But even if you do, it could not be as bad as what happened here Saturday night.
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Mullens finished 18 of 28 passing for 258 yards to help Jay Hopson win his debut as Golden Eagles coach. Granted, Florida looked more than a little underwhelming against UMass on Saturday. That means the Golden Eagles will be looking for Marquise Ricard, DJ Thompson and Korey Robertson need to step up among the receiving corps.
Want IT and acquisition news? The Golden Eagles kick off their 100th season of football with their first win over an Southeastern Conference opponent in 16 years.
A loss to Western Kentucky in the C-USA championship game and a loss to Washington in the bowl game ended Southern Miss’ season at 9-5 (7-1 in C-USA).
“That’s a tough loss and our fans deserved better”, Stoops said. As a home favorite they were 2-2 against the number and as a home team overall they were just 2-6 at the betting window. So, now, if somebody’s not getting it done, or they’re not doing it the right way or they’re not doing it our way, we can pull ’em.
We’ve had all the coverage from United Kingdom leading up to Saturday’s season opener, so here’s a change of pace to see where Southern Miss is as we inch closer to the matchup. He is replacing Todd Monken, who left to become offensive coordinator with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
United Kingdom leads 35-17 at the half. The collapse hurt that much more at the hands of former offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson as he proved he wasn’t the one holding United Kingdom back. The Wildcats had just two first downs and ran 14 plays. The familiarity between Dawson and his former team could make things interesting.
It’s USM’s first win over an SEC team since it won 21-0 at Alabama in 2000. One play involved two Kentucky defensive backs interfering separately with a receiver on the sideline.
Sophomore quarter Drew Barker had four touchdowns in a losing effort, all of them coming in the first half. He’ll start his first opener for the Wildcats since replacing Patrick Towles late last season but hasn’t seemed fazed by the hype and expectations.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever in my career, ever wanted to apologize for a game, but that’s a tough pill to swallow right there, and I do”, he said. “It’s just building off that confidence. There are plays we will shake our head at, but we will just have to learn from it”.
However, before the end of the second quarter, Southern Miss quarterback Nick Mullens found Isaiah Jones wide open for a 71-yard score. He not only puts the Wildcats’ pass rush on notice, but the secondary as well.
“They deserve better”, he said. “We were executing, played with urgency, made plays, and did some very good things”.
It has never been a secret that Kentucky could be in for a hard football season.
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Trailing 35-17 at the break, the Golden Eagles’ defense eliminated the big plays that had fueled Kentucky in the opening 30 minutes and gave the ball back to the offense three times on two fumble recoveries and an interception. In that scenario, United Kingdom would enter the Louisville game at 6-5 or 7-4, with a win over the Cards giving the Cats the potential for an eight- or nine-win bowl championship season.
