UCF at Southern Miss

Thursday’s line: USM -14.5

First meeting: 2005 in Hattiesburg

Last meeting: 2008 in Orlando (USM won 17-6)

USM leads the series 3-1

CUSA play starts early for the Golden Eagles as the Knights come to town in Game 2. UCF, which has at times seemed poised for greatness after winning CUSA’s Eastern Division and posting the best record in the conference twice since joining the league in 2005 and claiming a championship in 2007, limped to a 4-8 (3-5) record in 2008, continuing O’Leary’s alternating winning season/losing season streak in Orlando. The Eagles are comfortably favored at The Rock on the heels of their smackdown of Alcorn and the Knights’ struggles against FCS Samford.

Particularly disappointing vs. Samford was UCF’s offense, which only compiled 282 total yards. UCF returned 10 starters from last year, but they only continued the Knights’ struggles from 2008, when they ranked dead last in the nation in total offense as they struggled to settle on a starting QB. That particular issue also continued, as sophomore QB Rob Calabrese started vs. Samford after starting the final 4 games of 2008 only to be replaced in the game by redshirt senior and Wake Forest transfer Brett Hodges, who tossed what turned out to be the game-winning TD to Jamar Newsome with 11 minutes left. Hodges completed 10-of-17 for 129 yards off the bench compared to Calabrese’s 3-for-7 for 28, though Hodges also threw an interception that Samford ran 67 yards the other way for a score. O’Leary is expected to use the same plan on Saturday vs. USM, with Calabrese getting the start but both expected to play. Aside from Hodges’ late heroics, another (the other?) bright spot for UCF’s offense was Brynn Harvey’s 111 yards rushing on 33 carries.

The Knights’ pass defense didn’t fare a whole lot better than the offense, allowing Samford, led by 2008 Southern Conference Freshman of the Year QB Dustin Taliaferro, 208 yards through the air on 60% completions. Taliaferro himself threw for 141 of those yards, nearing his 2008 season average of 158.6, not good considering Samford only played one game vs. an FBS foe in ‘08. Taliaferro was also only sacked once. UCF fared better against the run, only allowing 78 yards on the ground. Leading the defensive effort for the Knights was DB Darin Baldwin, who claimed 7 tackles and 3 pass break-ups, and DE Jarvis Geathers, who recorded the lone sack. Should DeAndre Brown play for Southern Miss on Saturday, expect Baldwin to be the primary back charged with containing him.

Baldwin also played a big role in UCF’s high point of the day: kick returns. The Knights piled up 289 return yards on Samford, 190 on kickoffs and 99 on punts, for their best performance in that category since joining Divison I-A/the FBS. Baldwin returned a kickoff 72 yards to the Samford 11 late in the 3^rd quarter, but UCF squandered the opportunity by stalling and eventually getting a Jamie Boyle FG blocked. Leading the return game for the Knights was WR Rocky Ross, who compiled 91 yards on 6 returns, including a long of 39.

All in all, UCF was much less impressive in their opening game than Southern Miss, even after accounting for the different levels of competition. Given the fact that the Knights’ woes are the same ones they had last year, the safe assumption is that the Samford performance wasn’t just a one-game hiccup. It’s said that teams make their most improvement from Week 1 to Week 2 of a football season, and UCF better hope that’s true in their case and not so much in USM’s. While those kick returns should be of particular concern for the Golden Eagles, nothing much else should scare USM fans as long as the team shows up ready to play.

http://twitter.com/CoachFedora

The NCAA had been weighing whether or not to allow the Alabama DB transfer to play right away since the Crimson Tide had released him from his scholarship.

Once again, not being Notre Dame or Southern Cal comes back to bite us in the butt.

• Legit record crowd of 36,232 on hand yesterday. Even the drive up was encouraging for attendance, as there were quite a few Eagle fans headed up Highways 67 & 49 in the early afternoon. When I really knew something was up, though, was when I headed to the stadium and hour before kickoff thinking I was “beating the rush.” Think again:

This is the line at Gate 2 an hour before kickoff. An hour before kickoff. What you can’t even see in this pic is how far the line bends back around the corner of the ramp. Yes, Alcorn brought a nice crowd, probably nicer than we can expect from any visiting team the rest of the way, but to that same end, the combination of Labor Day weekend and a glorified scrimmage kept some of our own students and alumni away. Whether or not Larry Fedora’s prediction of a new record being set next week comes true or not will have to be seen, but it’s certainly possible.

