Southern Miss state of mind

 East Carolina's 2009 football schedule contains numerous oddities that were evident even before the season began.

Most notably, the middle of the campaign featured a three-game stretch in which the Pirates played no Saturday games, but instead Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday games.

ECU head coach Skip Holtz looked past that and immediately saw something perhaps even more daunting.

“People started looking at the Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday schedule, and they looked at being on the road at West Virginia and North Carolina and two of the first three are on the road against very quality, BCS-type opponents,” Holtz said. “The thing that always caught my eye is that Southern Miss is last.”

The Pirates (7-4, 6-1 Conference USA) finish their regular season when they host the Golden Eagles at 1:30 Saturday afternoon in a C-USA East Division clash.

The winner of the game will claim the East and play in the following weekend's C-USA championship game.

Given that Southern Miss has 26 wins in 34 previous games against ECU, Holtz said he would love to make the Pirates' end of the rivalry a little more legitimate.

In his four previous games against the Golden Eagles (7-4, 5-2 C-USA), Holtz is 1-3.

“I wonder if it's a rivalry for them,” Holtz said. “You've got to win every once in a while to make it a rivalry. I just don't know how they view it. I know how we view it, as a rivalry game, but it is extremely lopsided, especially being 2-15 at home and how spaced out our wins are.”

Holtz's lone win in the series came in overtime at Hattiesburg in 2006. The Pirates lost last season's meeting in Mississippi by a convincing 21-3 score.

Injuries

Senior linebacker Jeremy Chambliss is perhaps the biggest question for ECU after he injured his shoulder early in the Pirates' win over UAB last weekend.

Holtz said even if Chambliss, who is fourth on the team with 62 tackles despite having already missed a game this season with the flu, suits up against Southern Miss, he would likely be very limited.

The Pirates will also likely be without true freshman linebacker Marke Powell, who steadily carved a niche in the rotation before his foot injury last weekend left him doubtful for this Saturday. Reserve linebacker and special teams man Austin Haynes (knee) is also questionable.

The defensive line got a boost from the return of Josh Smith from his shoulder injury last week, and Holtz said he expects Smith to make a full return this week after not having any lingering pain.

The offense hopes to welcome back senior receiver Jamar Bryant (shoulder) and running back Jon Williams (knee) by Saturday.

Out for the season are defensive lineman A.J. Johnson (knee), tight end Rob Kass (knee), linebackers Dustin Lineback (knee) and Matt Thompson (elbow) and defensive back Dekota Marshall (leg).

Harris honored

East Carolina's Dwayne Harris, who set a school record with his third kickoff return for a touchdown in ECU's win over UAB, was named Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Week. It's the second time this season Harris has won the award.

Harris established a new East Carolina single-season and career record for most kickoff returns for touchdowns with his third of the 2009 campaign, a 99-yarder against UAB in the fourth quarter. In all, he racked up 146 kickoff return yards on three attempts.

The 99-yard return was the second-longest kickoff return in program history and was his third return for a score this season. Harris compiled 254 all-purpose yards and accounted for three touchdowns with two scoring receptions, including a 59-yarder that was ECU's longest pass play and longest touchdown (rushing or passing) of the season.

With his eight-catch, 108-yard performance against the Blazers, Harris moved into second place on ECU's career receptions list with 146.


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