook were a country, it would be the fi fth largest coun-try in the world after China, India, the U.S. and Indonesia.*While stressing that correlation does not equal causation, a recent poll suggested that Facebook users have lower overall

*A recent survey of 500 top colleges found that 10% of admis-

*If Facebook were a country, it would be the fi fth largest coun-

*A recent survey of 500 top colleges found that 10% of admis-sions offi cers acknowledged looking at social networking sites such as Facebook to evaluate applicants. Thirty-eight percent of admissions offi cers said that what they saw negatively affected

*More than 2.5 billion pictures are uploaded to Facebook each month.

*While stressing that correlation does not equal causation, a

such as Facebook to evaluate applicants. Thirty-eight percent of

about Facebook9days ‘til

Thanksgiving!

News Student Printz, Page 3Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Conference USA’s Changing Lives program will host “Let’s SAAC Hunger Week” from Nov. 12 until Nov. 20, and the Uni-versity of Southern Mississippi is actively participating.

Lauren Hillman, an academic counselor and life skills coor-dinator for the Southern Miss Student Academic Enhance-ment Program, described the Changing LIves Program as a competitive canned food drive in which USM will compete with universities across the na-tion to collect the most canned goods for charity.

The Student-Athlete Adviso-ry Committee (SAAC) and the Office of Community Service Learning (OCSL) are heading up the program, which serves as a united front for the vari-ous C-USA teams and athletes as they gather a variety of canned food items to donate to their communities in an effort to fight hunger. The collect-ed items will directly benefit Christian Services and the Ed-wards Street Fellowship Center

in Hattiesburg.This year marks the fourth

year the initiative has been running, with Southern Miss taking the honor two out of the past three years.

“We have won this service award for the past two years and are hoping that Southern Miss can win again this year,” Hillman said.

According to the C-USA website, last year USM students earned the SAAC Cup by col-lecting “7,343 pounds of the league’s overall collection of 40,100 pounds of food.”

Student athletes aren’t the only ones allowed to partici-pate. All students are encour-aged to also help out by by donating canned food items. Students can also volunteer the entire week from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the OCSL, located in the Student Activities Hub room 104.

The schedule for “Let’s SAAC Hunger Week” is as follows.

Monday, Nov. 14 to Friday, Nov. 18 – Faculty, staff and stu-dents are encouraged to bring canned goods during business hours to the OCSL.

Saturday, Nov. 12 – Help kick

off Golden Eagle basketball season by fighting hunger in Hattiesburg. Canned goods will be collected from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. at all gates of Reed Green Coliseum.

Monday, Nov. 14 – Kick off the Lady Eagle basketball sea-son by fighting hunger in Hat-tiesburg. Canned goods will be collected from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. at all gates of Reed Green Coliseum. Fans who donate a canned food item will receive $1 admission to the game.

Wednesday, Nov. 16 – Cans will be collected at the Lady Eagle basketball game v. UT-Martin. There will be collection boxes at all gates of Reed Green Coliseum from 6:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. Fans who donate a canned food item will receive $1 admis-sion to the game.

Sunday, Nov. 20 – Final push to fight hunger locally. Bring canned goods to the Lady Ea-gle volleyball game v. Houston. Cans will be collected from 12:30 p.m. until 2 p.m. at the north gate of Reed Green Coliseum.

Abby LorangerPrintz Writer

ON CAMPUS

C-USA fights to “SAAC” hunger

Phi MU, from 1“Whenever you live in a re-

gion that can be racially hostile, you have to take certain things into consideration,” Grubbs said. “Blackface is still consid-ered offensive by many people. You can’t go poking the flames of racism and hope that noth-ing happens.”

In the press release, a spokes-person from Phi Mu said that the chapter will sponsor a cam-pus-wide program about di-versity appreciation, and each member who attended the par-ty will participate in additional educational requirements.

Kirsti Potts, a junior criminal justice major, was slightly of-fended when she saw that the article was posted on the web-site of The Washington Post.

“People think the South is so rac-ist because of incidents like this,” Potts said. “There are no African-American girls in their sorority. Why would I be surprised?”

Phi Mu has been cooperative with university officials regard-ing the incident.

“We thought it important to begin an open dialogue imme-diately, and all those involved were not only cooperative but open, honest and candid,” Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Paul said in the press re-lease. “Though clearly without overt intent, this photo was of-

fensive, insensitive and regret-table, and is counter to the rich appreciation for diversity that marks our student body.”

Martin said that students should take this incident and gain from it.

