Davis fulfills commitment to Southern Miss
By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
January 1, 2004
MEMPHIS, Tenn. Rod Davis could have easily grabbed the brass ring following his junior season with the University of Southern Mississippi, but instead he stuck around for one made of gold and a degree.
With his 6-foot-3, 246-pound frame, Davis is chiseled to be a linebacker, and there are few defensive coordinators who wouldn't want to plug him into the middle of their defenses.
But the All-American linebacker put off the fame and glory that may await him in the NFL for one more crack at something he never achieved in his playing career with the Golden Eagles n a conference title.
Though the Eagles fell to the University of Utah 17-0, it wasn't for a lack of effort on Davis' part or the rest of the defense.
The senior linebacker recorded 15 tackles, three tackles for a loss and a sack in the defeat, as USM limited Utah to just 228 yards on offense.
The senior's goal of winning a championship appeared to be a pipe dream at the start of the 2003 season.
USM failed to score a point on offense in the team's season opening 34-2 loss to the California on Aug. 30.
The Eagles followed the loss with a pair of conference wins on the road against the University of Alabama at Birmingham and at home against Memphis.
Despite the back-to-back wins, everything didn't look right with USM.
The defense was missing tackles and the offense continued to struggle. Plus, the Eagles lost starting quarterback Micky D'Angelo in the Memphis game, as the season-opener starter suffered his fourth concussion in the last year.
Nebraska proved how vulnerable USM was in the fourth week of the season. The Cornhuskers traveled to M.M. Roberts Stadium to lay a 38-14 smackdown on the Eagles.
USM split its next two games winning on the road at Cincinnati 22-20 and losing to Alabama 17-3 at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
With the team at 3-3, USM entered the bye week with a myriad of problems.
The Eagles could neither throw nor run the ball effectively. The defense was struggling stopping the run, allowing 193.8 rushing yards per game. And USM didn't look strong enough to keep its record perfect in conference play with five C-USA foes still on the schedule.
Even though the team wasn't performing as well as it would have liked midway through the season, Davis never regretted not going pro.
Davis and the rest of the Eagles finished the 2003 regular season as anything but losers.
USM made a remarkable turn around on offense, jumping its average point and yard totals by 21.8 and 109.1, respectively.
The defense, for their part, kept the opposition's offense at bay, and the Eagles lowered their opponent's rushing average to 126.3 yards per game from 193.8.
USM closed out the season on a six-game winning streak, highlighted by a home win over than No. 10 ranked TCU on Nov. 20, and finished undefeated in C-USA play.
Along the way, Davis earned his degree in business management, was named the conference's defensive player of the year and against Utah, he recorded 15 tackles, three tackles for a loss and one sack.
Davis' performance against the Utes boosted his tackle total to 525 to make him the all-time tackle leader in C-USA.
And now, Davis will go onto the professional ranks.
