Southern Miss Could Be A BCS Buster In 2009

Correspondent Written on September 04, 2009

NEW ORLEANS - DECEMBER 21: Quarterback Austin Davis #12 of the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles looks to throw a pass against the Troy Trojans during the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl on December 21, 2008 at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Davis was named MVP after defeating the Trojans 30-27 in overtime. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

(Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Everyone is looking at their BCS Busters this season. The usual suspects are there Boise State, Utah, BYU, and TCU.

There is no question that the four teams above should be in the conversation for the BCS. I would like to throw a team’s hat in to the ring.

I am talking about the University of Southern Mississippi down in Hattiesburg and a member of C-USA. Sure a lot of people think the Pirates of East Carolina will be the class of C-USA and Skip Holtz has done a great job.

Still I will give you the reasons to believe in Southern Miss.

Year two under head coach Larry Fedora

Everywhere Fedora has gone as an offensive coordinator the offense has been one of the best in conference and in the country. No matter if he was at Middle Tennessee, Florida, or Oklahoma State.

In 2008 Fedora replaced Jeff Bower as head coach of Southern Miss. The offense made the switch the spread offense last season.

All Southern Miss offensive did was average 434.5 yards a game and scored 30.7 points a game. Now its year two under Fedora’s potent offense and the Eagles could be even better.

Sixteen Returning Starters

The Golden Eagles return 8 starters on offensive and eight starters on defense. If a team is going make a run at a BCS slot you have to have plenty of starters back on both sides of the ball.

That is eight starters from an offense that ranked 18th in the nation last season. USM also returns nine starters from a defense that ranked 30th in the nation last season.

While the stats from last season might not scary anyone just looking at them, but remember if Fedora can coach them up they could be better this season. Anyone who does not know USM well I can tell you this they always have a tough defense.

Southern Miss has several players in the NFL from the defensive side of the ball. Even if the offense struggles at times the defense will keep the Eagles in every game.

The Three Amigos: Davis, Fletcher, and Brown

Southern Miss returns what quite possibly could be the best three offensive players in C-USA. Those players are Austin Davis at quarterback, Damion Fletcher at running back and DeAndre Brown at wide receiver.

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written on September 04, 2009 Opinion