The Good

  • 25: The number of catches by Amari Cooper. New offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin has definitely gotten at least one thing right: he’s getting the ball into the hands of his team’s best player, and he’s doing it in interesting ways. Cooper, who has speed and elusiveness, has seen plenty of chances from wide receiver screen passes and has made the most of them. On his first touchdown of the season, he took one of them 52 yards and streaked through Florida Atlantic’s defense. Getting your best player the ball in space – never a bad idea.
  • 6.53: Southern Miss allows 6.53 yards per carry. Alabama’s running game has been strong through two weeks, and it should be able to feast against the Golden Eagles. T.J. Yeldon and Derrick Henry are both picking up at least 5.6 yards per carry, and they can expect that average to go up against USM.
  • 11.5: Points per game allowed by Alabama. Southern Miss scored 26 points in their win over Alcorn State, but they were shut out playing against the Tide’s SEC brethren Mississippi State. The Tide pitched a shutout against another C-USA team, Florida Atlantic, last week, and could be looking at a chance to extend their scoreless streak. Alabama held opponents scoreless for seven straight quarters twice last season; they’ll have a chance to surpass that on Saturday.

The Bad

  • 0: Catches by O.J. Howard. It seemed reasonable to expect the tight end to be a major part of the offense this year, but through two games that hasn’t been the case. Howard might see himself out in the cold yet again against Southern Miss, as the Golden Eagles have been fairly stingy against tight ends so far this season. They’ve give up only four catches by tight ends for 49 yards.
  • 2.4: Yards per punt return allowed by USM. The Golden Eagles are money in this phase of the game, doing a great job of not allowing their opponents to flip field position on them. Their net punting average of 37.1 yards isn’t spectacular, but it’s far better than the 24 yard average that Alabama opponents have through two games. If USM can keep up the solid punt coverage, they could make life difficult for the Tide.
  • 42.9: Opponent’s red zone touchdown percentage vs. USM. Something is going to have to give here, and the Golden Eagles are probably in trouble. The Crimson Tide have scored touchdowns on nine of their 12 red zone possessions, while Southern Miss has only allowed their opponents to get into the red zone seven times. My money would be on Alabama coming ahead in this battle.