21-3 with over 9 mins to go in 1st half. They look very good.

For the uninformed....these arent the good old days of the 1980's or 1990's. Ive heard the whining about something Coach Hall said about the Kentucky game in which he referenced the athletic department getting paid for playing the game. THIS IS NOTHING NEW!!! A little reference here: Southern Miss had been scheduled to play Ohio State to begin the season and Kentucky was to begin with Akron. Kentucky apparently wanted out of the two game Akron contract. So a swap was made.... Kentucky paid Akron $1.2-mill for the buyout....paid Southern Miss $950K to play and had Ohio State pay Southern Miss $950k for the swap. The original deal for Southern Miss and Ohio State was $1.9-mil. While I would have more than likely gone to watch Southern Miss at the Horseshoe, I knew that it was going to be a good old fashioned butt whipping for the Golden Eagles!!! Foe safety sakes Kentucky was a much better fit as an opener!!!

Now to the part about how things are different with college football......Its not just about NIL, the transfer portal etc....The media money is so much different than it was 20 and 30 years ago.....and im not talking about inflation....The SEC is estimated to start distributing between $60-70-million dollars per year to each team in the conference. That figure is more than twice the athletic budget at Southern Miss which recorded a record $30-mill in revenue for the 2023-24 year...for comparison Kentucky reported an athletic budget of $176.1-million for FY 23-24. Kentucky had the 16th highest athletic budget overall and was 7th in the SEC. This is not a level playing field... its not just tilted.....its like a waterfall.....

The idea NOW that Southern Miss will go into Lexington, Starkville, Auburn, etc and come away with a victory is a less than 1% proposition. We also dont generate enough revenue to do without those money games, so lets be honest and real about it.... WE NEED THE PAYCHECK!!! Quit B@$%&*#@ about Coach Hall being honest!!! unless you want to go the route of FCS and drop down to the Southland Conference and have a home schedule of Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, Nicholls, and Lamar!!! If you think thats gonna help.... it wont, because folks will donate less and buy fewer season tickets. NIL will be less and there will be transfers out not in!

There is a path for success.... but its not gonna be the same as the glory days of beating Alabama, Auburn, Nebraska, Florida State etc. We can build a team for a playoff run...but we will have to do it all over again the next season because Kentucky, Mississippi State Florida and all the other big money teams will buy the roster out from under us. This is our existence now. It can be done.... but were not in a position yet from the train wreck of Hopson to be competitive with a power 4 team currently.

For USM to win this game or any future game, they must control their potential for fighting after a play is done. It seems coaches encourage this type of play. They strive to be the nasty bunch but go about it incorrectly. The original nasty bunch were simply hard hitters and not fight starters.

I expect to win this game anywhere from 21 to 31 points.

Outfield assist from the right field wall to second base to nail baserunner.

Wallner outfield assist

DB Sabbatini and WR Danis Jackson are out

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Some of these guys cut will be re-signed as practice players.

and this is just beyond understanding. Some are upset the gane was stopped with 9:30 left in the 3Q down 31-0 because of the weather.

1. Hall, nor coaches or players decided to quit the game. Many factors beyond their control went in to this. Stopping and starting a football game, once teams have warmed up multiple times early in a season is a recipe for disaster and injury. This isn't baseball or even basketball. Next, you have to understand logistics. The team had already checked out of the hotel, before they do almost every road game unless a flight cannot be taken till the next day. They charter which means they have to use that plane in allotted time or that aircraft may be needed somewhere else. Also prep begins for next game on Sunday. Kentucky starts SEC play with Florida this week and they didn't want time taken from that because of a opening game that means nothing really in the long run.

No one quit, this was just a case of a late start time with too many delays. There are times when games can't go past which is set up before the gane starts. Happened in baseball with Coastal at USM on that Sunday. It happens!!

In the morning SBC coach's presser. Here was his answer (paraphrased): They had scored on 3 straight possessions and he felt like the defense was tired. They did get the look they wanted and thought Crawford could get the 4 yards needed but their player made a really good play and it was unsuccessful.

Seemed he felt the defense wasn't going to stop them with Kentucky having 3 TO and 2 min left till half.

We played an SEC school under horrible road conditions. They were favored heavily and justifiably so. We were not really expecting a win, but we did expect to cover. What did we learn last night?

• We need a cornerback—that and a secondary that can tackle. Poor tackling killed us. We are not as deep as we thought.
• Discipline regarding smack talk. No excuse for this. It started last year and should be addressed now.
• We are lacking in the pass rush.
• If you are dumb enough to call a fake punt that deep, put the fastest person to run the ball. Playcalling was not based on the best personnel.
• More work must be done on special teams. That was a sore area.
• We need to use Crawford more, especially at the seven-yard line.

What was improved?

• It is difficult to determine the condition of the OL against the quality of Kentucky's D. If it is better than last year, it will be determined against SF.
• OL did not constantly false start.
• Speed at WR is better.
• QB play, in general, is better.

I believe we will still have at least a six-win season. The players will gel as a team, and the schedule will become more favorable to us. Win two of the first four games, and we will be in good shape. Perhaps our luck will change. We will get some good refs and breaks. Not a time to panic.

It was announced he passed away yesterday. I am sure he is having a Cheeseburger In Paradise. Sail on sir, into the mystic.

The conference schedule is out. I have not been able to find much about the non-conference schedule.

Member schools plan to seriously consider granting athletes in all sports, not just football, the ability to participate in up to a certain percentage of games in a fifth season and still use their redshirt; permit athletes to earn prize money before they enroll in college; and eliminate the National Letter of Intent.

Time for another season of Golden Eagles football. Follow along for updates throughout the game.....

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Eagles

the threats of unsportsmanlike conduct. We’re getting torched for the most part.