• Stats and competition level aside, the offense looked particularly sharp for its first outing. Austin Davis’ accuracy was particularly impressive, as was the stable of running backs. Fletch was his usual self, racking up 126 rushing yards by early in the 3rd quarter en route to becoming USM’s all-time all-purpose yardage leader. V.J. Floyd displayed a nice power-running game, and Tracey Lampley was quite Fletcher-like in his ability to shoot through a hole and juke tackles in more open field.

• The secondary is much improved. While Alcorn did gain over 100 yards through the air, the Braves receivers made a few great plays, and some catches came after what looked to be a sure sack. Getting the QB down when the chance is there is something that will have to be addressed in practice the next few weeks.

• As expected, the growth of the defense overall since last season was quite apparent. While last year’s rookie-loaded D ran vanilla–practically middle-schoolish–schemes, there was a lot of shifting and re-aligning going on last night throughout the game, and one can safely assume we weren’t letting it all hang out against Alcorn. Having the basics under the players’ collective belt now and being able to mix things up and be more complex this season is going to be a huge help in slowing down opposing offenses.

• Kudos to both schools on the pre-game Steve McNair tribute. I was concerned USM officials would forget that he actually played elsewhere and go overboard with it, but it was very nicely done. Not too much, and not too little.

• Even though it may have been because Alcorn left us little choice, it was nice to see the black jerseys/white pants combo I’d been championing on the message board for a while now.

• For those of you fortunate enough to miss it, during the pregame coin toss, referee Steve LaMantia of Laredo, Texas, like the 2007 PapaJohns.com Bowl official before him, referred to the Golden Eagles as “Mississippi State” and got himself vociferously booed for it. Unlike the bowl official, though, LaMantia did it twice: once to being with, and then again when trying to correct himself. I hope the coaches scratched him from covering a game in Hattiesburg again based upon that alone. The next time a ref goofs up the name, I won’t be upset if one of our players “accidentally” “bumps” into him as a reminder on the next play. Yeah, that’s an ugly thing to say, but as the saying goes, I’ll try to be nicer if you try to be smarter.

Well, here it is, the first–err, second–entry of the 2009 football season. While I considered getting an earlier jump on the festivities, various things (including a new computer purchase and other things I’ll mention later) got in the way, and let’s be honest: is the glorified scrimmage that will be Alcorn really worth a full “Know Thy Enemy” write-up?

For what it’s worth, FTF plans to take a new tact from here on out, adding more frequent, smaller updates and entries rather than saving up for sporadic, more long-winded entries—essentially taking a more traditional “blog” approach. (Having a computer that runs a little faster than molasses going uphill in wintertime will make executing this plan noticeably easier.)

An oldie but a goodie

Anyway, since there’s really not a whole lot to say about the game until after we see the 2009 Eagles in action, I’m going to take this time to espouse some of my own “undeniable truths” as they apply to Southern Miss football.

To borrow some old-school USM lingo, I believe:

…playing college football on any non-holiday Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday is just plain dumb no matter how you stack it. While the World Wide Leader ostensibly sells schools on “exposure,” they fail to take into account that high school recruits are–by definition–otherwise occupied on Friday nights and no one outside of the fan base you already have is going to tune in when the Cowboys and Steelers are playing on another channel. While the UABs of the world will never be able to turn down the cash, I fully expect to see more schools with potentially workable followings to take on USM’s current philosophy that you’re better off maximizing butts in the seats than giving some random guy in a bar 800 miles away who’ll never buy a ticket or join your booster club an opportunity to see you play.  On a related note,

…sellouts cause season ticket sales, they do not result from them. And speaking of tickets,

…the Southern Miss ticket office is an embarrassment. Rare is the fan who’s been around for any length of time who doesn’t have a unflattering story to tell. In my own case, I’m still waiting for a callback on upgrading my season tickets (no biggie, guys; I was just going to double what I have been paying, and we all know the athletic department is swimming in money anyway, right?) that I was told would come in early July. And that’s just my latest bad experience. Speaking of which, I also believe…

…yes, on average, Golden Eagle fans are, in fact, a mightily complaining bunch. However, the solution to that lies not in the fans being more forgiving, but in the department giving them fewer things about which to complain.

