Christmas won’t be complete without a victory

Nevada junior Chris Barker is playing in the one bowl that can deliver an early Christmas gift of his choosing.

"Just getting a victory (here)," the All-WAC offensive lineman said. "I’ve done everything else. I just haven’t won here, so that’s what I want to do."

The Wolf Pack, who have yet to discover the meaning behind the stadium’s name, face No. 22 Southern Mississippi this afternoon at 3 at Aloha Stadium.

Nevada has won just once in its past nine trips to the islands, which includes a 45-10 shellacking by SMU in the 2009 bowl game and a 27-21 loss to Hawaii last year that ruined a perfect season.

Things won’t be any easier against the Golden Eagles, who ended Houston’s potential undefeated season in the Conference USA title game three weeks ago.

"They’re better than anybody we played in our conference," Nevada coach Chris Ault said.

The Wolf Pack haven’t had the distractions that Southern Miss had to endure in its preparation for a 14th bowl game in 15 years.

Head coach Larry Fedora accepted the same position at North Carolina on Dec. 9 and will hand over the reins to new coach Ellis Johnson after today’s game.

Arizona State faced a similar decision before the Las Vegas Bowl, allowing Dennis Erickson to coach the team after firing him in late November.

The result was an ugly, penalty-filled 56-24 blowout loss to Boise State on Thursday night — a scenario Fedora hopes to avoid in his final game with the Eagles.

"We’ve got a group of 21 seniors that have done a tremendous job leading this football team to this point," Fedora said. "You go out and watch (our) practice and you wouldn’t know if it was August 5th, which was the first day of practice for us, or it was the next-to-the-last practice.

"We’re not just playing another game, we’re making history at Southern Miss."

The Golden Eagles can set a school record with their 12th win of the season.

"That’s all we talking about," senior cornerback Marquese Wheaton said. "Winning a championship. Getting here to Hawaii. This 12th win is more important than all of that."

Wheaton has one of the Golden Eagles’ eight interceptions they’ve returned for touchdowns, which leads the nation.

Nevada quarterback Cody Fajardo, who expects to start after missing the season finale against Idaho with an ankle injury, has done an admirable job since winning the starting job near midseason.

The redshirt freshman from Brea, Calif., has completed 71 percent of his passes for 1,647 yards and six touchdowns and rushed for 680 yards and 11 scores in nine games.

"They’re a very balanced offense with a very mobile quarterback that can make plays on his own after things seem like they’ve broken down," Southern Miss linebacker Ronnie Thornton said.

While Nevada has used multiple quarterbacks this season, there’s no doubt who is the signal caller for the Golden Eagles.

Senior Austin Davis will start the 45th game of a storied career in which he’s broken all the notable records previously set by future NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre.

He’s thrown for more than 10,000 yards and 81 touchdowns, tying a career high with four against Houston in Southern Miss’ marquee win of the year.

"We went out and played well on that day, but we also know if we don’t come ready to play for this game it could go the other way," Davis said. "Football is a weird deal and you’ve got to come ready to play every Saturday."

Points could come in bunches, as Nevada and Southern Miss are two of only 14 FBS teams to average more than 200 yards passing and rushing per game.

The Wolf Pack rank second in total offense (522.8 yards per game) and the Golden Eagles are ninth (471.0).

Both teams also boast legitimate defensive linemen. Nevada has Brett Roy and Southern Miss has Cordarro Law.

Roy is the only first-team All-American by Sports Illustrated not from a BCS-conference school. He led the WAC with 10 sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss.

Law, who has 7.5 sacks and 17.5 tackles for loss this year, is the NCAA’s active leader with 24 solo sacks, 43 tackles for loss and 14 forced fumbles.

The Star-Advertiser’s Jason Kaneshiro contributed to this report.