PROVIDENCE, R.I.-

April 12, 2010

In what internet message board contributors around college sports only see as a mild surprise, current America East Conference member Boston University has been named as the Big East’s replacement in the wake of one of its members parting for the Big Ten.

“Quite simply, we just felt they were the obvious choice of all the institutions we considered,” said Big East Commissioner John Marinatto at the press conference introducing the Terriers as the league’s newest member. “Boston U. returns the Big East to the Boston market, which is the 5^th largest Combined Metropolitan Statistical Area in the country. Also, with almost 32,000 students, half of whom are in graduate studies, they already have a built-in—and let’s face it—relatively affluent following.

“Sure, there will be those detractors who point out that Boston U. disbanded their football team in 1997 and weren’t even planning on resurrecting it until we suggested it to them two or three weeks ago, but as the Big East strives to maintain and improve upon its place as one of the premiere conferences in the NCAA as well as a holder of a BCS automatic bid, we have to keep our focus on the big picture, which is all about maintaining a demographic edge.  We did consider some lower-enrollment and smaller-market schools with frankly more attractive athletic programs, but ultimately felt that wasn’t in our best, long-term interest.  As a conference, in this day and age, you can only afford so many West Virginia-type programs with their rabid fan bases, sustained levels of historical success, and whatnot.”

The Big East’s plans call for the conference and the Terriers to jointly file a hardship with the NCAA allowing the program to literally go from zero to FBS by the start of the 2012 season football season. Normally, the building process takes much longer as programs graduate from non-scholarship Division III to conditional Division I status and eventually to FBS if criteria at each stage are met, but the Big East simply doesn’t have time, said Marinatto.

“With Boston’s satellite campuses in D.C. and Los Angeles, and especially the one in London and its dental school in Dubai, we simply can’t afford to wait to bring those national and international markets into the fold. We expect full cooperation on this from the NCAA. It’s good for us, and it’s good for college football.”

“We have every reason to expect Boston University to contribute right away. They have a very competitive club rugby team.”

As you can see, the Fever has been neglected of late (really?  No posts since October?!?).  Once the UAB Know They Enemy got pre-empted, things pretty much went to hell.  As I said I wouldn’t do, my Golden Eagle attention focused elsewhere, mainly the EaglePost message board.  A lackluster end to the football season didn’t exactly help things.

However, after a little live-blogging experiment on EP at the South Alabama basketball game (an unlimited internet package on a mobile phone is a wonderful thing), I was reminded of how underutilized my little soap box here has been.

All that said, the New Orleans Bowl beckons tonight for the second straight year.  Sadly, I am not making the trip as I’ll be driving quite enough this week as it is and I had already planned on attending the basketball Golden Eagles’ Christmas Classic tomorrow night and both would be just too much as the busyness of the rest of the week approaches.

On to the game.  I honestly don’t feel comfortable about this one.  Middle Tennessee will present a lively offense (Top 30 nationally in both yardage and scoring) to our porous defense that has struggled to stop most anyone, especially in the first half.  Worse yet, the Blue Raider offense centers around its dual-threat QB, Dwight Dasher, and while Southern Miss has fared pretty well in sheer number of sacks over the course of the season, anecdotally, it has not fared well in attempting to contain rushing QBs.

Hopefully, there will be enough of a size/talent differential in USM’s favor to overcome MTSU’s strategic advantages, but I’m stopping at “cautiously optimistic”

The two biggest things I’m looking forward to with interest are:

1) How big a game will DeAndre Brown have in his return to the Superdome after last year’s horrific injury?  If I’m Larry Fedora, I’m going to him deep on the first play just to get that out of the way.

2) Will we even bother trying extra points (you gotta scroll WAY down that link), or just go for two every time the situation presents?  According to reports, Fedora is pondering it.  May I humbly suggest NOT “doing the same thing as day one” when you’re dead last in the country at a particular task?

Tune in later for in-game updates.  I am nothing if not entertaining as a spectator.

UPDATE 1: Game underway.  Nearly had the same start as last year with a turnover for a TD.  Offense mixing up the run and pass nicely, but those lateral plays not getting us anything.  Good move putting Harrison in on the 3.  TOUCHDOWN EAGLES!!  Went for 2, which I won’t argue with, but it comes up short.

UPDATE 2 (9:20 left in the 1st): 3 and out for the defense.  Certainly didn’t see that coming.  Not sure if it’s just physical advantage or aggressiveness, but MT looked helpless there.

7:52 left in the 1st: QB sneak for a 1st down.  Did you see that, Pat Hill?

6:35 in the 1st: TOUCHDOWN, DEANDRE BROWN!!!  Another try for 2, this one good, also to Brown.