“This is a learning experience for everyone on our campus, and in a sense it goes to show we’ve come so far but we have so much further to go,” Martin said. “I think this can open the door for dialogue on issues and being culturally competent.”

Visit The Student Printz online to see stories and photos from to-day’s issue and check out the archives from previous issues.

www.studentprintz.com

EAGLEPALOOZAPage 4 Tuesday, November 15, 2011 The Student Printz Page 5

eaglepalooza, from 1

Top Right: Dixie Darling Hillary Meghan Tanner dances on stage for the pep rally at Eaglepalooza 2011.Top Center: Melanie Fiona performs on stage at Eaglepalooza.

Melissa McCraw/Printz

Top Left: Smaash took the place of Karmin to end the night at Eaglepalooza 2011.Bottom Left: CA$H Fountain Productions entertains the crowd with dubstep. Bottom Center: The crowd jumps to catch t-shirts before a performance Friday night.Bottom Right: Melanie Fiona pumps up the crowd at Eaglepalooza.

Justin Sellers/Printz

rocked the stage wearing a fringed half-shirt, black leggings, and a Southern Miss cap. She engaged the audience by participating in Southern Miss chants between song performances.

“This was the first time I had ever been to Missis-sippi, but when I heard I had fans that wanted to see me, I didn’t think twice about accepting to come per-form,” Fiona said.

The Grammy-nominated singer enchanted the audience with song performances such as “It Kills Me,” “4 a.m.” and “Monday Morning.” She jumped from stage to speakers and threw

t-shirts to the audience.Immediately after her performance, Fiona tweet-

ed, “Wow. Hattiesburg. Southern Miss. You guys were delightful. thank you sooo much! LOVE. #LifeyourMFLife xo.”

At her after party at Click Boutique & Gallery and Twelve Oaks Accessory Garden, Fiona shopped and chatted with fans about her performance.

“This is by far one of the best shows I’ve ever done. For sure,” Fiona said. “I love how the audience was receptive and energetic. They were out there to have a good time.”

Fiona said that the Southern Miss and Hattiesburg communities crushed any stereotypes she had heard about the South.

“People were asking me, ‘Why are you going to Mississippi?’ Well, you guys are the nicest and most hospitable people I have ever met. I was honored to perform here. It was probably the best energy I’ve felt in a long time. The southern hospitality is alive,” Fiona said.

Hattiesburg’s own Smaash took Karmin’s place to end the night at Eaglepalooza. The group takes present-day rap songs and adds their own orignial,

rocker twist. Upon hearing Smaash, the crowd went wild. Hands raised and bodies swayed with the beat that the group produced.

The band performed hit songs such as “Stronger” by Kanye West and “Empire State of Mind” by Alicia Keys and Jay-Z. The performances ended what many thought would be an unsuccessful Eaglepalooza.

Jazmyne Butler, codirector of this year’s event, said it was amazing. “Students loved it, the performances were phenomenal and Melanie Fiona’s performance was absolutely perfect,” she said.

Feature Tuesday, November 15, 2011Page 6, Student PrintzFitness

Wisteria Room offers circuit trainingWant to burn 30 percent more

calories in half the time?Students, teachers, faculty and

staff and working profession-als can all utilize circuit training at the Payne Center in order to participate in an efficient work-out. Why circuit training? People have many reasons as to why they don’t work out, the most common being time constraints, boredom and impatience in waiting to see results. However, circuit training could be the answer.

“It is a fast and efficient way to obtain a complete overall workout for major muscle groups in a short period of time,” Susan Bone, as-sistant director of wellness at the Southern Miss Payne Center, said.

According to fitnessmaga-zine.com, circuit training is a great boredom buster because participants move quickly from one exercise to another with little rest in between.

The combination of resistance training and cardiovascular effort in these workouts allows all of the muscle groups to be trained in one session, including the heart. That means an extra cardio session is

not necessary.If that’s not convincing enough,

circuit training increases the body’s ability to burn calories while at rest. The body will continue to burn more calories throughout the day post-workout as opposed to after a normal cardio session.

“The Wisteria Circuit Training Room is designed to encompass this concentrated and time-efficient total-body workout,” Bone said.

Located in the Payne Center, the Wisteria Room features 11 resis-tance machines and three aerobic training stations. The object is to move from station to station in a continuous fashion with little rest in between. The beauty of this room is that the workout is spe-cially timed.

Circuit training can be person-alized for the individual accord-ing to his or her goals, whether it’s weight loss, muscle gain or overall strength increase.

