College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Southern Miss Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 7-6 overall, 7-2 in C-USA
Head Coach: Jay Hopson, 5th year, 28-22
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 82
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 68
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 76
No one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: Southern Miss Golden Eagles Offense 3 Things To Know
– TheSouthern Miss offense wasn’t good enough. It had good parts, it had good moments, and it had a good defense to pick up the slack, but there wasn’t any running game, and the O finished averaging just 407 yards and 27 points per game.
There’s too much talent returning to be so mediocre again. It starts with new offensive coordinator Matt Kubik improving the ground attack.
CFN in 60 Video: Auburn Preview
Southern Miss at Auburn, Sept. 26
– The offensive line was good in pass protection, but it was one of the worst in America in giving up tackles for loss – allowing over seven per game. On the plus side, four starters are expected back around rising sophomore Coker Wright at one of the tackle spots and Arvin Fletcher at guard. There’s good size and decent depth – this group has to be better.
There are a ton of running back options who got in a little work, and now they need room to move. 220-pound senior Kevin Perkins came in from the JUCO thanks and ran for a team-high 547 yards with three scores, and 242-pound banger Steven Anderson is back after scoring three times. The ground game as a whole, though, finished with just 1,527 yards and averaged 3.5 yards per carry.
– The Golden Eagles have their quarterback. Jack Abraham took the job two years ago, and improved last season hitting 68% of his passes for almost 3,500 yards with 19 scores. Backup Tate Whatley is back, but as the bowl loss to Tulane showed, he needs to be a whole lot better when he gets his chances.
Star receiver Quez Watkins is now a Philadelphia Eagle, and five of the top seven pass catchers are gone, but senior Tim Jones is back after leading the team with 73 catches for 902 yards and three scores.
Speedster Jaylond Adams is back after averaging over 16 yards per catch, but it’s a thin overall group that needs the recruiting class and a slew of transfers to bump things up. The hope is for Arkansas transfer Grayson Gunter to take over the tight end job right away.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Southern Miss Golden Eagles Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: Southern Miss Golden Eagles Defense 3 Things To Know
– The defense was terrific las season, and it gets back just enough to be among the best in the league again. Six of the top eight tacklers are back from the D that allowed just 353 yards and 26 points per game, allowing 17 points or fewer five times.
– The pass rush that finished 14th in the nation in sacks loses top sacker Terry Whittington at linebacker, but Jacques Turner is an all-star caliber pass rusher at one end. The rest of the line, though, needs some work with the two top tackles done and needing junior Tahj Sykes and 339-pound senior Von’Darius Freeman to rise up as anchors.
The Golden Eagles normally use just two true linebackers and a hybrid Wolf position. 6-0, 210-pound Raheem Boothe is built like a safety. He missed four games, but he still made 49 tackles and can get all over the field. 250-pound senior Eriq Kitchen will try to step up in place of Whittingham at the Wolf.
– The pass defense that allowed 237 yards per game and was one of the least efficient in the nation has to make a whole lot more plays. Leading tackler Ky’el Hemby is back at his Rover job – he made 93 tackles – but star tackler D.Q. Thomas is done.
Junior Shannon Showers isn’t that big, but he’s a good-tackling safety, and Rachuan Mitchell is back at one corner. JUCO transfer Camron Harrell will get a long look on the other side.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top Southern Miss Golden Eagles Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top Southern Miss Golden Eagles Players
Best Southern Miss Golden Eagles Offensive Player
QB Jack Abraham, Sr.
How important is he? Just watch the second half of the Armed Forces Bowl against Tulane when he was out for the game. The Southern Miss offense couldn’t go anywhere in a painful finish in the 30-13 loss.
Abraham is only 6-0 and 204 pounds, but he has completed 70% of his career passes for 5,843 yards and 34 scores, and he ran for seven scores – six last year – but he has an interception problem with 25 picks. In his third year at the starting spot, he should do even more with the O.
2. WR/KR Jaylond Adams, Jr.
3. WR Tim Jones, Sr.
4. OG Arvin Fletcher, Sr.
5. PK Andrew Stein, Soph.
Best Southern Miss Golden Eagles Defensive Player
S Ky’el Hemby, Sr.
He made a whole lot of big plays in his first year in from the JUCO ranks – making six picks and 51 tackles – and he became more of a playmaker last year against the run with 93 stops and two interceptions.