0:19 in the 1st: Dasher down while trying to make a cut and getting his knee examined on the field.  That did not look good.

14:43 in the 2nd: Never mind.  He’s back and just ran it for 24 yards.  Defense in a red zone situation for the first time tonight.  We’re still struggling to wrap up the QB.  Been a problem since Alcorn.

13:25 in the 2nd: The defense to which we’ve unfortunately become accustomed has reared it’s ugly head.  14-7 Eagles.

10:01 in the 2nd: Offense sputtering now.  Need a stop now, or this game’s gonna get WAY too interesting.  And just like that, Dasher runs for 6.

8:51 in the 2nd: Everybody else in the freakin’ country can get positive yards off the lateral screen.  Getting ready to spew the anti-Bradford venom.

6:45: OK, how do you let your coach challenge that if you’re the MT receiver?

6:30: Hmmm….we can tackle Sun Belt runner-up players 1-on-1.  That kinda backs up my assertion that our biggest problem on defense has been simply being physically weak relative to the competition.  Completely different game when your man in there to make the tackle and can actually do it.

Blocked FG.  Still 14-7.

5:53: Interception on the very next play.  MT ball on the USM 12.  F$%$itty-f$%%-f@#$.  Whew…may be saved by the replay.  Or not.  As I said, F$%$itty-f$%%-f@#$!!!

4:41: WHY!! CAN WE NOT!!! TACKLE!!! THE @#$%ING!!! QUARTERBACK?!?!?!?

3:45: Fletch now ahead of Tomlinson in career yardage.  Next stop: 1000 yard season.

2:09: Vertical passing game looking good.  Let’s have more of it, now.

0:07: FG called back on an offsides call.  Lined up to take a shot before calling time-out.  Here’s where the coach is a genius if it works and a moron if it doesn’t.

0:07: Never mind.  Lining up to kick it now.  Friend in the Dome said DeAndre was not happy with that decision at all.  17-14 Eagles at halftime.

OK, Why the funk is ESPN giving us a preview of the game at HALFTIME?  At least they gave SMU their mustang logo instead of our eagle head.

Second half underway…MTSU’s ball first.  Uh-oh.

14:43 in the 3rd: Amazing how lateral plays work as well for our opponents as they do poorly for us.

13:48: Dasher fumbles while breaking off a long run.  Somebody change that boy’s cleats (uh, or not).

13:20: …and Fletch goes over 1,000.  Congratulations to him.

12:21: Middle Tennessee starting to get that defensive pressure I feared going in.  Also got a text from a friend in the Dome after that last drive: “We look like Bower on Quaaludes.”

10:56: Big sack by Korey Williams.  Can we make it mean something?

10:20: HELL no, we can’t.  First-down pass on the next play, Dasher into the end zone on the next.  21-17 MTSU.

9:17: Once again, the vertical pass working pretty well….

8:06: Dammit, he’s got his yards.  Quit giving the ball to Dancin’ Damion and send it downfield.

7:36: Had to settle for a FG.  Yee-ha.

7:20: There’s that screen again.  How THE FUNK can every team we play run that with success when we get 5 yards a season out of it?  MTSU is just handling us at this point.  We look like that layer of white powder that forms on dog crap right about now.

4:43: Big play to bring up 3rd & 10.  Yippie!  Whoa.  Hold the phones.  We actually stopped them.

0:55: Another text from another friend: “Turf leads us in tackles.”

0:00: The entire defensive staff needs to be left in New Orleans.  Hell, leave the whole program down there for that matter.

13:00: We must lead the nation in false starts on the center.

11:55: Another f@#$ing false start.

11:51:

Austin Davis is out for the remainder of the season with what is presumably some type of Lis-Franc injury going by the few details made public so far.

Read the official release here at SouthernMiss.com.

In Davis’ absence, junior Martevious Young will be the starting quarterback, with true freshman Chris Campbell serving as the back-up according to a statement by Larry Fedora via Patrick Magee’s blog at the American.

Maybe football just isn’t our thing.

The first UL-USM tilt since 2002 is now scheduled for a 6:30 PM Central Time start on ESPNU (channel 614 on the awesomeness that Is DirecTV; otherwise, check your local listings).

Southern Miss (3-0) at #19/20 Kansas (3-0)

Thursday’s line: Kansas -14

First meeting: this one

Last time out: Southern Miss def. Virginia 37-34, Kansas def. Duke 44-16

Two high-powered offenses collide Saturday as the Golden Eagles travel to Lawrence to take on the Jayhawks. This is obviously a big game for Southern Miss, as it is a chance to add a little meat to its current 8-game winning streak (its longest since the 1958-1959 seasons) and unblemished 2009 record by knocking off a ranked team.