…paraphrasing EaglePost’s RockTheRock, when you win 12 games, you can get people in the stands to wave whatever you want them to wave.

…if you want major college football, but you want also want a placid fan base, cheap parking right next to the stadium, a roster full of guys who never get in trouble, and your children to be able to play tag on the playing surface…well, you just need to make up your mind.

…an organization having a “family” mentality has its strong points, but it also opens the door for a family’s less-desirable traits, such as bickering, rivalry, and gossip. Somewhat related,

…it’s improving, but Southern Miss still has a problem with supporters who care more about what the athletic programs can do for their egos than what they can do to improve the programs over the long haul.

…if that last one offended you, you’re probably one of those people.

… ”a penchant for finding diamonds in the rough” is a nice way of saying, “recruiting kinda sucks, but we get lucky every now and then.”

And last but not least, I honestly believe

…this team is going to have the best season the school has seen in an awfully long time, but it’s probably a year away from a BCS bowl run. We’re still a few big ol’ offensive lineman away (in terms of depth, not the quality of our starters) from running with the big dogs with any consistency.

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Also, a brief sad note as it somewhat relates to this blog. The two of you out there who have actually taken the time to read my bio have seen the crack in there about how “the cat run[s] the house.” I’m sad to say that said cat is no longer with us. After battling a neurological problem that slowly took away her mobility over the past year-plus and that we chose not to have diagnosed in detail due to the invasiveness of the applicable testing vs. the minuscule chance of anything being able to be done about it, she was gracefully put to rest this past Thursday after providing the wife and me (as well as many other relatives and friends) a half-decade of wonderful companionship as well as entertainment. Godspeed, little Cali, godspeed.

Just as I was putting the finishing touches on what was to be the first football entry for 2009, the local high school football wrap-up show on WLOX-TV showed and mentioned DeAndre Brown on the sidelines of Ocean Spring’s High’s game tonight.  Brown told WLOX’s Jeff Shepard that he won’t play vs. Alcorn (thus his being in O.S. instead of in Hattiesburg tonight) but will be back next week vs. UCF.

Brown had recently been cleared by his doctor to participate in full-contact practice.

ESPN.com is now openly discussing peeling off the richest/most prestigious/most-ratings-bringing-in college football programs into their own league. Here‘s the intro. A later column describes it as “a great idea that will be a major story focus for us over the next several days.”

Granted, I really do believe something similar to this will happen eventually, but to see the World Wide Leader hawking it so unabashedly is tacky even by their standards.

Oh, yeah.  Keep in mind Pat Forde is the “other” smart aleck over at ESPN who once asked, “Who, precisely, does Southern Miss think it is?”

photo by George Clark, special to the Clarion Ledger

With the big win over Florida, the baseball Golden Eagles are one win away from the College World Series.  I don’t really want to say a whole lot about that pending the eventual outcome, but there was something else at the game apart from the result that has some pretty big implications for Southern Miss’ athletic program.

As mentioned more than once by the ESPNU commentators and reported by the AP, there was a substantial Golden Eagle contingent at Florida’s McKethan Stadium.  Of an official attendance of 3,571, roughly 1,000 were in black and gold.  Some fan reports actually had Eagle supporters outnumbering Gator supporters.   Yes, the weather probably influenced the home crowd, but even so, selling out one’s visitor’s allotment in a matter of hours and having a crowd of 1,000 on the road is no small feat for a baseball program.  Also, this comes on the heels of Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall actually calling out his own fans after USM’s fans showed them up so badly at the Atlanta Regional:

embedded by Embedded Video

About 15 years ago (has it really been that long?), a buddy of mine, after witnessing a spirited crowd at a women’s basketball showdown at Reed Green Coliseum with Auburn and later the boisterous mass of humanity in Death Valley West, observed that for as maligned as Southern Miss fans are, you can certainly count on ‘em if you give them something to truly get excited about–essentially, if you provide them a major-college event, they’ll provide you major-college support.  Saturday bears that out.  The problem comes in when you’re finishing in 4th place in a rather awful football conference while boring people half to death or confusing basketball with keep-away.  Folks who are constantly bombarded with the mystique/drama/hype of Southern schools playing at the highest level and competing for championships on a regular basis simply aren’t interested in that stuff.  For as much as people like to use the word “fickle,” the simple fact of the matter is, you can’t make people care if they don’t.  No one’s obligated to attend a sporting event.  And it certainly doesn’t help if you habitually embarrass yourself every time you do get them to show up.  However, give them something to hang their proverbial hats on, pique their interest, and you’ll get as fanatic support here as you will most anywhere.

