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Southern Miss will be in front of their home fans on Saturday, but a look at the spread shows they might need that home-field advantage. They will take on the Texas State Bobcats at 7:00 p.m. ET on Saturday. Southern Miss is limping into the match on a 3-game losing streak.
The matchup between Southern Miss and Arkansas State on Saturday hardly resembled the 21-3 effort from their previous meeting. Southern Miss took a 44-37 hit to the loss column at the hands of Arkansas State. Southern Miss didn't live up to their potential and found themselves falling short of the advantage oddsmakers thought they had coming into the game.
Southern Miss' loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Frank Gore Jr., who rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown, and Rodrigues Clark who rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown. Clark was also active on the ground: one of his best plays was a 59 yard sprint for a TD in the third quarter. Billy Wiles didn't exactly stuff the stat sheet, but he still finished with two touchdowns in total.
Special teams was a major factor in the game for Southern Miss, racking up 13 points in total. All those points came courtesy of Andrew Stein: he added nine points with three field goals, and another four kicking extra points.
Meanwhile, Texas State was not the first on the board last Saturday, but they got there more often. They walked away with a 35-24 win over Nevada. The over/under was set at 59 points, so nice work oddsmakers; you were right on the money.
Ismail Mahdi went supernova for Texas State, rushing for 216 yards and two touchdowns. That's the first time this season that Mahdi rushed for 100+ rushing yards. The team also got some help courtesy of TJ Finley, who threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns.
Texas State's victory bumped their season record to 3-1 while Southern Miss' loss dropped theirs to 1-3.
While only Texas State took care of their fans the last time they played, neither team managed to cover. Looking ahead, Texas State are the favorite in this one, as the experts expect to see them win by seven points. This will be their first time playing as the favorites on the road this season.
Southern Miss didn't have too much breathing room in their match against Texas State in their previous matchup last October, but they still walked away with a 20-14 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in that game was Texas State's Ashtyn Hawkins, who picked up 102 receiving yards and a touchdown. Now that he's got a second chance to win this matchup, will Southern Miss still be able to contain him? Check CBSSports.com after the match to find out.
