HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Mississippi coach Jeff Bower is keeping his focus on the Conference USA standings more than the national rankings.

	Jeff Bower has led Southern Miss to three straight bowl games, including a 23-17 Liberty Bowl win over Colorado St. last season.

A day after the Golden Eagles (3-2, 2-0 C-USA) moved into The Associated Press poll for the first time this season, Bower said his 25th-ranked team still had a long way to go before reaching its goal.

"Our goal isn't to be a top 25 team. Our goal is to win the conference championship, and we've got a long way to go," Bower said Monday. "I'm more concerned about being ranked at the end of the year than right now.

"If you spend time thinking about that (the Top 25) and paying attention to that, you're losing focus on what's more important."

The Eagles cracked the AP poll after its 39-22 victory at East Carolina, which dropped seven spots to No. 23 in the new poll.

Southern Miss' victory at East Carolina snapped a streak of 22 straight losses to ranked teams since a victory over Auburn in 1991.

Earlier this season, the Eagles lost consecutive games at third-ranked Nebraska and 13th-ranked Texas A&M in which they allowed just one offensive touchdown in each game. They had an open date before East Carolina, a game in which they overcame a 15-3 deficit.

"It was a good win for our football team," Bower said during his weekly news conference. "I really was impressed with the poise we showed after being down. I really saw no difference on our sideline. We kept our poise, kept our composure and that is what you have to do."

Bower said Monday that linebacker Roy Magee will miss at least the next two games with a sprained knee suffered in the East Carolina game.

"We're going to do an MRI just to see what it shows. He did go out and play just a little bit after he hurt himself and got to where he couldn't go," Bower said. "He was really playing good up until that point in time. That is really the only injury in the ball game."

Also Monday, Southern Miss junior defensive back Leo Barnes was named the C-USA defensive player of the week. Barnes had 13 tackles and returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown against the Pirates.