2010 NCAA Football Preview: Southern Miss
The Southern Miss Golden Eagles are probably one of the best college football teams that you have never heard of before. They have played in a bowl game very season since 1997 except 2001, winning seven of them. After the 2009 season, which saw them finish 7-6, the Golden Eagles have a streak of 16 consecutive winning seasons.
Twice in this stretch they have finished the season ranked in the top 25, the highest being the 1999 season that saw them finish 14th in the AP Poll and #13th in the Coach’s Poll. Four times they have won Conference-USA, the last one being the 2003 season.
Larry Fedora took over for Jeff Bower prior to the 2008 season. Bower had built an incredibly successful program in his seventeen years in charge of the Golden Eagles. Fedora has been able to keep it going in his first two seasons finishing both with records of 7-6. Both seasons the team was invited to the New Orleans Bowl, winning in 2008 and losing in 2009.
If Fedora is going to keep the good times rolling in Hattiesburg he will need to find a way to fill the holes left by departing starters and get his team to perform at least a little better to keep the winning streak going.
Offense
The Golden Eagles look to be pretty set at the skill positions this year. Quarterback Andre Davis will be back under center; he was having a good season, completing almost 70 percent of his passes for 10 touchdowns and only two interceptions before being lost for the season to injury after five games. At least the team knows that they will be fine if they need to put in Martevious Young, his replacement last season. Young was not as accurate, completing 57 percent of his passes, but was almost mistake free throwing 16 touchdown passes and only three interceptions.
Davis will have the services of one of the better receivers in the conference in DeAndre Brown. Brown battled injury issues of his own, but still caught 47 balls for 785 yards and nine touchdowns; if healthy he could easily surpass the 1000 yard mark.
Where their offense could hurt is on the line and in the backfield. Center Cameron Zipp is among the best that Conference USA has to offer, but he will be forced to work with an entire new group on the line. The team also has little experience at running back after losing both Damion Fletcher and Tory Harrison. V.J. Floyd has the most career yardage of the remaining players, but do not be surprised if second year player Tracey Lampley earns the starting job by time the season starts.
Defense
The linebacker trio of Korey Williams, Ronnie Thornton, and Martez Smith are as good as they come. Williams, in his first year as a starter, cemented his status among the premier defenders in the conference with 118 tackles and seven sacks. Thornton chimed in another 110 tackles and two sacks; it was also his first season as a starter. Smith has been consistently improving his game making 53 tackles in 2008 and 79 in 2009. Then again, playing next to Williams and Young their can only be so many opportunities to make plays.
Justin Wilson and C.J. Bailey return to prove their pass defense skills are not as bad as they looked in 2009 (when the unit ranked 109th in the nation). Neither player was especially impressive which was surprising since the unit was expected to be one of the better ones in the conference last season (along with Eddie Hicks, Andre Watson, and Chico Hunter). Redshirt freshman Deron Wilson looks to step in at one of the corners; Wilson was one of the top 100 high school players in the country in 2009.
The key to the game for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles will be in the front offensively and in the back defensively. If the offensive line can gel with four new starters and the secondary can at least slow down opposing quarterbacks the team will likely be looking for another bowl berth in 2010
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