He’s not all that huge at 6-1 and 195 pounds, but he’s a fantastic tackler who’s great in the open field. There’s a whole lot of good talent in the secondary, but he’ll be the leader and the all-conference star again.
2. S Shannon Showers, Jr.
3. DE Jacques Turner, Sr.
4. LB Racheem Boothe, Sr.
5. LB Swayze Bozeman, Sr.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Southern Miss Golden Eagles Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: Southern Miss Golden Eagles Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Southern Miss Golden Eagles Offense
This goes for the entire program over the last decade … STOP TURNING THE BALL OVER.
It was so maddening throughout the season. The running game needs to be better and more consistent, and the offense has to keep things moving, but in game after game, the mistakes were the biggest killers.
Southern Miss was 121st in the nation in turnovers, giving away 26 on the season and was a -11 in turnover margin. When the team was -2 or worse, it was 0-5.
The O gave it up two times or more in eight games and 12 times in the last four games.
But this is nothing new for a program that’s been a hot mess with turnovers over the last ten years. The offense gave it up 17 times in 2010, and a ridiculous 247 times – an average or almost 25 a year – since then.
Biggest Key To The Southern Miss Golden Eagles Defense
Is it just as simple as the run defense needing to be a brick wall? The Southern Miss defense was No. 1 in Conference USA and 18th overall against the run, allowing a mere 1,506 yards and 14 touchdowns on the year.
When you give up just 3.5 yards per carry, you’re doing something right.
The D allowed more than 200 yards just once – against Mississippi State – holding Alabama to just 176 yards and allowing more than 150 just four times.
But here was the problem – USM allowed more than 130 rushing yards six times, and it lost all six games. Of course, that meant the team was 7-0 when holding teams to under the way-low 130-yard total.
By the way, the program is 1-11 in its last 12 games when giving up over 130.
With that in mind …
Key Southern Miss Golden Eagles Player To A Successful Season
DT Von’Darius Freeman, Sr.
The defensive tackles from last year are gone, and Tahj Sykes came up with just three tackles and Freeman made 11. Now these two have to be the tough guys on the inside of the great run D.
The 279-pound Sykes has good size, but the 6-2, 339-pound Freeman is the former JUCO transfer with the mass to gum up the works. Freeman doesn’t have to get into the backfield, but he needs to be a rock to work around.
Key Game To The Southern Miss Golden Eagles Season
Louisiana Tech, Sept. 12
Southern Miss had Louisiana Tech’s number for four years. It controlled the series, and it helped to at least have a shot at the Conference USA West title. Last year, though, the script was flipped with the Bulldogs getting the win.
It’s the second game of the season and the conference opener for USM. Assuming a win over South Alabama to kick things off, and with Jackson State to follow, beat Louisiana Tech, and likely be 3-0 before going to Auburn.
– Southern Miss Golden Eagles Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Southern Miss Fun Stats
– Fumbles: Southern Miss 20 (lost 9) – Opponents 10 (lost 9)
– Sacks: Southern Miss 39 for 230 yards – Opponents 23 for 183 yards
– Field Goals: Southern Miss 18-of-22 – Opponents 11-of-18
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Southern Miss Golden Eagles Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: Southern Miss Golden Eagles Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
Come on, Southern Miss. At least play for the Conference USA title under Jay Hopson.
The program got to the title game in 2015 – losing to WKU – and then Hopson came in to make things even better after cranking it up at Alcorn State.
He has been fine. Southern Miss has been fine. This program that’s in the same division as Rice, UTEP and UTSA should be better than fine.
Four straight winning seasons and three bowl appearances aren’t anything to dismiss, though, considering USM isn’t all that far removed from the brutal period between 2012 to 2014 when it came up with just four wins.
No do more.
Set The Southern Miss Golden Eagles Regular Season Win Total At … 8.5
Bet at BetMGM Win Total Line: 7
South Alabama, Jackson State, Rice, UTSA. Those four home games have to be wins with extreme ease.
At UTEP, at North Texas. If you’re really a player for the Conference USA title, you have to be good enough to win those two games – along with the non-conference date at Liberty.
You should also be good enough to beat Louisiana Tech at home and take out UAB on the road.
This is hardly a perfect team, and it’s had problems over the years playing up to the expectations of a manageable schedule, but enough is enough.
With the talent that’s in place, and with a schedule with only one almost certain loss – at Auburn – it’s time to win nine games in the Jay Hopson era.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Schedule Analysis
