The Other Side of the Wall: Southern Miss

Another year, another final regular season game away from double-digit wins. This is where Troy belongs, and this is the success we’re used to.

Interestingly, Troy is traveling to a place where that success is expected too. It’s just a little further removed.

Team	Southern Miss
Time, Network	11 AM, ESPN
Current Record	3-8, 2-5
Troy’s Record	3-8
Last Matchup	W, 27-10
Current Conf. Rank	6th, SBC West
FPI Rank	118
FPI Win% (Troy)	87.4%
Spread	Troy -17

I don’t know if crisis is the right word, but Southern Miss is not in a good place. The Golden Eagles started the season 1-7 before knocking off the Louisiana schools.

They hung 20 on an MSU team with its own struggles, but the Bulldogs ended the win streak (if you can call it that.)

Since the 2019 shootout, both teams have been on very different trajectories. The Eagles won seven games that year, Troy five.

The Trojans hung out at the .500 mark before finding a new coach and skyrocketing to success. Southern Miss couldn’t win more than three games, went through four coaches in a year and hired a man they thought would turn everything around.

To Will Hall’s credit, it’s tough to right a ship when COVID is the storm in this analogy and the waves (conference opponents) only grew stronger.

That said, Wikipedia doesn’t have faith in him.

Thankfully, we have a man on the inside, and he’s one of our best. Editor emeritus Scott Watkins covers the Golden Eagles for the Sun Herald in Gulfport. He was kind enough to run the regular season gauntlet one last time.

What does the warning label for this team say?
DANGER: DO NOT CONSUME WITHOUT ALCOHOL
I support this for winning teams too, btw.

What Taylor Swift song title best describes Southern Miss’s season? Why?
Shake it Off (2014). Look, this song sucks. I hate to be the one who says it. But it’s also the best way to describe how this season has played out. It’s certainly not what anybody in and around the program wanted and (surprise if you’re a USM fan holding out hope) Will Hall will be back for another run to right the ship next season. As he should be.
I promise I typed the intro before I read these answers. Alexa, play “Takes a Little Time” by Amy Grant.

In one word, describe the Louisiana win. Why that word?
One? How about a few individual words? Cathartic. Disgusting. NSFW (acronym yes I know I cheated). Proof.
I’ll give you a pass since you did use at least one actual word.
The win felt good for USM fans, players and coaches alike. It’s a key rivalry and was a much-needed feel-good moment. Even if it was gross to look at. But it was also proof that the Eagles under Hall have zero quit. This was first noted in year one when the staff overhauled the offense after starting 1-8 and then won two games to end the season for absolutely no reason. There are seniors on this team that have been around a while and seen a lot here, including success. It takes very little motivation to get this group awake for a game.

In one word, describe the Old Dominion loss. Why that word?
This one is tougher, especially now that we’re quite a ways removed from the consequences. At the time? Oof. Tough to watch. This came after a two-week stretch where the offense had little trouble moving the ball, but both the defense and special teams had let downs in losses against Arkansas State and Texas State. Then both phases played phenomenally well against the Monarchs, but the offense was nowhere to be found. Turns out you need that unit to score points to win (usually).
Can I make a Nasty Bunch joke now? No? Okay, moving on.

Which Avenger is most like Coach Hall?
Hall is a unique person in his profession in that he’s refreshingly down to earth. But don’t mistake that Amory kindness for a lack of competitiveness. At the moment, I’d liken him to one of my very favorite Marvel characters, even if it’s not actually an Avenger: Moon Knight. Maybe without the whole split personality thing. Hall himself is humble and fairly open for his position. But there’s a piece of him that wants to scorch everything he sees. Perhaps to his detriment, at times.
Also, Dracula owes him money.

What are three names on defense Troy fans should pay attention to? Why?
Jay Stanley, first and foremost. An All-Conference and “All-Effort” safety, Stanley is second on the team in tackles and tied-first in interceptions (3).
Linebacker Jalil Clemons is another to know. Clemons has been in-and-out of the lineup, but has been a backfield voyager in just about every game he’s played in.
Lastly, let’s go with corner Zay Franks. Statistically, Franks is one of the least effective players in the starting lineup. That’s not really his fault. He was a wide receiver around a month ago. Franks has improved tremendously over time and it will be exciting to see him against the most talented group of receivers USM has faced since TXST.
My takeaway: the secondary is going to be tough. I trust Chris Lewis though.