The Kansas offense is captained by senior QB Todd Reesing, who would be a household name if he played in any other conference or at any other time not in the shadow of his counterparts at Oklahoma and Texas. All Reesing has done in his career at KU (what’s up with those Plains state’s reversing the initials like that, anyway?) is lead the Jayhawks to 11 straight wins once he was given the reins, become the schools career passing leader with over 7500 yards in 3 seasons, and consistently provide Kansas with one of the 25 most potent offenses in the country. 23-6 as a starter, Reesing is obviously an excellent passer, but he’s also a capable scrambler/runner, and rarely does anything to hurt his team (32 TDs to 13 INTs in ‘08, 6-to-1 so far in ‘09). Essentially, he’s a super-powered mutant version of our own Austin Davis.

Among Reesing’s favorite targets are senior WR Kerry Meier and junior WR Dezmon Briscoe, who are picking up in ‘09 right where they left off in ‘08, when they both went over 1,000 yards and combined for 23 TDs. In Kansas’ first 3 games this year, the tandem has combined for 465 yards and 2 TDs. Also keep your eye on senior RB Jake Sharp out of the backfield, as he has 3 TD receptions on the year in addition to his 240 yards on 42 carries and 3 TDs on the ground.

If there is a weak link in the Jayhawks’ offensive armor, it is the inexperience of its line. The KU O-line entered 2009 having to replace its default starters at center, right guard, left guard, and right tackle, leaving sophomore center (formerly LT) Jeremiah Hatch and sophomore tackle Jeff Spikes as the only O-linemen with any starts under their belts. While the unit has performed admirably so far, Southern Miss may prove a step up in competition from UTEP and Duke.

On defense, Kansas is more experienced up front, with 3 of 4 on the line being returning starters. Tackles Caleb Blakesley and Jamal Green, and end Jake Laptad were expected to anchor the line, but it is senior end Maxwell Onyegbule who’s been providing most of the hurt in ‘09 with 3 sacks, 4 ½ tackles for loss, and an interception. In ‘08, Kansas was 28^th in the nation in rushing yards allowed per game, but that appears to be skewed by the pass-happiness of the Big 12, as their per-rush allowance ranked 31 spots lower.  That gap has closed in ‘09, however, as Kansas currently ranks 8th in yards allowed per game and only 14th in yards allowed per carry.

Behind the line, Kansas replaced its entire linebacking corp for 2009, but junior Drew Dudley has emerged as a force with 3 sacks and a whopping 5 tackles for loss in the early stages of the season. Also, the Jayhawks are as experienced in the backfield as they are inexperienced in the middle, and per head coach Mark Mangino, the Jayhawks go with an extra safety instead of 3 backers 80% of the time anyway. Senior safety Darrell Stuckey has been dubbed the leader of the DBs by those in the know and is currently tied for 2^nd on the team in tackles, 1 behind Dudley and CB Justin Thorton. Of note to both Eagle fans and the USM running back stable is the fact that 4 out of KU’s 5 leading tacklers at the moment are DBs. I’m sure Damion Fletcher & Co. would be OK with it if the majority of their plays come to an end in the secondary on Saturday.

Virginia at Southern Miss

Thursday’s line: USM -15.5

First meeting: this one

At a particularly embarrassing 0-2, the Cavaliers limp into Hattiesburg as the final opponent in Southern Miss’ 3-game home stand to open the season after being doubled up by TCU last week and stunned by William and Mary the week before by nearly as bad a score. It’s been trying times in Charlottesville as the Cavs, much like USM last year, try to adjust to a wholly re-vamped spread offense with a lot of new personnel. Unfortunately for Virginia, their transition on that side of the ball has not gone as well as the Eagles’ did.

How bad is it for the Wahoos? Try 19 first downs in 2 games. USM had 23 vs. UCF last Saturday. Heck, Liberty High School in Virginia had 19 last Friday night. Things are so bad that 9th-year head coach Al Groh is grumbling about the negative effect home-crowd booing has on his team’s recruiting.

Surely, something must be going right, no? Well, Saturday’s presumptive starting QB Jameel Sewell, filling in for injured Vic Hall vs. TCU, finished hot, completing 4 of his last 5 passes, including 2 TDs. Granted, that was likely against the Horned Frogs’ defensive scrubs as the game was out of hand by that point, and Sewell had an otherwise mediocre day (8-for-18, 120 yards, 1 interception).

