The New Neighbors: Troy vs. Southern Miss
The rumors are true. There are some new faces joining the Sun Belt, though to Troy, some of them are very familiar. The first team up is Southern Miss, a team that nearly derailed Troy’s season just a few weeks ago.
The dramatic comeback win was just the third time Troy ever won in Hattiesburg. The Golden Eagles, on the other hand, have beaten Troy 8 times, though the series is much closer this side of World War II.
Six years after the Great Depression, Troy took its first trip to Hattiesburg, and won a close battle 14-13. The score wouldn’t be that close for another 73 years, and it wouldn’t go Troy’s way for 81.
The next five seasons USM outscored Troy 135-6. The 1938 game was the first matchup in the Wiregrass, though Troy hosted in Dothan. The return trip in the next year, Troy came within a touchdown of victory, scoring its only points against Southern Miss in a 42-year span.
A 1977 matchup in Montgomery went the way of I-A Southern Miss, as the Eagles took advantage of Troy’s mistakes and ran away with it 42-19. That was the last matchup to be truly one-sided, and the last matchup on the other side of the millennium.
31 years later, Troy was cruising to a third-straight conference championship, the first Sun Belt title it claimed all by itself. Across the state line, the Golden Eagles were riding a rollercoaster. They started the season 2-1, lost five straight games, and on the edge of missing a bowl game, ripped off four straight wins to land in the New Orleans Bowl against Troy.
The color rush clash was set. Ketchup and Mustard met in the home of the Sugar Bowl… and the rest is history.
Tied at 17, the second half was a tale of two quarters. Troy exploded out of the gate, putting up 10 points in the third. Southern Miss responded with a touchdown and a game-tying field goal with less than three minutes left in the game. The following drive, Troy moved into Southern Miss territory, but the Golden Eagles’ Cordarro Law sacked quarterback Levi Brown as time expired.
In the USM’s first overtime possession, the Trojan defense held the offense to a field goal. Troy’s possession started with more promise, getting the first down, but it stalled and Troy had to go for a field goal. Here’s what happened.
With that, Troy’s losing streak continued for another 8 years. Neal Brown’s Trojans were the first in 76 years to return to Hattiesburg. The week before, Troy took the eventual national champions down to the wire. Southern Miss stepped up to the challenge.
Fortunately, Troy’s ultimate weapon revealed himself: Jordan Chunn. “MegaChunn” rumbled for 176 yards and a 39-yard touchdown that changed the momentum of the game. In the end, the Troy defense stepped up, holding off the Golden Eagles from the endzone, and winning its first game in Hattiesburg in 81 years.
Three years later, USM made the return trip, and in that time the two programs became more deeply intertwined. Jeremy McClain, who left USM to be Troy’s AD in 2014, left Troy to be USM’s AD, and Brent Jones, who followed McClain from Hattiesburg, took over the position. The two programs’ history grew deeper, and the resulting game was another showdown for the ages.
Kaleb Barker set the Troy record for most passing yards in a single game, but the Golden Eagles matched that effort, contributing nearly 500 passing yards of their own. A pair of back-to-back kickoff return touchdowns only made the game even more intense.
Just look at the fourth quarter scoring stats. It was the definition of a shootout.
USM held onto the football the last three minutes of the game, holding off any shot at a Troy comeback, but the stat sheet was already filled to the brim. That’s 42 points in the last quarter alone, 184 yards on four touchdown passes and 169 yards on two kick return touchdowns.
That brings us to the current season. Troy’s loss to Southern Miss kicked off an 0-8 streak in one-possession outcomes against FBS teams. That streak continued against a highly-regarded Liberty the week before, so expectations were high going into the game. Unfortunately, they were shattered by halftime.
The Southern Miss defense held Troy as well as Troy’s defense held the Golden Eagles, except the home team had a field goal advantage at the half. Something must’ve lit a fire in the Troy locker room, as the Trojans put up 21 unanswered points in the second half.
A garbage-time touchdown wasn’t even enough to cover the spread though, and Troy walked away with its third win in Hattiesburg.
The Trojans now welcome the Eagles with a five-game deficit in the series. The two teams had already set up three more matchups in the next decade, but with the realignment, that opens up Troy to more non-conference games.
The two Universities have similar histories: teaching colleges, 1990s football success and of course, Jeremy McClain. Both schools have thrived despite the shadow of SEC rivalries looming over them. Both schools sit a short drive from the Gulf Coast, and both schools lay claim to an NFL legend.
Troy has more national championships (3-2) and a better bowl record (.625-.458) but Southern Miss spent more time at the top level, with four times as many bowl appearances as Troy. Southern Miss leads Troy in most other metrics for this reason.
Right now, Troy and Southern Miss are bound for a rivalry, and the biggest step is adding them as a conference opponent. Southern Miss is a perfect fit for the Sun Belt, and a perfect fit for Troy’s schedule.