Group exercise instructor Lindy Miller teaches a cardio circuit class each Tuesday from 12:10 p.m. until 12:50 p.m. in the Wisteria Room.

“I keep the routines modifiable yet challenging,” Miller said. “It’s the intense workouts, the support-ive environment and the results the participants are getting that keep them coming back.”

Miller wants to encourage ev-

eryone to make exercise a lifestyle.“It’s not a phase or a fad. It is

hygiene, just like brushing your teeth,” Miller said.

Haley McMinn, a higher edu-cation administration graduate student, is a regular participant in Miller’s circuit class and said she enjoys the environment in the room.

“It is challenging and support-ive,” McMinn said. “Every person

who walks in can find themselves in a place where they will be pushed at their own personal fit-ness level, pulled up by group ca-maraderie and encouraged to un-derstand the benefits of what they accomplish each week in class.”

In addition to Miller’s class, the Wisteria Room is also open for in-dependent use Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. until 8 a.m., 12 p.m. until 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

until 9 p.m. and on Friday from 6 a.m. until 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. un-til 1 p.m. The room always has a staff member present for any as-sistance needed.

“My advice to others is to sim-ply find your niche,” McMinn said. “The Payne Center offers such a variety of activities and environ-ments. The only wrong decision you can make is to do nothing.”

Leighanne LockhartPrintz Writer

The Wisteria Circuit Training Room at the Payne Center offers both a class each Tuesday as well as time for independent use Monday through Friday.

Becca Morris/Printz

Opinion Student Printz, Page 7Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Student Shout-outs

To see your anonymous comment in � e Student Printz, submit it under the ‘Contact’ tab on

studentprintz.com.

”

“ Thank you offi cials at Saturday’s game for being HORRIBLE. Hope we never see you again. Just don’t tell UCF they might try to chal-lenge them (again).

Shout-out to Danny Hrap-mann for saving our a$$e$ Saturday night!

Eaglepalooza=Epic Fail... Maybe if they would have gotten a real music act then they would have showed up.

It’s been too long to not have a friendly pick-up game of Ultimate Frisbee at USM! Come play night Ultimate Frisbee on Mon-days at Pride Field at 7pm. Light up disc, glow stick wristbands, and fun! Bring a friend! No skill level re-quired!

To the person that thinks Starbucks is trying to be “af-ter hours at the club”, we’re just trying to stay awake and get out of the foul mood that the people that come in at 11:44 cause.

To the tall, tan dude who has been in the Printz all week: I think you used to stalk me too. Why do you do that?? :D

Please fellow students, be respectful when parking in the parking lots. Some peo-ple are paying for their cars. Thank you.

To the person who thinks that Starbucks should stop playing music...STUDY SOMEWHERE ELSE! Some of us actually enjoy it!

To the person who decided it was a good idea to put auto-matic sensor lights in Bolton Hall bathrooms: you try tak-ing a shower in the dark at night because you can’t trip the sensor when it’s outside the shower and around the corner. I understand saving electricity, but this is a bit ri-diculous.

To my so called best friend, who failed to tell me that she was dating my ex-boyfriend for the past two months: I didn’t eat all of my sandwich. You want those leftovers too??

POLITICS

Once again, Mississippi will be inaugurating a Republican governor, preselected for them long ago by the good ole boys in the Mississippi GOP. For the first time since Reconstruction, Republicans are likely to hold the majority in the Mississippi House of Representatives. In an election that saw progressive victories all across the coun-try, including a major one right here in Mississippi, the Demo-cratic party in Mississippi has only itself to blame.

Things were so bad for the Democratic party that it wasn’t even able to field candidates for lieutenant governor, secre-tary of state, or auditor. That prompted State Democratic Party Executive Rickey Cole to admit, “Any honest observer would tell you this is not a posi-tion that we want to be in.”

Part of that can be chalked up to difficulty in funding can-didates; the DNC only sends the Mississippi party $7,500 a month. Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree ran with only a seventh of the funds Governor-elect Phil Bryant had.

As for the candidates the party did field, well, they were asked to downplay their pro-gressive qualities. Democratic candidates in Mississippi, no matter how qualified or how strong, are asked to water down who they are, water down their credentials, and above all, to avoid being seen as being the scariest L-word in the Missis-sippi lexicon — liberal.

What that results in is a pro-cess in which voters are given a choice between a conserva-tive candidate and a conserva-tive-lite candidate. In the 2010 midterm election, Mississippi Rep. Gene Taylor lost his long-held seat to ultra-conservative Steven Palazzo. Palazzo now embarrasses our state on a na-tional level. One of his first acts of businesses was to try to halt the repeal of the anti-gay Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, saying that our military would “go down in flames” if gays were al-lowed to serve openly.