When Louisiana snaps the ball, what is most likely to happen?
The most likely thing to happen is the ball ends up in Frank Gore Jr’s hands (shocker). Gore Jr has hit his stride recently, though the Mississippi State game didn’t go well. He toted the ball a career-high 33 times the week before against Louisiana and eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards against the Bulldogs despite the sluggish start to the year.
For the record, Kimani is No. 5 in the country, and Frank is No. 20 as of press time.

If we wake up Sunday and the underdog wins, what happened the day before?
Lil Baby played before kickoff. Also, everything went right in every phase for USM. Also, everything went wrong for Troy. Anything can happen in the Sun Belt, though, and USM has been playing at a different gear since Hall turned the offense over to his assistants prior to the App State game.

What chicken joint is most associated with the team, college, fanbase or city? If not chicken, BBQ?
Tough one. I genuinely don’t know the answer and I don’t want to put an answer into the mouths of the Eagle faithful. There’s an incredibly diverse food scene in Hattiesburg with north of 200 restaurants in the area. Whatever you do, don’t say Applebee’s.
I can say there are some dope spots in Hattiesburg. Topher’s, Southbound and Crescent City Grill are all good.

What’s one question you have for us about Troy, if you have one (we’ll answer in the article)?
Due to the circumstances of my life path, I don’t really have anything for you. Instead, I’m going to give you the soap box to write out your feelings on.
How generous. It’s truly the season of being generous.
Troy is 9-2, winners of eight in a row. UNLV, Miami (Oh.), New Mexico State (Auburn sucks. Yup.) are all receiving votes in the AP top 25 poll. Troy is not. What gives?
First, a little disclaimer. This is all rat poison.
Now, truthfully? It’s clear that the voters are only looking at win-loss record, and for some reason giving NMSU credit. If any of them looked past that, they’d see that Troy’s losses are to opponents WHO ARE BOTH RANKED.
Clearly UNLV got credit for beating a good Air Force team, but they lost to unranked Fresno State.
Miami OH’s Power 5 loss was to the other Miami in week 1. It was worse than the KSU loss, and again, Kansas State is RANKED.
Troy only lost to JMU by two points. Missed field goal, bad referees, doesn’t matter. The two teams are virtually even when you look past the L. Bottom line, if you ranked JMU, you should have Troy very close behind.
If Troy finishes another 10-2 regular season without being ranked, I’m calling people out.

Now that that’s out of my system, let’s bring out the comparison chart one last time.

Stat	Per Game	National Rank	Comparable team	TROY stat against comp
Passing Offense	196 ypg	98	Georgia State (93)	193 yds passing allowed
Rushing Offense	163.5 ypg	57	South Alabama (54)	97 yds rushing allowed
Scoring Offense	23.7 ppg	88	Georgia State (75)	7 points allowed
Passing Defense	235.0 ypg	85	Western Kentucky (88)	349 yds passing
Rushing Defense	185.2 ypg	119	Army (115)	222 yds rushing
Scoring Defense	35.82 ppg	124	ULM (115)	45 points (2nd most)

These are abysmal stats defensively. Southern Miss has given up at least 200 yards in either stat to all but three teams: Old Dominion, ULM and Tulane. (One of these is not like the others.)

The Eagles have given up at least one 50-yard play in every game since the Tulane game. The only team that didn’t break 50 in a single passing play was Mississippi State last week, who racked up 238 yards rushing and broke out a 59-yard run.

Troy averages 20 pass completions and 35 rushes per game. Against USM’s defense, that’s good for at least 250 yards passing and likely 200 yards on the ground.

To be fair, the rushing stats are far more hit-or-miss. Troy’s run game is closer to ODU and Tulane than FSU and South Alabama statistically, but a balanced attack is more effective against the Eagles.

I also started with the defensive numbers because I’m less concerned with how effective the offense is going to be.

Troy is the second best rush defense Southern Miss faced all year, and Tulane (the best) held them to just 25 yards rushing. South is No. 3, and they held the Eagles to 103 yards rushing.

USM has been more successful the more it runs the ball, and with the 115th team passing efficiency in the country, that’s going to be a tall task against Troy. Passing could be their way out, but it’s just not the Eagles’ strength.

In the last seven games, Troy has lost the ball four times and taken it back 14. Southern Miss has forced 12 turnovers in that time, but lost it 11.

The Trojans have taken an average of one interception per game in that time, but apart from the ULM game (3) the Eagles have only thrown two picks.

It just seems like Troy is primed to have its best game at the end of the year. I know that’s rat poison, but The Trojans could dominate in this game… and maybe convince some voters to include them in the next poll.

Troy wins, 35-17.

As always, thanks to Scott for helping out. Follow him on Twitter here.