In the latest game of conference musical chairs, one of the winners has been Southern Miss. Its triumph was desperately needed and long overdue.
In the 1960’s, the Odyssey greatly admired the Southern Miss program. How did this obscure program in an equally obscure part of Mississippi — Hattiesburg — be able to rise and occasionally bedevil SEC schools? The Southerners (not the Golden Eagles in those days) scored consecutive wins in 1967-68 over Mississippi State. The 1970 team won at Ole Miss that featured an obscure quarterback named Archie. In 1968, Southern Miss took on Alabama in the last game the #7-ranked Crimson Tide has ever played in Mobile. The Tide escaped in a 17-14 nailbiter. The Southerners’ near upset against the Tide was not a singular occurrence as Southern Miss has beaten Alabama 5 times in their 43 meetings despite never having the advantage playing the Crimson Tide in the state of Mississippi . Their occasional success against the big boys seemed hard to fathom given the lack of financial resources and affiliation with a strong conference.
However, Southern Miss had one element working in their favor – geography. Alabama, Ole Miss and Mississippi State all are located in the northern parts of their states. Auburn is close to the Georgia border, 220 miles from Mobile. Thus, the Golden Eagles were the only proximate team to the football-rich Gulf Coast. A passionate fan base helped fuel decades of solid football.
Then, the 21st century happened. A glut of TV games were on each weekend as TV viewers became a much more important component to team success than in the 2oth century. The Golden Eagles’ last victory over Alabama was in 2000 and have since become cupcake material on their visits to Tuscaloosa. The Odyssey attended a field-storming in 2003 when Southern Miss’ 40-28 over a 10-0 TCU team propelled Southern Miss to their 4th Conference USA title under Jeff Bower. After Jeff Bowers was inexplicably fired in 2007 after a successful 17-year run, highlights have been hard to find. Their last Conference USA title occurred in 2011 after Southern upset an undefeated Houston team in the title game. When Larry Fedora left to coach North Carolina at season’s end, the Golden Eagles cratered to unprecedented depths in 2012-13, sporting an unspeakable 1-23 record.
Their Conference USA affiliation had been a strength until a decade ago when the American Athletic Conference pilfered numerous members. Southern Miss’ tradition of excellence and a solid fan base could not overcome their location. Hattiesburg is a small town located in a Bermuda Triangle for TV – roughly 95 miles equidistant from New Orleans, Mobile and Jackson. TV had become the prime driver in conference affiliation. The eyeballs in a very rural part of a rural state were deemed insufficient. Conference USA had suddenly morphed into a weak sister with the Golden Eagles relegated to conference purgatory.
Notwithstanding an awful team this year, the record in recent years had rebounded to “middling”, albeit against poor competition. If an SEC team were to play Southern today, none of the former respect would still exist. Another blow to Southern Miss football has been the recent ascendancy of South Alabama to FBS status. Not only had their geographic monopoly disappeared, Mobile is a very attractive town to lure recruits.
The Odyssey sees last week’s invite to the Sun Belt as a win for a once-proud program in desperate need of a life raft. Regional rivalries with South Alabama, Troy and the 2 Louisiana schools will spur interest. The Sun Belt has really improved in the past 2 years. Finally, the Golden Eagles seem to have fared well in conference musical chairs. An excellent development for a once-proud program!