Elsewhere on offense, look for rushing and receiving by committee, as aside from Sewell, only one other back on the team–Mikell Simpson, last year’s 2nd-leading rusher–has double digits in carries, and only Simpson has more than 6 catches so far. Sewell has 138 yards rushing on the young season to lead the pack, and the team’s receiving yardage leader is sophomore WR Kris Burd with 54. Furthermore, last week’s 2 TD passes–the ‘Hoos only on the year, by the way–went to yet 2 more WRs, redshirt freshman Javaris Brown and true freshman Tim Smith. As you can tell from some of those stats, the big play threat has eluded U.Va. thus far.

On the other side of the ball, things aren’t going a whole lot better for the Cavaliers, as they currently sit at #91 in the nation in scoring defense and #71 in total defense. This is not aided by the grand total of 3 sacks Virginia has accumulated (2 vs. T.C.U., 1 vs. W. & M.). Those sacks belong to sophomore DE Matt Conrath, senior LB Denzell Burrell, and sophomore NT Nate Collins. Virginia’s lone interception of the season belongs to senior CB Chris Cook.

Even when it comes to USM’s glaring weakness so far, special teams, the Cavs don’t offer a whole lot of hope, as they have not even attempted a FG yet, and their longest kickoff return has been 28 yards (by Cook). Last week, pre-season All-ACC CB Ras-I Dowling did manage to pick up 34 yards on a punt return after a teammate caught the punt and handed it off, so keep an eye out for some trickeration in that phase.

Saturday’s game boils down to two teams headed in opposite directions: Southern Miss, winners of 7 straight, vs. Virginia, losers of 6 straight and for whom little has gone right in recent memory. Barring a complete collapse on the home side and a miraculous turnaround on the visitors’, the Golden Eagles should hit the road next weekend with 8 straight in their pocket.

Mitch Vingle of the Charleston (WV) Gazette ponders Big East football expansion, suggests Southern Miss:

http://wvgazette.com/Sports/200909150378

Now, does the contemplation of one sports columnist in Charleston, WV, really mean anything at the end of the day?  By itself, of course not.  But the important thing at this stage is just being in the conversation.  That someone who actually knows the Big East is mentioning us as a candidate in a public forum is good.   Hopefully, we’ll be seeing more and more of this as the inevitable Big East football expansion nears.

• The DeAndre Brown Welcome Back party went well. You could see a little rust, and he and Austin
  

  Photo credit: Tim Isbell, Sun Herald

  Davis missed on what would have been a TD last season and probably will be again in another week or two, but Brown had a good night (7 catches for 75 yards), wasn’t afraid to take or lay a hit (he knocked a UCF safety halfway back to Orlando while blocking for Damion Fletcher late in the game) , and on a couple of occasions reclaimed his role as the 3rd-down go-to guy.

• The offense did not have a great game. The yards were there, but too much of the ball movement was between the 20s. Too many drives stalled and the big play eluded the team most of the night. To get nearly 400 yards against what the preseason mags had dubbed a pretty top-notch defensive front is good, but as was the case last week, far too many opportunities were squandered.

• It’s hard to make a call on Saturday’s defense. UCF couldn’t get much done (held under 200 total yards), but nor did they vs. Samford. The Eagles D-line stuffed the running game, but the backfield performance was more hit-and-miss. A few times, there were flashbacks of recent defenses that allowed nothing on 1^st and 2^nd down, but allowed a conversion on 3^rd. To have zero interceptions was a disappointment. Still, the bottom line was good, and there was a TD scored off of a fumble, so there’s not much room to complain. One just has to wonder what’ll happen when this D faces a more formidable opponent.

• The special teams performance was downright embarrassing. FOUR mishandled punts?!? Even in the rain, that is unacceptable. As is the inability to hit a 26-yard field goal. There was also a bad snap on a PAT (followed by a hell of an effort to run it in by holder Kane Wommack), which is going to happen every now and then, but it looked more like part of a pattern than an aberration Saturday night. In the wake of UCF’s big return game vs. Samford, the Eagles’ kick coverage was fine up until after the presumptive game-icing touchdown, at which point it allowed an 89-yard return to the 5 which allowed the Knights to cut the lead to 7 with under 2 minutes left. Even a perfectly average performance on special teams would’ve made this game a blowout. If this isn’t fixed, it’s going to start costing USM some wins.

• All in all, Coach Fedora put it best on his twitter: “Great to get our 2nd win. Got to play better next week.”

• Saturday’s win was the 7^th straight for USM dating back to the middle of last season. That’s the team’s longest win streak since 1988.

• On a non-football note, during the drive up Hwy. 49, I saw what had to be the most redneck thing this side of the wedding at the Waffle House. Someone just south of Perkinston was holding a yard sale inside a school bus. I regret not stopping to get a photo.

Via the Hattiesburg American:

“We’re excited obviously,” Fedora said. “We’ve been practicing with that in mind, hoping it was going to happen.”