But he’s just being a real con-servative. And given the choice between a conservative-lite

candidate and a true conserva-tive, homophobia and all, devoted conservatives will go for the lat-ter. While Palazzo was running against Nancy Pelosi (his cam-paign slogan was “Fire Pelosi,” not “Fire Taylor”), Taylor ran against the very notion that he might be progressive in any sense.

In running against Pelsoi, Palazzo excited his base: con-servatives. And yet what did Taylor’s run do for Mississippi progressives?

Last year when Taylor was visiting campus, then College Democrats President Jackie Northrup asked him why he hadn’t switched to the Republi-

can party yet. Later, she sighed before telling a reporter that she’d probably vote for him — albeit begrudgingly.

He didn’t excite her. She want-ed a progressive; he ran against the term. Without excitement, Democratic candidates can’t expect to win in Mississippi. So Taylor lost.

Here’s a little secret for you, Mississippi Democratic Party: We exist. Liberal, progressive minded, forward looking voters who embrace ideals like equal-ity and diversity exist in this state. When you find a good candidate, don’t ask him or her to cater to conservative thought.

Don’t ask him or her to prove that he’s not an “evil liberal.” That doesn’t excite us. Heck, we’re “evil liberals” and we’d fi-nally like some representation.

If you want to win elections and if you truly believe that the tenets of the Democratic party are the best solutions for this state, be proud about it. In do-ing so, you’ll give us a party to be proud to fight for and your-selves a fighting chance.

Democrats can only blame themselves

Ashton PittmanWeb Editor

� is was an article of opinion by Ashton Pittman, a writer for � e Student Printz. Email questions or comments to ashton.pittman@eagles.usm.edu.

Sports Tuesday, November 15, 2011Page 8, Student Printz

Southern Miss Sports: Upcoming Games

11/17/118 p.m. Men’s Basketball at DenverDenver Colo.

11/18/117 p.m. Volleyball hosts RiceHattiesburg, Miss.

Southern Miss Box Score

11/16/117 p.m. Women’s Basketball hosts UT-MartinHattiesburg, Miss.

11/17/117 p.m. Football at UABBirmingham, Ala.

Football vs. UCF C-USA games this weekend

Tulsa 59, Marshall 17UTEP 22, East Carolina 17UAB 41, Memphis 35Navy 24, SMU 17Northwestern 28, Rice 6Houston 73, Tulane 17

Football:11/12 vs. UCF W, 30-29

Volleyball:11/11 at UAB W, 3-011/12 at Memphis W, 3-1

Men’s Basketball11/12 vs. Spring Hill W, 76-41

The Golden Eagles grounded out a tough 30-29 win Saturday night against the Knights of the University of Central Florida, USM’s Eastern Division rival. This proved to be the Eagles’ toughest test to date and a testament to the team’s character, and they came out on top.

“We keep telling these guys all the time that a great football team always finds a way to win, and that’s what happened tonight - we found a way to win,” said Southern Miss head football coach Larry Fedora.

The first half was all defense as the Eagles inked out a 13-6 lead at the halfway point. The second half saw a complete turnaround of the defense. Both teams’ offenses cranked into full throttle and soon turned the game into a shootout. From the start of the third quarter it was obvious that the game may have been decided by which team had the ball last, and the game had a near storybook ending.

For all the effort and previous plays, the game was literally decided on the final play. With 12 seconds on the clock, the Knights had the ball deep in Golden Eagle territory down by seven. A false start penalty forced the Knights back 10 yards and ran 10 seconds off the clock, giving the Knights only two seconds to score a

touchdown and force overtime. The Knights ran four verticals, and UCF quarterback Blake Bortles found J.J. Worton open over the middle for a 25 yard touchdown pass with no time on the clock. The score was then 30-29, and with the PAT the two teams would be heading into overtime. UCF called a timeout and came out with the intent of winning the game in regulation with a two point conversion. The Knights were aiming for the football version of a walk-off win by going for two with no time on the clock. To think that all the yards leading up to this mo-ment meant basically nothing and the game came down to whether or not the Knights could punch in the two point attempt from inside the five yard line. This was a gutsy call, and the USM defense had to stand tall and prevent the Knights from scoring. One could almost feel the electricity resonating on the field as the two teams set to do battle one last time. Many Golden Eagle players and coaches were too anxious to watch the fi-nal play. Fedora was no different, as he turned his back to the field and prayed for the best.

