2010 Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles Football Preview

2009 Results: 7-6, Lost New Orleans Bowl vs. Middle Tennessee State

Head Coach: Larry Fedora (3rd year @ USM, 14-12 Overall)

Home Venue: Roberts Stadium (36,000) Hattiesburg, Mississippi

I was critical of Southern Mississippi’s decision to forcibly retire legend Jeff Bower after he posted 4 seven win seasons in his final six campaigns. As the other two years during that stretch saw the Golden Eagles win nine games and Bower posted winning seasons in every year since 1994, the polite firing was clearly not warranted.

However, Larry Fedora has exceeded my expectations, continuing USM’s streak of winning campaigns by posting back to back 7-6 outings. Fedora has shown strong recruiting abilities and has definitely upped the talent level in Hattiesburg. Now the question is whether he can he lead the Golden Eagles to their first C-USA East title since 2006?

OFFENSE

Normally, I would be very concerned that USM only returns three starters on the offensive side of the football. However, I will make an exception for this unit. First of all, junior quarterback Austin Davis (1,165 pass yards, 10 TDs, 2 INT) has been impressive when healthy over the past two seasons and his top target, junior DeAndre Brown (47 catches, 785 yards, 9 TDs) is the most physically impressive receiver in the entire conference. Expect a huge season from the former Freshman All-American and 2nd Team C-USA selection. His presence should also open up plenty of space for promising sophomore Quentin Pierce (25 catches, 247 yards, 2 TDs) and I have high confidence in USM to boast a successful passing game.

The rest of the offense is going to be interesting to watch develop. Senior center Cameron Zipp is the only returning starter, but it will help to have the line’s signal caller back to help break in the rest of the group. USM brought in a bunch of junior college linemen this year, so it will be interesting to see how they integrate together. The biggest concern that I actually have with the USM offense is at tailback, where the top returnee is sophomore Tracy Lampley (122 yards, 1 TD). While Lampley and redshirt frosh Kendrick Hardy have the makings of a decent tandem, I’m just not sure that it will be this season.

Overall, there are some reasons for concern on offense with so few starters returning. However, I think that the Golden Eagles have a lot of talented players ready to step in and their passing attack will be the best, by far, in the offensively inferior C-USA East Division. I expect to see another solid campaign scoring points for Southern Miss.

DEFENSE

Where the Golden Eagles look primed to excel is on the defensive side of the football. Nine starters return from a unit that allowed 25 points per game last season. The highlight was the performance of the run defense, which held opponents to only 131 yards per game on the ground.

The front seven returns intact and all seven players are upperclassmen. At linebacker, the triumvirate of senior Martez Smith (82 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 2 INT) and juniors Ronnie Thornton (114 tackles, 2 sacks) and Korey Williams (121 tackles, 7.5 sacks) were the team’s top three tacklers in 2009. Expect all three to have similarly productive seasons and Williams could be in for a 1st Team C-USA campaign.

Part of their success comes from playing behind a solid line that is anchored by junior DE Cordarro Law (59 tackles, 7.5 sacks). Aside from Law, the rest of the line is very talented and the two deep includes multiple transfers from BCS Conference teams. This is one of the deepest lines in the entire conference.

The only area of concern is in the secondary, where seniors Justin Wilson and CJ Bailey are the only two returning starters. Both are solid against the run but neither is a ball hawk. Continuing the transfer theme, former ‘Bama recruit Alonzo Lawrence seems in line to start at one of the corner positions and former starter Chico Hunter could fill the open safety position. While I am concerned, that concern lies with inexperience, not from a lack of talent.

Overall, Southern Mississippi can make a legitimate argument that they have the best defense in the entire conference this season. They are loaded against the run, their great D-Line should create a solid pass rush and their secondary is going to be athletic. Expect another strong season on defense for the Golden Eagles.

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SCHEDULE

Southern Mississippi has a very interesting schedule. Their non-conference portion includes a visit to South Carolina, a visit to solid WAC opponent Louisiana Tech and a home game against Kansas. Those won’t be easy games. However, they also draw an ugly conference schedule as Houston and Tulsa are on the list from the West Division and they come in back to back weeks to close out the season. Furthermore, those two games come on the heels of what will likely be an East Division-deciding affair at Central Florida, leaving USM with a pretty tough schedule.

OUTLOOK

There are a lot of things that I like about this Southern Mississippi team. They have the conference’s best receiver and a solid 3rd year starter at quarterback to guide their offense and lessen the blow of four new starters on the O-Line. Meanwhile, the Golden Eagle defense is clearly one of the league’s top two units (along with division rival UCF) and I fully expect them to be the foundation of a strong campaign. USM is a top contender to win the C-USA East Division but they face a tough schedule and the possibility of early season attrition is a concern. However, what prevents me from picking the Golden Eagles to win the division is their closing schedule, which features games against the three of the four top teams in C-USA in the span of 13 days. Southern Mississippi is going to be in the race all season but their unfavorable schedule is the biggest reason that they are my choice to finish 2nd behind Central Florida in the East Division.

PREDICTED RESULT: 8-4 (6-2 CONFERENCE USA)