Opponent Preview: Southern Miss
After losing 35-10 against JMU in Week 5, the Georgia Southern Eagles had a much needed Bye Week. That loss put the Eagles at 2-3 overall and 0-1 in Sun Belt Conference play. In their second conference game of the season, the Eagles will host the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles in a nationally televised matchup on Thursday, October 9th at 8:00 PM. The Golden Eagles enter the matchup with a 3-2 overall record and are 1-0 in conference play with a 38-22 win over Appalachian State in Week 3. Both teams have beaten Jacksonville State this season with Georgia Southern winning 41-34 and Southern Miss winning 42-25 over the Gamecocks.
In the offseason, Southern Miss hired Charles Huff away from the Marshall Thundering Herd and he recruited very well in the offseason. QB Braylon Braxton followed Huff from Marshall to Southern Miss and has put up 1,236 yards and 11 touchdowns while throwing 3 interceptions through five games this season. In addition to his passing, he has added 169 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground as well. The Golden Eagles’ leading rusher is RB Jeffery Pittman who transferred from Mississippi State in the offseason. He has 206 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns in just four games this season. Southern Miss has six players with more than 100 receiving yards this season, so they spread the ball around A LOT and utilize Braylon Braxton’s mobility to extend plays and create opportunities for guys downfield. The leading receiver is another player that followed Huff from Marshall, WR Carl Chester who has 224 receiving yards and a touchdown this season.
The Golden Eagles are averaging 388.8 yards and 31 points per game through the first five games of the season. The vast majority of their yardage is gained through the air but they have several players capable of handing the ground game as well. Putting pressure on Braylon Braxton is going to be extremely important for the Eagles defense who has not done a great job of that so far this season. Hopefully the Bye Week allowed some guys to get healthy and mentally prepared for a battle on Thursday night.
Defensively, Southern Miss is giving up 397.4 yards and 26.2 points per game this season. They have given up 835 rushing yards and 1,152 passing yards through five games which is a good sign for a relatively balanced Georgia Southern offense that is capable of putting up yards either way. So far, the Golden Eagles defense has been led by LB Chris Jones who has 53 tackles including 2.5 TFL and 0.5 sacks this season. The defensive unit also has four players with two or more sacks in DL J’Mond Tapp (3), DL Jameer Lewis (3), DL JJ Hawkins (2), and LB Garrick Ponder (2). This unit plays aggressively and gets after the quarterback every chance they get so the Eagles offensive line and QB JC French IV will have to be ready for an all-night battle against Southern.
Unfortunately, Coach Helton announced on Monday that WR Josh Dallas would miss Thursday night’s game, but WR Camden Brown should have some opportunities downfield and in the redzone as the Southern Miss secondary has not been great this season, but getting time for JC French IV to find him is going to be the big thing in this matchup. As of now, the weather should not play a factor in this game, but it should be a little chillier than we are used to. Look for OC Ryan Aplin to try and establish some ground game early on to set up some play action shots in opportune moments later in the game.
Southern Miss has used two different punters this season: P Jack Murley and P/K Reed Harradine. Combined, they have averaged 39.82 yards per punt with six punts ending up inside the 20-yard line out of 22 punts. K Reed Harradine has struggled on field goal attempts this season as he has missed 3 of his 8 attempts. He is 4-5 from 30-39 yards, 1-2 from 40-49 yards, and 0-1 from 50+ yards. In the return game, WR Elijah Metcalf is the main punt returner and has returned 7 punts for 60 total return yards this season. Southern Miss has returned just 4 kickoffs this season for 110 total yards. With the recent struggles in kick and punt coverage for the Eagles, look for the kickoff man and punter to kick away from the Golden Eagles deep man.
Overall, this is a pretty solid matchup between two decent teams who just have not put completely together so far this season. For Georgia Southern, it is essentially a must-win game to avoid an 0-2 start in Sun Belt Conference play. In a nationally televised night game at Paulson Stadium, expect the students to be out in full force and play a role in this game. the Power of Paulson is real and the Eagles will need all the juice they can get from the fans!
Players to Watch for Southern Miss
QB Braylon Braxton
1,236 Passing Yards, 11 Touchdowns, 3 Interceptions
169 Rushing Yards, 1 Touchdown
WR Carl Chester
14 Catches, 224 Yards, 1 Touchdown
LB Chris Jones
53 Tackles, 2.5 TFL, 0.5 Sacks
DL J’Mond Tapp
26 Tackles, 5.0 TFL, 3.0 Sacks
DL Jameer Lewis
14 Tackles, 4.0 TFL, 3.0 Sacks
This article is brought to you Section 103 who just launched a line of Georgia Southern apparel! Be sure to use Promo Code SSNGS to save 10%!