One can only hope that what we saw both in the stands and on the field Saturday is merely a glimpse of even bigger and better things to come.

For the second year in a row, the Golden Eagle coaching staff reeled in a top-notch group of athletes that Rivals.com tabbed the best in the conference (Scout.com was not as enthused, though I’m not sure

"With each letter, it becomes visibly better...."

how a high school All-American only gets 3 stars and probably even more puzzling, an All-Region guy from one of the toughest JuCo circuts in the county only manages 2 (?!?) stars in their particular system–for the record, Scout has no dedicated Southern Miss affiliate site, whereas Rivals does).

While there is some disappointment at the lack of a DeAndre Brown-like prodigy and USM’s failure to bring in any of the three big names still being courted Wednesday morning, this class is deeper, better off academically, and arguably better on average than last year’s class that got so many people talking, and still blows any class from recent memory out of the water.  That we’ve already reached the point where not getting a consensus 5-star or a possible Pat White-in-waiting from Maryland is a letdown is a testament to just how far things have progressed in Larry Fedora’s brief tenure.  While people “ooh” and “ahh” the most over individual standouts, the most telling fact is how today’s “average” signees are at the same level as the highlights of our past recruiting classes.  Using the Rivals numbers, from 2003-2007, Southern Miss signed a total of one 4-star recruit and an average of six 3-stars per year (never fewer than 3 and never more than 8).  When all the dust settled yesterday, we had signed three 4-stars and 15 3-stars.  That’s a phenomenal leap in talent and depth thereof.

In other signing day news, I attended the Southern Miss party at the Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi.  Since my group sat in the very front and most of the tables were on a stage behind us, I can’t give an accurate attendance estimate.  I will say, however, that the highlight of the evening had to be Reggie Collier interrupting Dick Vogel during his supposedly inspirational speech about how much better things are at Ole Miss in order to salvage the situation.  I guess some things change around here, and some don’t.

In light of continued rumblings that Southern Miss has heretofore refused to schedule a home-and-home football series with New Orleans Bowl opponent Troy University, some Trojan fans decided to have a little fun with a t-shirt design, initially available at CafePress.com:

Great concept….Horrible execution. Here’s a closer look:

Sadly, I’m told were it not for the Trojans’ stubborn insistence that every game be scheduled for a Troy o’clock kickoff, the two schools may have been able to work something out.

• 70 points. Just wow.
• Attendance was better than expected. It wasn’t great, and obviously, there’s a Homecoming boost, but considering the record, I expected a much bigger dropoff since Boise. I really think a) the majority of fans realize this is a building process and b) win or lose, a lot of folks still want to see what Fletcher, Davis, and Brown are going to do next.
• Speaking of Fletcher, another round of congratulations to him for becoming the first 4,000-yard rusher in USM history as well as the first to go three straight years over 1,000.
• Congrats also to Davis, who broke a school record for rushing TDs in one game (previously held by Chris Windsor, Shelton Gandy, and Doyle Orange) as well as Brett Favre’s school record for TD passes in a season by a freshman. The folks who do the media guide are going to be busy this off-season.
• The defense did a great job, but I wouldn’t read too much into it just yet. Their 5 turnovers–UAB coughed up 6, but one was on a kick return–were great (the interception by Andre Watson was phenomenal), but you’re simply not going to get that every week. Whether or not we can stop a team that protects the ball a little better remains to be seen.
• I was seriously digging the gold-on-gold, even though the blogosphere’s most famous USM alum Dr. Saturday (The Artist Formerly Known as the Sunday Morning Quarterback) disagreed. (C’mon Matt. Don’t hate on your own school like that!) Oddly enough, Wyoming also wore gold-on-gold for the first time ever on Saturday, and California broke out the same color scheme. All three schools won. If those three, West Virginia, and Minnesota are ever all at home on the same day, we should coordinate just to try to crash the UniWatch website.