Nevada vs. Southern Miss: Pick 'Em and Open Thread

by Nico2.0 on Dec 24, 2011 5:30 PM CST in Football

7-5 (5-2) 3rd WAC

Hawaii Bowl
Aloha Stadium
Honolulu, HI
7:00 pm CST
TV: ESPN

11-2 (6-2) C-USA Champion

ed. We invited Southern Miss fan and friend of RBR Landon Howell to do the write-up for tonight's Hawaii Bowl. Hope you all are enjoying time with family & friends and days off of work.

Thanks to Nico for inviting me to scribble in your space. You can find me on Twitter @landonhowell.

Tiders, lend me your ears. You see, I love Southern Miss football as much as you love Alabama football. Growing up in the heart of Crimson Tide country (Walker County, represent) I always looked forward to the annual Southern Miss-Alabama game, which ended, at least for the time being in 2005. It was a rivalry, though one that Alabama easily dominated. However, on the rare occasion that Southern Miss has defeated Alabama it has done so in somewhat embarrassing fashion:

- 1953: Southern Miss 25, #1 Alabama 19

- 1982: Southern Miss 38, Alabama 29 in Bear Bryant's last home game

- 1990: Southern Miss 27, #13 Alabama 24 in Gene Stallings' first season at HC

- 2000: #25 Southern Miss 21, #15 Alabama 0 on ESPN with all points scored in the first quarter

Had Oklahoma State finished undefeated and Southern Miss avoided the death clutches of UAB and their haunted tundra of Legion Field, this post would discuss the impending Sugar Bowl match-up between 11-1 Alabama and 12-1 Southern Miss. I miss our rivalry, y'all. I looked forward to a battle on the bayou as anyone but Craig James pontificated with cliche "David vs. Goliath" one-liners during an ESPN broadcast.

But that didn't happen, and now I'm writing about the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl which is held on Christmas Eve. Nevada (as of Monday) had sold 10 tickets on its website, where Southern Miss had sold 350-400. Believe me when I say that there will almost be as many people on your block on Christmas Eve as there will be in Aloha Stadium.

The only point of comparison between the Nevada and Southern Miss is LA Tech, who lost by a last minute field goal in (literally, y'all) a tropical storm to Southern Miss, yet edged Nevada by 4.

Southern Miss will win because: Larry Fedora is a prideful and cocky son of a gun who wants his wins. How cocky? The man said, with full conviction, in front of God and ABC's television audience that 11-2 USM should go to a BCS game. You can't say those kind of things with loses to Marshall and UAB. Big things are expected of Fedora at UNC, and walking in the door with a 12-2 season under his arm will buy him even more time to right the ship in Chapel Hill.

Nevada will win because: Let's look at Nevada's loses... Oregon, Boise, Texas Tech (by 1), LA Tech (who held their own with TCU, Southern Miss, Houston and Miss State), and Utah State (who "lost" to Auburn). Those are not bad loses, and if Nevada opts for UC Davis or Sacramento State as opposed to Oregon and Texas Tech... you're looking at a 9-3 team. Also, Southern Miss is playing with a lame ducking coaching staff. Almost all are certainly gone to UNC when the final whistle sounds.

Bros To Know:

- Austin Davis (QB @ USM) broke all - ALL - of Brett Favre's records at Southern Miss that didn't involve cellphones.

- Lampford Mark (RB @ NEV) & Mike Ball (RB @ NEV) both average over 5 yards per carry.

- Tracy Lampley (WR @ USM) was the kryptonite to Houston's BCS dreams. He returns kickoffs, punts, plays RB and WR. He's the size of a Micro-Machine but deadly as a machete.

- Rishard Matthews (WR @ NEV) has 1,364 receiving yards in 2011. That adds up to something longer than a football field.

- Cordarro Law (DL @ USM) likes to be called "The Law". Do you need me to tell you more?

FanSTATstic STATs:

- Southern Miss' defense broke a 40 year old NCAA record in 2011 with 8 interceptions for touchdowns. One of those was for 100 yards and another was 97.

- This is Nevada's third (3rd!) time to appear in Sheraton Hawaii bowl. The surfing, hula skirts, and sunsets will not distract them in the same way that it will smitten Southern Miss.