“The crowd would let me know,” Fedora said.

Bortles saw a wide open re-ceiver over the middle, but what he did not see was Southern Miss defensive back Jacorious Cotton hovering in the flat waiting to bat

the ball down. Bortles fired the ball across the middle, and Cotton stepped in the way and knocked the ball to the ground to give the Eagles a hard fought victory.

One of the top performers for the Eagles was senior kicker Dan-ny Hrapmann, who tied a career high with five field goals. Hrap-mann also made a key tackle on special teams, which proved to be a crucial play in determining the outcome of the game.

“This week I had a notion that I’d probably be kicking a lot,” said Hrapmann about his performance in the game. “I didn’t feel like I had a great night because I do kickoffs

as well. That’s part of my game. That’s part of what I do. That be-ing part of my job, I just feel like I had a poor night doing that.”

Another key performer for the Eagles was fifth year senior quarter-back Austin Davis. Davis was 26-48 passing on the night with no inter-ceptions and two touchdown passes. Davis was very emotional after the game and was still charged with en-ergy long after the final whistle.

“I can’t stand it. I’m still nervous,” Davis said of the last play. “They take the game out of your hands go-ing for two. If they kick the extra point, I’m still playing, but they go for two, so all I can do is lay down

and pray for the best.”This was one of Davis’s best

nights as a Golden Eagle, as he was on fire from the first pass.

“This was probably one of the bet-ter ones, probably number one,” Da-vis said about his performances and feelings following the game. “Just a special group of guys and my senior year its just a great win and we got to get ready to go next week.”

Saturday night’s game proved to be the coming out performance for freshman receiver Chris Briggs. Briggs had a career night with four receptions for 67 yards and a key touchdown for the Eagles.

“I dropped the ball early in the game on that fade call, and Coach told me at halftime that we are going to come right back to you on that,” Briggs said of his touch-down reception late in the fourth quarter. “I said you give me one more opportunity, I’ll make it happen, I’ll make it count.”

With this win, the Golden Eagles are one game away from clinching the Eastern Division title and spot in the C-USA Championship game. They just have to win one of the final two games to clinch the East. They are facing a short week this week and return to action this Thursday night against the University of Ala-bama - Birmingham Blazers before returning home for the final game against archrival the University of Memphis Tigers.

Eagles outlast UCF for No. 20 rankingFootball

Josh SeabrookSports Writer

The Southern Miss Golden Eagles were able to put away Spring Hill 76-41 Saturday for their season opener. Maurice Bolden paced the Eagles with 15 points.

A great start allowed USM to grab the lead early with a 21-4 run to be-gin the game. The Golden Eagles (1-0) were able to dominate the Badgers (1-2) on the boards as they grabbed

40 rebounds to Spring Hill’s 18.“Parts of the game I really

liked,” said Southern Miss head basketball coach Larry Eustachy. “[Spring Hill’s Robert Thompson] is a good coach and they run good stuff. We broke down in a lot of areas, but there were parts where we played really well and stymied a team that executes well.”

Along with Bolden, Rashard McGill and Jonathan Mills chipped in 13 apiece and Angelo Johnson

threw in 11 points of his own. The team shot 47.5 percent from the field, but was able to sink 11 out of 13 free throw opportunities.

“I would say playing together more,” said Johnson about what the team needs to build upon. “There were a couple of times where we made a few selfish plays, but it wasn’t purposely done or anything. That was a good first game.”

“Spring Hill played hard,” Bolden said. “They are a good team and we

came out with the win. I feel like we could play a little harder, but you have to progress. Overall, we had some slip ups a little bit when got the lead. That’s when we have to put our foot down and dig down play more aggressive without getting tired.”

The Golden Eagles will now be-gin a tough road trip out West. They take on Denver next Thursday and Colorado State next Saturday. From there, they will travel to Anchorage, Alaska to participate in the Carrs/

Safeway Great Alaska Shootout tournament over Thanksgiving.

“We will come back a lot bet-ter,” said Eustachy on how he wants the team to grow on the West Coast trip. “We will be a close team. We did it on purpose. I’m not worried about how many we win. I want to be a good team late and hopefully we can be.”

The Golden Eagles will be back at Reed Green Coliseum when they take on New Mexico State Dec. 4.

Southern Miss grabs season openerbaSkEtball

Travis ThornellSports Editor

Southern Miss players Austin Davis and Logan Hickman celebrate the Golden Eagles’ victory over the Knights of UCF Saturday.

Thomas Pearson/Printz

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