5 things every Kentucky fan must know about Southern Miss
As the time until Week 1’s matchup with Southern Miss has faded away, Kentucky fans are in need of some education. But if you’ve skipped back to school, never fear. I checked in with beat writer Jason Munz, who covers the Golden Eagles for the Hattiesburg American. He got me up to speed — and I’ll share what I learned.
The Golden Eagles are from Conference USA, where they won the West division last season on their way to a 9-5 season. Their head coach, Todd Monken, took off for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he’ll be the offensive coordinator. The new coach is Jay Hopson from Alcorn State. The defensive coordinator, Tony Pecoraro, was Hopson’s defensive coordinator at Alcorn.
The offensive coordinator is Shannon Dawson, who didn’t endure himself to UK fans last season as the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator. Beyond that, my new friend Jason filled in the blanks for me — and thus, now for you.
1. Southern Miss has a talented, veteran offense
QB Nick Mullens is a senior who threw for 4,476 yards and 38 touchdowns last year. Running back Ito Smith is a junior with over 1,600 career rushing yards. Southern Miss lost its top two receivers but returns two guys with more 500 yards receiving each last year: D.J. Thompson and the aforementioned Smith. They averaged also 40 points and over 500 yards per game last year.
Munz tells me Southern Miss is prepared for a shooutout.
“I think whoever wins will need to score at least 30,” he said of Saturday’s game. “But I think Southern Miss’ veteran offense will outlast Kentucky’s depth-strapped front seven.” That seems to be the Eagles’ game plan.
2. The defense will be aggressive
Southern Miss allowed 25.6 points and 380 yards per game last year. But it is a new system under coordinator Pecoraro.
“New defensive scheme is an active, multiple, aggressive style of play,” Munz said. He elaborated that the new system is said to be “reminiscent of the style USM made a name for itself with in the late 90s and 2000s.” Top 2015 tackler, safety D’Nerius Antoine, is back, and will look to improve on his 103 stops, six tackles for loss, and seven passes broken up.
3. Southern Miss’ defense shares a weakness with Kentucky
The Golden Eagles have a potential Achilles’ heel on defense. “The defensive front is slightly undersized” Munz explained.
Indeed, projected starters along the defensive line are in the 250- to 260-pound range, aside from defensive tackle Rod Crayton who weighs 287. So while Kentucky has issues with defensive line depth, the Golden Eagles have an issue with defensive line size. The projected shootout could end up centering on which side can slow the other’s ground game.
4. The Eagles have some uncertainty on special teams
Another place where Kentucky could exploit Southern Miss is in the kicking game. Munz described the Eagles’ place-kicking as “a bit on the erratic side,” and advised that the punting game is “transitioning from rugby-style punting to traditional.”
The Eagles juggled two kickers last season, but neither made a kick from outside of 39 yards, and they missed four from inside that range. Senior punter Tyler Sarrazin averaged 39.8 yards per punt, but will see a shift, as Munz explained. Kentucky could make up for some mistakes in other areas of the game on special teams.
5. Shannon Dawson is trying to downplay his former issues with UK
As for Dawson, who seems like a Shakespeare character in this week’s drama, Munz assures that he’s just trying to keep the focus on the field.
“He’s planning to take a business-like approach to the whole thing,” he said. The business-like approach was somewhat endangered when Dawson made recent comments on how he is a good coach … when he has a good quarterback, perhaps placing some belated blame for last year’s UK struggles on signal callers Patrick Towles and Drew Barker.
Munz thought that Dawson wasn’t trying to be chippy, but in this situation, it won’t take much — if anything at all beyond Dawson’s presence — to fire up the Wildcats.
Thanks again to Jason Munz (who you can follow on Twitter @munzly to keep an eye on Southern Miss this week — and throughout the season).