Miami vs. Southern Miss: Scouting the Golden Eagles
Southern Mississippi started its season with a tough four-overtime loss to Liberty. Not only did the Golden Eagles lose the ball game, but they lost their starting quarterback Ty Keyes for the foreseeable future following a nasty hit that resulted in a targeting call.
With that being said, there are questions about the quarterback position for USM. However, with the returning production they have, they could challenge the Miami Hurricanes in a variety of ways including defensively.
Here’s a breakdown of the Golden Eagles.
Offense
Junior quarterback Trey Lowe and freshman Zach Wilcke are the two quarterbacks vying for the spot against Miami, assuming Keyes is ruled out officially from the game. USM will likely rely on their “superbacks” if Keyes is unable to play.
What is a super back exactly? Well, it’s simply the name for the Wildcat quarterback, a place running back Frank Gore Jr. will also likely find himself at.
The offense USM runs is predicated around the success of the run game. In other words, they’re a run-first team. Gore Jr. has led the Golden Eagles in rushing the last two seasons and is well on his way to leading for a third.
Gore Jr. is one of many faces that could fit into the superback position considering USM likes to use a “by-committee” approach. Antavious Willis, Dajon Richard and Janari Dean are other impact players to watch out of the backfield.
The Golden Eagles also have a strong offensive line based on experience. Every starting lineman has at least three years of being in a college program under their belts. It’s a nice line to run behind if you’re in the USM backfield.
According to TheLines, USM ranked No. 4 in the nation in returning production, bringing back 84% of their players from last season. By the same token, Miami also did well in returning production, ranking No. 26 in the country by returning 73% of its production.
Seeing how Miami fared against the mobility of Bethune-Cookman’s quarterbacks, the wildcat paired with the run-heavy offense of the Golden Eagles could pose the biggest threat to Miami defensively.
Through the air, USM can get chunk yardage plays attributed to the trickery when in the wildcat. Miami’s defensive backs gave up some plays against BCU, but it wasn’t at such a rate that should concern Miami fans going forward.
Defense
Much like Bethune-Cookman, the strength of the Golden Eagles' defense is its secondary. Mario Cristobal praised the defense USM has built. For more on what Cristobal said about the defense, read here.
USM runs a 3-3-5 defense which will focus more on coverage instead of pressure on the quarterback. The 3-3-5 defense also known as the “spread defense,” can pose a threat from safeties and corners on blitzes.
The defense will likely drop back into coverage for most of the game out of respect for Tyler Van Dyke and the Miami passing attack. On the flip side, the Canes could take advantage of such coverages by pounding the ball inside. The safeties will oftentimes find themselves in the box and give Cover 1 and Cover 3 looks.
The USM front-six is also formidable and not one to overlook, and it will certainly be a bigger test for the Miami offensive line. Now, it shouldn’t be compared to other defensive lines that Miami will face this year.
But, with the experience and depth on the front, it could shape up to be one of the better fronts in the Group of Five level led by Santrell Latham. Latham is a speedy linebacker that can make plays in space and get in the backfield. He tacked on two tackles for loss in the quadruple-overtime loss to Liberty.
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