Southern Miss Golden Eagles: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats
Southern Miss Golden Eagles: Key To The 2022 Offense
Stop allowing so many plays behind the line.
Give head coach Will Hall for doing a whole lot this offseason to fix the glitch, and there should be a big difference up front with a much better rotation and more options, but this group has to go a long way to not be awful.
Southern Miss struggled in pass protection and was the worst in the nation in tackles for loss allowed. It allowed 8.75 per game, which wasn’t quite as awful as the worst lines over the last few years, but it was still a rough run.
Not surprisingly, the turnovers and lack of offensive consistently followed the problems up front.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles: Key To The 2022 Defense
Hold up better against the run.
The defense did a whole lot of things right. It was fantastic in the red zone and it didn’t allow a whole lot of first downs, and the pass D was terrific at times.
However, the secondary didn’t have a lot of work when offenses were having so much fun running the ball.
It wasn’t that attacks were gouging the Golden Eagles with huge runs, but they managed to pound away enough to keep control of games.
Early on the run defense wasn’t bad, but it allowed 200 or more in a run of four games in six and started giving up over five yards per carry on a regular basis.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles: Key Player To The 2022 Season
QB Ty Keyes, RFr.
Is he really the guy at quarterback? Jack Abraham is long gone – he’s at Missouri – Trey Lowe only got in a few games of work last year, Jake Lange led the team with 843 yards, and true freshman Zach Wilcke might be the most talented option in the mix.
However, the 6-2, 213-pound Keyes is a dangerous runner, has decent passing skills, and seemed to be the main option this offseason.
No matter who it is, someone has to lock down the gig.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles: Key Transfer
OT Calvin McMillian, Soph.
The Golden Eagles should already be relatively set with its starting five up front, but the idea is to bring more options to the rotation and find somewhere to get some semblance of production by keeping everyone fresh.
The 6-5, 305-pound McMillian is a ready-made right tackle from Mississippi State who could be thrown into the mix right away to take over somewhere up front in the rotation. Right now, Southern Miss needs as many pass blockers as possible.
Southern Miss Key Game To The 2022 Season
at Troy, Oct. 8
Last year the Golden Eagles started out the season with a loss at South Alabama, and a few weeks later it was dropped by Troy at home 21-9. Four games into the season, and coming off a two week break, they get to start life in the Sun Belt for real.
The conference schedule is manageable early on, and the team has to take advantage of the winnable games. It’s a road date, and Troy should be better, but if Southern Miss really has improved this needs to be a moment when it shows it’s going to be a factor in its new league.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles: 2021 Fun Stats
– 2nd Quarter Scoring: Opponents 110 – USM 34
– Sacks: Opponents 44 for 360 yards – USM 23 for 166 yards
– Total Yards: Opponents 4,302 yards – USF 3,195 yards
Offense, Defense Breakdown
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Southern Miss Top 10 Players | USM Schedule