Umm.this game cannot come soon enough. We know, you have the better team historically. We are also well aware of our 3 win season(unlike you we saw the games).
I get the feeling you are not satisfied with the amount of praise we are heaping on USM and your all-world assistant ,turned head coach. As someone who has followed college football for a while I can inform you that you will never get the praise from other fans that you crave. Every team you play this year will think they are better than you. If they lose to USM opposing fans will not credit you, they will lament the mistakes they made.
This is how life is as a mid-major.
This difference is that USM is loaded with talent, while SMU is in shambles. We made the coaching change before we let our program get run into the ground. The talent is in place. We just needed a coaching staff that knows what to do with it in the modern era. Bower was a good coach. He was just stuck in the past. His offense just wasn't up to par any longer. Despite that, we won 7 games last year. SMU won 1. Big difference.
We've EARNED the right to be confident. ULL has not. You can pretend that the past doesn't matter, but intelligent people know otherwise. You're still having the same losing seasons as you always have. You're still getting trounced by every decent team you play. Until that changes, you can't toss the past aside and pretend that everything is rosy.
If you are on campus tomorrow and visit the Barnes and Noble bookstore, be sure to look up on the wall and see the reproduction of a Southern Miss vs. ULa-La program. It is one of many program reproductions you will find on the wall at the back of the building.
Interesting to note that the captains on the defensive side of the ball relish the "Nasty Bunch" moniker that USM defenses in the past earned. They feel that their goal this year is to earn back the name "Nasty Bunch"
WE actually hope for a return to the Nasty bunch. At times last year the looked more like the BRADY BUNCH!
It is not a given that your coaching change will be sucessful. Look at Nebraska (Solich), TexasA&M (Slocum), and LSU(Mac). These were sucessful(winning) coaches that could not win the "big one". They also ran conservative offenses their fans despised. Once the alums ran the coach off they brought in new schemes. The result were disasterous. I am not saying this will happen to USM, but history says it will.
Well whatever it is that you are called. ULa-La is what I refer to you as just as some of your fans have refferred to us as SMU.
LAFAYETTE — Any illusions about what the University of Louisiana faces today against Southern Mississippi can be dispelled by looking at the last few scores between the teams.
UL has been outscored 186-13 in the last four meetings against USM, which hosts the Cajuns at 6 p.m. today at M.M. Roberts Stadium.
The Cajuns season opener might be even more difficult, since Southern Miss has a new coach for the first time since 1991. That means UL might be somewhat initially unfamiliar with USM’s tendencies.
Former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Larry Fedora was named USM’s coach earlier this year, replacing Jeff Bower.
Not knowing what the Eagles might do offensively and defensively has made preparations more complex, UL coach Rickey Bustle said.
“It’s hard right now because we have no film on them. It’s easy for (USM) to get film on us and see what we do and I know they have done that,” Bustle said.
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By BOB ARDOIN
Special to The Advocate
Even with Hurricane Gustav threatening the Gulf Coast, UL's football team will take the field tonight for its season opener against Southern Miss.
The Ragin' Cajuns open the 2008 season at 6 tonight against the Golden Eagles at M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg, Miss.
"Everything is still set for 6 p.m., and we don't anticipate any changes," USM athletic director Richard Giannini told The Daily Advertiser on Friday. "We don't feel the need to change the game time after all the indications from talks we've had with weather and state officials."
Giannini insisted there has never been any consideration to reschedule the game - even after LSU moved up today's game against Appalachian State to 10 a.m. from 4 p.m.
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Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • August 30, 2008
HATTIESBURG — Legendary college football coach Lou Holtz was always known as a guy who liked to talk up his opponents in over-the-top fashion.
When he finished a press conference, you would think the next game, no matter the opponent, would almost be insurmountable for his team.
Holtz has some close company in Southern Miss linebacker Gerald McRath. By the time game day has arrived, he believes the opponent has taken on almost mythic proportions.
That's just a part of the way he mentally readies himself for what's going to happen on Saturdays.
"You can't expect bad from a team because they're not expecting bad from themselves," McRath said. "They're expecting nothing but the best. So you have to expect nothing but the best. Just preparing and watching what teams are capable of doing, you really have to humble yourself. When you're looking at things that way, humbling yourself and just expecting the best, you prepare and work even harder."
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Patrick Magee • Hattiesburg American • August 30, 2008
As Larry Fedora goes into his first game as the head coach at Southern Miss today against Louisiana-Lafayette, he's not concerned about the no-huddle spread offense or an inexperienced defense.
Fedora is more interested in the Golden Eagles' frame of mind as they open their season against the Ragin' Ca juns at 6 p.m. in renovated Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg.
"I really believe you play the game hard, you play aggressive, and it doesn't matter when you play or who you play, or what the weather is like," said Fedora. "You should play the game one way and I don't care if people say it's a big game or not.
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By KIM SHUGART
Sports Reporter
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