I don’t agree with the sunshine-pumping as a whole found in this article, but this is statement that pretty much sums up the new Big East.

“…while the real C-USA and MWC invent a league with a concept that never had been conceived, the Big East re-invents itself as the faux Conference USA.”

But who’s counting?

[via IWDRM]

Les Miles looks bad in this. Can his week get any worse?

They ranked us #10! NATIONAL MID-MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP!!!

10. Southern Miss (12-2) Previous rank: 8
The Golden Eagles beat Nevada, 24-17, in the Hawaii Bowl. A stunning upset victory for the conference championship, a bowl-game win, and a free trip to Honolulu—how many teams had a better year than that, really?

A year in review will come soon, but for now, we simply enjoy this: Mississippi’s only Top 25 team.

Kick off versus #24 Nebraska is in 235 days.

“Football Kick” by Harold Edgerton
[via booooooom]

Games 1-3

Games 4-6

Games 7-9

Games 10-12

Conference USA Championship Game vs. Houston

Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl vs. Nevada

Southern Miss’ Defense broke a 40 year-old FBS record in 2011 with 8 interceptions returned for touchdowns, meaning that of their 18 interceptions (tied for 5th in FBS) almost half became a Pick 6. However, these stats only speak to part of the craziness that was the 2011 season. (Why “crazy”? Because, really, who loses to UAB only to turn around and defeat #6 Houston two weeks later?)

Overall, 25 different Southern Miss players scored touchdowns in 2011. I’ve cataloged the Defensive and Special Teams touchdowns below. On a “Crazy Scale” (official NCAA scientific terminology?) of 1-5… 1 being “Kinda Crazy, Bro” and 5 being “Very Crazy, Bro”… I’ve rated the following Southern Miss Defense and Special Teams stats from their 14 games of 2011.

The most mind-blowing (are mid-majors allowed to use that term?) game of all has to be the East Carolina, who was at one point down 21-7 to USM without Southern Miss having scored a single Offensive touchdown.

Individual games stats and videos below.

Southern Miss vs SELA
Korey Williams 60-yard interception return for TD
Octavius Thomas 6-yard interception return for TD

Southern Miss vs Virginia
Danny Hrapmann fake Punt out of own end zone for 31-yard gain

Southern Miss vs Rice
Marquese Wheaton 96-yard fumble return for TD

Southern Miss at Navy
Marquese Wheaton 79-yard blocked field goal return for TD

Southern Miss vs SMU
Marquese Wheaton 41-yard interception return for TD

Southern Miss at East Carolina
Jamie Collins 97-yard interception return for TD
Tracy Lampley 60-yard punt return for TD
Emmanuel Johnson 15-yard blocked punt return for TD
Deron Wilson 79-yard interception return for TD

Southern Miss at UAB
Fake FG for TD – Ryan Hanks 10 yd pass from Peter Boehme

Southern Miss vs Memphis
Deron Wilson 35-yard interception return
Kendrick Presley 100-yard interception return for TD

Southern Miss at Houston [C-USA Championship Game]
Furious Bradley 11-yard blocked punt return
Ronnie Thornton 26-yard interception return

Southern Miss vs Nevada [Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl]
Tray Becton-Martin 0-yard blocked punt for TD
Danny Hrapmann fake Punt out of own end zone for 29-yard gain

Some clips below.

The homepage at USM.edu.

Entering as a freshman in 1999, I barely missed being on campus with West Virginia’s current head coach Dana Holgorsen. I parked next to the stadium every day while I was an employee from 2003-2005, and would give a pretty penny to spot Dana pulling weeds next to my Pontiac Grand Am.

Holgorsen had worked at Valdosta State for three years when Mississippi College called Mumme in 1996 and wanted to hire someone from his staff to help implement his Air Raid offense. Mumme recommended Holgorsen and told him to take the job, which was to coach quarterbacks, wide receivers and special teams.

When Mumme became coach at Kentucky a year later, he again took Leach with him and wanted to hire Holgorsen but never did. When Leach left the Wildcats in 1999 to become offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, he too wanted Holgorsen to go with him but couldn’t work it out.

While Mumme and Leach had hit the big time of college football, Holgorsen continued to toil in obscurity at Mississippi College and then at Wingate University, where he coached quarterbacks and wide receivers in 1999, another job for which Mumme had recommended him. At times, he wondered about his future, especially when he and the other football coaches at Mississippi College had to plant shrubs and flowers around campus during the summers.

“That was bulls**t,” Holgorsen says. “I was pissed.”

[story via FSN]
[image via GIFUMILIATION]

I will cheer for this buy, even if he plays for Alabama.

A little bit of homerism in this post, but some revealing numbers on just what a good and a bad season can do to key college football demographics.

Ole Miss has fallen to the third most popular sports team in the state. Mississippi State topped the list with 36 percent favoring MSU, 27 percent for Southern Miss, and just 21 percent selecting Ole Miss. Going 2-10 with three straight Egg Bowl loses will do that for you. But here is an interesting note from the crosstabs: Among those 18-29, Southern Miss is the top choice favored by 41 percent of voters in that age group.

It’s no speech from Hoosiers, but it would excite me nonetheless.

[Note: Lots of Memphis highlights because Southern Miss played Memphis the week before. Plus, we all know how easy it is to get highlights against Memphis.]