FACTS & STATS: Site: Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (62,380) -- Memphis, Tennessee. Television: CBSCSN. Home Record: Southern Miss 1-3, Memphis 2-2. Away Record: Southern Miss 1-2, Memphis 1-3. Neutral Record: Southern Miss 0-0, Memphis 0-0. Conference Record: Southern Miss 0-3, Memphis 1-3. Series Record: Southern Mississippi leads, 37-20-1.

GAME NOTES: The Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles hit the road this Saturday for a Conference USA showdown at the Liberty Bowl against the Memphis Tigers. The Golden Eagles have a disappointing 2-5 record on the season, and are winless in conference play. They have lost four straight. It is the first time since 1993 that Southern Miss has started 2-5 and the first time ever that the Golden Eagles have started 0-3 in C-USA action. Although it is winless in conference, USM has been in all three of its league tilts, losing by a total of 15 points. As for the Tigers, they have been streaky this season as they opened the year with three consecutive losses, responded with three straight wins only to drop their last two games to conference foes Louisville and East Carolina. The Tigers' lone league win came against UAB. This week's bout marks the 59th time these two schools have met, with the Eagles leading the series 37-20-1. However, the Tigers have won three of the last four meetings, including last year's 29-26 decision in Hattiesburg.

The Golden Eagles hope to bounce back from last week's 45-40 loss to the Rice Owls, one in which they almost matched the high-powered Owl offense yard-for- yard. Southern Miss was outgained by only 13 yards but turned the ball over twice and was penalized nine times for a loss of 85 yards. Quarterback Austin Davis set a school record with 461 yards through the air and threw four touchdowns, all to DeAndre Brown, who finished with 12 catches for 221 yards. Running back Damion Fletcher notched his third 100-yard rushing game of the season as he carried the ball 17 times for 120 yards and a touchdown. Fletcher is averaging over 124 ypg on the ground this season with an average of 6.1 ypc. Davis has completed 56.5 percent of his throws and is averaging 269.4 ypg through the air with 13 touchdowns. Davis' primary targets have been Brown (38 receptions for 637 yards) and Shawn Nelson (40 receptions for 436 yards). Davis leads the team with seven touchdown grabs. One area of concern for the Golden Eagles is play of the offensive line, which has yielded 16 sacks so far this year, including four last week in the loss to Rice.

The USM defense has been a problem all season and did nothing to change that last week as it allowed the Owls to pile up 586 yards, including 444 through the air. Rice QB Chase Clement threw six touchdowns against the Golden Eagle defense and was sacked only once. On the season, Southern Miss is giving up better than 30 ppg and is being run over to the tune of 175.6 rushing ypg. On the plus side, the Golden Eagles have forced 14 turnovers. Gerald McGrath continues to be a force at linebacker as he had 19 tackles, including 14 solo, in the loss to Rice. For the season, McGrath has 82 tackles, which is the second most of his career.

The Tigers are coming off a 30-10 defeat at the hands of the Pirates of East Carolina in a game in which Memphis led 10-7 at halftime. Unfortunately, ECU scored 23 unanswered points and won going away. If the defeat itself wasn't bad enough, the Tigers lost both their starting and backup quarterbacks to injuries. In all, Memphis used four signal callers on the day which could have factored in the team's abysmal offensive showing. The Tigers only had 82 yards passing on the day led by third-stringer Brett Toney who accounted for 65 of those yards on 11-of-15 passing. The Tiger offense only amassed 184 yards total, with 102 coming on the ground. Curtis Steele led the ground assault with 43 yards and a touchdown. Even with last week's poor offensive showing, the Tigers are still outgaining the opposition by almost 65 yards per game (430.1 to 365.2). Memphis nets 171.9 ypg on the ground led by Steele's 87.6 ypg and 5.8 ypc average. Before being injured, QB Arkelon Hall was having a decent season, completing 58.8 percent of his throws for 1,829 yards and 10 touchdowns. Five different Tigers have caught at least 20 passes on the season, with Carlos Singleton leading the way with 38 receptions for 605 yards. Earnest Williams paces the club with six touchdown grabs.

The Memphis defense had an average game against the Pirates last week, as they allowed only 201 yards through the air but gave up 180 yards rushing. The Tigers permitted ECU to convert 50 percent of its third downs, both of its fourth down attempts and allowed the Pirates to score on all three of their red zone possessions. The Tigers did force two turnovers (both fumbles), but only recorded one sack. Memphis is giving up 27.8 ppg and 171.1 ypg on the ground but has held foes to fewer than 200 passing ypg on average. The defense has recorded 15 sacks on the year but has yet to stop the opposition on fourth down (6-of-6). Six Tigers have recorded at least 30 tackles so far this season, with Alton Star and Jeremy Longstreet leading the way with over 50 stops apiece. Clinton McDonald has been the Tigers' leader on defense with 31 tackles, among them seven sacks.

This week is Memphis' Homecoming so look for the Tigers to try to get the home crowd into the game early with the ground game. If the Golden Eagles can hang tough and control the run they should win the game easily and secure their first conference win of the season in the process.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Southern Mississippi 31, Memphis 17

Saturday, October 25th, 8:00 p.m. (et).