Southern Miss Golden Eagles College Football Preview 2021: Keys To The Season
Southern Miss Golden Eagles Biggest Key: Offense
Find an identity and positive consistency. The overall numbers weren’t bad, and there were times when the attack rocked – it just didn’t do it the same way twice.
The running game went nowhere against South Alabama, and then it ripped through North Texas. The passing attack struggled in the middle of the year, but was good for 200 yards over the first part of the season. There was an almost perfect balance against Liberty, but everything died against WKU, and …
That was the 2020 season. Everything can be forgiven for the craziness with the pandemic, coaching issues, and bad start, but the new coaching staff has to implement its style and make it work right away.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles Biggest Key: Defense
Pass rush. Everything else works off of that. The defense was awful on third downs, the secondary didn’t get a whole lot of interceptions, and the team couldn’t seem to control most games all because the front couldn’t get to the quarterback often enough.
The 2019 Golden Eagles came up with 39 sacks after the D dipped a bit the previous two seasons. Last year, though, the 16 sacks and struggles to generate tackles for loss were a huge issue. Ten of the 16 came in three games – and USM lost all three.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles Key Player To A Successful Season
QB Trey Lowe, Soph.
Or Louisville transfer Tee Webb. No matter who it is, the Golden Eagles need someone to settle a quarterback situation that was never quite right. It was Jack Abraham’s offense to run for a few years, but last season Tate Whatley and Lowe ended up seeing a whole lot of action.
Abraham is now off to Mississippi State and Lowe appears ready to step up into the role. The program needs someone to build around for the next few years.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles Key Game To The 2021 Season
UAB, Oct. 16
The Golden Eagles just want to get back on track after a rough 3-7 season, but with Rice and UTEP to start the Conference USA campaign, and with Middle Tennessee and North Texas after UAB, there’s a chance at a really, really good start.
The team misses Marshall and WKU from the East – that’s a big plus this year – and getting the Blazers in Hattiesburg is huge. The Golden Eagles won the last meeting 37-2 in 2019 – they didn’t get a chance to play last year – but lost the previous three meeting.
– Southern Miss Schedule Analysis
2020 Southern Miss Golden Eagles Fun Stats
– 1st Half Scoring: Opponents 168 – USM 118
– Passing TDs: Opponents 24 – USM 12
– 4th Down Conversions: Opponents 67% – USM 35%