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FACTS & STATS: Site: M.M. Roberts Stadium (36,000) -- Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Television: CSS. Home Record: Memphis 1-5, USM 5-0. Away Record: Memphis 1-4, USM 4-2. Neutral Record: Memphis 0-0, USM 0-0. Conference Record: Memphis 1-6, USM 5-2. Series Record: Southern Miss leads, 39-21-1.

GAME NOTES: Two teams on opposite ends of the spectrum in the Conference USA standings will close out their respective regular-season schedules at Roberts Stadium, as the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles are set to host the Memphis Tigers.

Southern Miss tumbled out of the national rankings following last Thursday's 34-31 setback at UAB, which also snapped the team's eight-game winning streak. Still, the Golden Eagles can clinch the conference's East Division crown with a win this weekend. USM has yet to lose at home this season in five outings and is trying to go undefeated at home for the second time since Larry Fedora took over as head coach in 2008.

Meanwhile, Memphis is at the very bottom of the East Division with a 1-6 league mark. The Tigers have dropped three straight and seven of their last eight overall. They are coming off a narrow 23-22 loss to Marshall last Thursday in their final home game.

The Golden Eagles own a 39-21-1 advantage in the "Black and Blue" series, and that includes two straight wins over Memphis.

Memphis put 22 points on the board its last time out, yet the offense contributed just 10 of those points. The Tigers' defense came up with a half- dozen takeaways, frequently setting the offense up with decent field position. Ultimately, the majority of those possessions netted nothing on the scoreboard. The Tigers finished with just 277 total yards, including 39 net rushing yards on 26 attempts as a team (1.5 ypc). Billy Foster carried 16 times for 20 yards with a long of nine yards, as he often found a wall of defenders waiting for him near the line of scrimmage. Taylor Reed completed 12-of-20 passes for 109 yards before exiting with a left foot injury. His status is not clear for this weekend, although he was on crutches after the game. Reed was instrumental in the team's only touchdown drive, completing 5- of-5 passes for 48 yards to set up Foster's one-yard touchdown plunge in the first quarter. Andy Summerlin took over at quarterback and went 11-of-26 for 129 yards.

Credit the Tigers' defense for giving the team a chance to win, as they forced six turnovers for the game. Early in the second quarter, Kendrick Golden scooped up a fumble on a botched punt and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown to give Memphis a 13-7 lead. Later, at the 11:22 mark of the fourth quarter, Frank Trotter stripped Herd quarterback Rakeem Cato of the ball, picked it up and darted 18 yards to the end zone for a 22-10 Tigers' lead. However, Marshall returned the ensuing kickoff all the way to the Tigers' 21-yard line, and the Thundering Herd scored on the very next play to make it a 22-17 game. They would later drive 55 yards in nine plays to take the lead with six minutes to play, and the Tigers offense was unable to reclaim the lead. Still, it was a historic day for the defense, as the four fumbles caused were the most by a Memphis team since 1995 against Michigan. Trotter finished with six tackles, including 2.5 for loss and a sack. Terrence Thomas registered a game- high 12 tackles in the loss.

Southern Miss enters the game ranked 18th nationally in scoring offense (36.3 ypg) and 20th in total offense (463.4 ypg). The Golden Eagles put 31 points on the board against UAB, but it was not enough to extend their winning streak to nine in a row. It certainly looked like they would cruise to another victory early on, as the Golden Eagles built a 14-0 lead less than four minutes into the contest. Two of their touchdowns came after a fake field goal and a successful onside kick. USM went on to rack up 28 first downs and 523 yards of total offense for the game, including 251 on the ground (7.2 ypc). Austin Davis completed 20-of-29 passes for 264 yards with two TDs and an interception. In the waning moments, he drove the offense past midfield twice and ran for what would have been a first down, but the play was negated by an illegal chop block to set up a 3rd-and-20 from the USM 41. His fourth-down heave was broken up and UAB was able to run down most of the clock.

USM's first touchdown against UAB was set up by the defense, as sophomore defensive back Jacorius Cotton forced a fumble on the game's opening series, and teammate Khyri Thornton recovered it to give USM possession and silence the home crowd. For the game, the Golden Eagles forced three fumbles and recovered two. However, they also gave up some lengthy drives, as UAB converted 12-of-17 third downs and won the time-of-possession battle by nearly 14 minutes. USM also gave up points on all six of the Blazers' red-zone opportunities, which included four touchdowns. One of those lengthy drives ultimately sealed the game. After Davis tied the score at 31-31 on a one-yard QB sneak at the 10:27 mark of the fourth quarter, UAB answered with a 13-play, 49-yard drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock and resulted in the go-ahead field goal. All told, three players notched double-digit tackles for USM, led by Cotton, who gave his team the early momentum and finished with 17 tackles.

Southern Miss is 11-3 in the month of November under coach Fedora, and a win here would give the Golden Eagles their first 10-win season since 1988 and only the third all-time. With an East Division title on the line, look for them to get back on track here behind Davis, who has thrown 22 touchdowns on the year and will be looking to rebound last week's setback.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Southern Miss 41, Memphis 10