Bower implores Southern Miss to stop the run

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Southern Mississippi coach Jeff Bower is looking for someone who can stop a running back - any running back.

"We've got to find a way to stop the run. Everyone has run the football on us," Bower said Monday at his weekly news conference. "We need to perform better and we're calling on our defensive linemen to perform better."

Southern Miss' typically stingy defense allowed Alabama's Kenneth Darby to run for 197 yards in a 27-3 win last week, and now Bower is looking for better execution against East Carolina on Saturday.

"We didn't do what we had to do to win the Alabama game," Bower said. "We didn't stop the run.

"I don't think we played well in the ball game," he added. "I don't fault our effort, but I don't think we played well. We've got to make improvement."

<a href='http://www.picayuneitem.com/articles/2004/10/19/sports/03usm.txt' target='_blank'>PICAYUNE ITEM: Bower implores USM to stop the run</a>

We knew bama was going to run & did nothing to stop it. ECU will come in & try & do the same thing. Ty Nix better come up w/something or else we are going to be in trouble down the strech.