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Southern Miss.-Kansas Preview

Sep 22, 2009 - 9:49 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Southern Miss (3-0) at Kansas (3-0), 12:00 p.m. EDT

Kansas coach Mark Mangino said quarterback Todd Reesing has found his rhythm.

If the senior signal-caller continues that pace, it could spell trouble for Southern Mississippi.

Reesing and the 20th-ranked Jayhawks look for their 20th consecutive non-conference home victory Saturday, but they'll face a Golden Eagles team riding the nation's second-longest winning streak.

After throwing for 468 yards and three touchdowns in wins over Northern Colorado and UTEP to open the season, Reesing completed 28 of 41 passes for 338 yards and three TDs in Saturday's 44-16 home victory over Duke.

Kansas (3-0) has won 19 straight home non-conference games since a 28-20 loss to Northwestern on Aug. 30, 2003.

"I felt a lot sharper in the passing game," Reesing said Saturday. "I was able to make some plays with my legs in the running game, some scrambles. I'm definitely a lot more pleased."

It was Reesing's 14th career 300-yard passing game.

"Todd did a great job," Mangino said. "He threw some balls in tough coverage. (Duke) mixed things up pretty well and gave us a lot of looks, man looks and zone looks. But Todd got in a rhythm and he saw what they were doing."

Reesing's numbers would have been even more impressive if it weren't for dropped passes from juniors Dezmon Briscoe and Johnathon Wilson.

"We had passes dropped last week," said Mangino, whose team has a bye next week before hosting Iowa State on Oct. 10 in its Big 12 opener. "We have to do something about that - and we will."

With an undisclosed injury suffered in practice limiting senior Jake Sharp to five carries and 13 yards against the Blue Devils, freshman Toben Opurum rushed 17 times for 70 yards and two TDs. He also caught three passes for 50 yards.

Sharp could be a game-time decision Saturday.

Kansas ranks third in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 537.7 yards per game but could face its stiffest test of the season against Southern Miss, yielding an average of 251.7 yards - 17th nationally.

The Golden Eagles (3-0) are sixth in the FBS in run defense, allowing 51.7 yards per game. They have held their opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in their last eight games, all victories.

Southern Miss limited Virginia to 78 yards on the ground Saturday in a 37-34 win.

The Golden Eagles are tied with Mississippi for the nation's second-longest win streak behind Florida (13).

"We feel like our kids understand what we expect and they have higher expectations for themselves now," coach Larry Fedora said. "We're excited about where we're going."

With Southern Miss trailing the Cavaliers 34-17 in the third quarter, Freddie Parham returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score and Damion Fletcher and Tory Harrison each scored on touchdown runs as the Golden Eagles improved to 3-0 for the first time in five seasons.

Fletcher rushed for 115 yards and Harrison had 57 of his 101 rushing yards on the fourth-quarter touchdown.

It was the 18th time in program history that two Southern Miss players rushed for 100 or more yards in the same game.

Kansas allows 57.7 rushing yards per game, eighth in the FBS.

Golden Eagles sophomore quarterback Austin Davis has not thrown an interception in his last 128 passes.

This is the first meeting between Kansas and Southern Miss.