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.

What Southern Miss president Martha Saunders referred to as the worst-kept secret in the state became official Thursday when Mississippi State and Southern Miss announced a two-game, two-year, home-and-home football series with games in Starkville in 2014 and Hattiesburg in 2015.

It’s almost anticlimactic to have to wait another 5 years for this after all the rumors and discussion lately, but that was as soon as the two teams’ schedules allowed according to  the schools’ respective athletic directors.

Details here.

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.

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.

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.

——————

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.

…and all I got was this lousy t-shirt:

Photo by George Clark, Clarion Ledger

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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:

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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.