Eagles ready to climb Mount Keenum

The Southern Miss football team will have its hands full this weekend when they travel to the Lone Star State to take on the No. 15 Houston Cougars.

Houston quarterback Case Keenum has torched opposing defenses this season, averaging better than 390 yards through the air per game.

“He would be good in a lot of systems,” Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora said. “He has a very quick release, a strong arm and is a very good decision maker. He has a very good idea of what they are trying to do and is a playmaker on top of that.

“He will pull the ball down and take off and make a play in a heartbeat. He can break your back. There is no doubt that he is why they are No. 1 in the country right now offensively.”

Nobody has been able to stop the Houston passing attack yet, but Southern Miss defenders are going into Saturday as a confident group after holding two different quarterbacks under 125 passing yards.

“They’re practicing hard,” Fedora said. “This is a huge challenge they are up against. Nobody in the country has shut [Houston] down yet, and nobody thinks that [Southern Miss] can do it either. I think both teams will come in with confidence.”

Southern Miss junior cornerback C.J. Bailey said he felt confident about the game, but said he has a lot of respect for Keenum and Co.

“We have to get them off the field,” Bailey said. “One thing I know is that we believe we can do it. I mean these guys are great at what they do, but if we can get 11 guys flying to the ball and make tackles we can stop them.”

Kickoff is set for noon, and the game will be broadcast in Hattiesburg on CSS.