Familiarity abounds as Will Hall leads Southern Miss football on the road against Tulane, where he spent the 2019 and 2020 seasons as offensive coordinator.
Here’s what to know before the Golden Eagles (1-2) kick off against the Green Wave (3-0) on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN+).
Southern Miss looking to get back on the right side of rivalry
The Golden Eagles and Green Wave will contest the Battle for the Bell again in 2022 following a one-year break in the rivalry.
Southern Miss holds a 23-9 advantage in the all-time series, but — thanks in no small part to Hall — the rivalry has trended in Tulane’s favor recently.
The Green Wave topped USM during the 2019 and 2020 seasons with Hall calling plays, first besting the Golden Eagles 30-13 in 2019 before a 66-24 obliteration a year later.
Those victories mark just the second time Tulane has won consecutive games against the Golden Eagles. The Green Wave has never won three in a row.
WILCKE:Zach Wilcke wins Southern Miss football quarterback competition again, gets Tulane start
MIRROR IMAGE:Southern Miss football’s Tulane challenge: Upset an older, more experienced brother
BARNES:How Kyron Barnes became a rare freshman starter for Southern Miss football
“What a huge week for our program,” Hall said. “This game matters so much to so many people…Playing for the trophy, for The Bell, is huge. We’ve done a great job explaining that to our players. Tulane’s got a two-game winning streak, and we’ll have to put our best foot forward because they are a great team.”
Big plays at a minimum against Tulane
The Green Wave defense comes into this game having allowed 20 points through three games and zero plays of more than 30 yards. In fact, that unit has conceded only two plays of more than 20 yards in 180 minutes of football.
That creates an intriguing clash with the Southern Miss offense, which has needed big plays to thrive so far this season. Six of the 10 touchdowns scored by the Golden Eagles’ offense this season have come from at least 28 yards out. Four of those have come from at least 40 yards.
Nickle-and-diming down the field hasn’t proved productive for Southern Miss so far this season. Its red-zone success rate of 54.5% is the fifth-worst mark out of 131 FBS teams.
For the Golden Eagles to win this game, they’ll either have to find a way to get over the top of a stingy Tulane defense, or solve their own red-zone deficiencies.
Line of scrimmage offers an intriguing battle
Only three FBS offensive lines have registered a better Pro Football Focus pass-blocking efficiency grade than Tulane’s so far this season, and one of them belongs to the defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs.
The Green Wave has allowed just two sacks through three games, keeping quarterback Michael Pratt upright with consistency.
It’s up to Southern Miss defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong and his pressure packages to change that.
The Golden Eagles are tied for 12th in the nation with 10 sacks through three games, and will no doubt look to add to that total.
Southern Miss’ pass rush has proven effective at generating chaos, too. The Golden Eagles have six takeaways and two defensive touchdowns.
Score prediction
Tulane 24, Southern Miss 17. The bookmakers have the Green Wave down as a 13-point favorite, but the Golden Eagles have the kind of defense that can keep this close and give them a chance to win. This is going to come down to offensive execution, and Southern Miss has yet to showcase an ability to play efficient offense against adequate competition.
David Eckert covers Southern Miss for The Hattiesburg American. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter @davideckert98.
