The Southern Miss Golden Eagles ended the 2009 season much like 2008 finished, but this time they were on the losing end of the New Orleans Bowl. Larry Fedora enters his third season as the head man for the Golden Eagles and believes this will be his top team yet. The Golden Eagles return 12 starters and get QB Austin Davis back from an injury. This team should contend for a Conference USA crown with the amount of talent they possess. Southern Miss is listed as a +5000 long shot to win the BCS crown. View the full conference breakdown in our 2010 Conference USA football predictions article.
The offense averaged over 400 yards/game for the second consecutive year under offensive coordinator Darrell Wyatt (now at Kansas). Martevious Young proved he is a capable backup by throwing for 1861 yards and 16 touchdowns in the final eight games. He also finished third on the team in rushing. There is no doubt that Austin Davis is going to be the starter in the opener at South Carolina. His freshman season was one of the best in Southern Miss school history and he was on his way to an even better sophomore campaign before the foot injury. Davis was completing an astonishing 70% of his passes. DeAndre Brown shocked schools two years ago when he chose Southern Miss over the whose who of college football. He has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, but still managed to catch 47 balls for nearly 800 yards and nine scores. The amount of attention he will draw from defenses should open things up for players like Quentin Pierce and company. RB Damion Fletcher had be en in the Golden Eagles backfield for the past four years and finally used up his eligibility. His 78 yards in the bowl game gave him 1,000 yards for the 4th straight season. Tory Harrison has to be replaced also after leading the team in rushing touchdowns with 10. There are a young group of guys ready to make a name for themselves with the opportunity at running back.
Southern Miss's defense should show improvement in 2010 with nine returning starters. They feature one of the top linebacker units in Conference USA and the front seven as a whole is very strong. Todd Bradford's bunch had their issues a season ago, mainly defending the pass. Teams passed for an average of 262 yards/game and completed over 60% of their passes. The Golden Eagles were able to dial up the pressure against the opposition, collecting 34 sacks as a team. LB Korey Williams was a 2nd team all conference selection as a sophomore after collecting 121 tackles and a team high 7.5 sacks. He is the center piece of a talented trio of linebackers that is rounded out by Ronnie Thornton and Martez Smith. These three were the top tacklers on the team a year ago and should retain their spots again. The rush defense was actually fairly decent, allowing 3.6 yards/carry. DT Anthony Gray is a major reason for this as the senior to be plays the run extremely well. DE Cordarro Law t ied for the team lead in sacks a year ago in his second year at Southern Miss and earned honorable mention all conference accolades. The secondary was a weakness last year, but should improve behind Alabama transfer Alonzo Lawrence.
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UCF is likely to challenge Southern Miss for the East division title in Conference USA. The Golden Eagles have to make the travel to Florida and take on the Golden Knights November 13th. A road trip to South Carolina will test this group immediately in the opener. Southern Miss is just 2-11 in road openers. Kansas rolls into town on September 17th completing the home/away series these two schools agreed upon. I really like Davis at quarterback and think the defense can make the necessary changes to show improvement. I expect at least 8 wins for Southern Miss.
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