- Nevada is fifth in total offense, averaging 522 yards per game.

- Southern Miss is averaging 41.3 points per game in its last three games (UAB, Memphis, Houston).

- Southern Miss has 18 consecutive winning seasons and this will be its 10th consecutive bowl game.

- This is Nevada's seventh consecutive bowl game.

My fearless prediction: Southern Miss 44, Nevada 20

Current Bowl Records by Conference:

Conference	Record
ACC	0-0
Big East	0-0
Big Ten	0-0
Big XII	0-0
C-USA	1-0
Independents	0-0
MAC	2-0
Mountain West	2-2
Pac-12	0-1
SEC	0-0
Sun Belt	1-1
WAC	0-2

Poll

Who will win the Hawaii Bowl?

Nevada

9 votes

Southern Miss

84 votes

93 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 17 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

"I'm Chuck Norris and I approve this game!"

by PharmacyBob on Dec 24, 2011 8:12 PM CST reply actions

Sumiton.

Yo.

It's not what you've done but what you are doing that matters.

Make its ass quit -TWEsq, concerning my fight against Multiple Sclerosis

by AlabamaJammer on Dec 24, 2011 9:14 PM CST reply actions

Landon = bamassippi

Jasper.
Yo.

by bamassippi on Dec 25, 2011 12:56 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

You know it's Christmas Eve...

…when there are two comments on an RBR open thread.

by yellowbammer on Dec 24, 2011 11:05 PM CST reply actions

Landon:

Are any of your people from Winston County? My grandmother was a Howell from that neck of the woody hills.

by sho' I stole on Dec 24, 2011 11:29 PM CST via mobile reply actions

Landon = bamassippi

Unfortunately, no. I come from the Howell’s of North Mississippi, though one of my favorite eateries is on the Winston County, Walker County line: Wal-Win.

Rest ye not until partaking in their deep fried catfish goodness and salad bar above all other salad bars.

by bamassippi on Dec 25, 2011 12:59 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

I've eaten

at Wal-Win before. good place. my grandmother lives in double springs

i hate auburn

by das keet on Dec 25, 2011 2:08 AM CST via Android app reply actions

Good write up

Thanks. I for one miss the So. Miss vs. Bama game. And not just for the easy win. LOL

by TideinOklahoma on Dec 25, 2011 1:45 PM CST via mobile reply actions

I always thought...

…we should’ve given them a return game every 5 years or so.

RollBamaRoll.com

by Nico2.0 on Dec 25, 2011 3:12 PM CST up reply actions

Landon = bamassippi

I would say that would never happen, but Nebraska visited USM in 2005. Maybe I the Dubose era, but not the Saban one. Southern Miss has a smaller (but loud) venue of 37,500. We can and 3K in bleachers, but the Red Elephant Club wouldn’t be happy about the lack of tickets.

I think that’s part of the reason the rivalry was ended… Aalabama wouldn’t give back.

In the last 10 years we’ve had the following teams agree to home-and-homes: Nebraska, Boise State, Mississippi State, BYU, NC State, OK State, Louisville, Virginia, and Kansas. We’d much rather get the exposure from other BCS-AQ teams than risk eternal defet in an unbudgable Alabama.

by bamassippi on Dec 25, 2011 11:14 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

Typos

Typing on an iPhone is not awesome.

by bamassippi on Dec 25, 2011 11:22 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

I really belive...

…it should’ve been a 2 for 1, but they’d have never gone for that. 4 for 1 should’ve been reasonable to both parties. Oh well, hopefully we’ll get to play you guys again someday. Congrats on the 12-2 and Go Blazers.

RollBamaRoll.com

by Nico2.0 on Dec 26, 2011 12:55 PM CST up reply actions

also, Leatha’s is the best restaraunt in this country.

by debardeluben on Dec 25, 2011 10:26 PM CST up reply actions

For those of us at that 1990 Bama-SoMiss game

We were among the first to see the great talents of Brett Favre. I certainly came away impressed and was shocked when the Falcons traded him to Green Bay.

Thirteen and counting

by CB969 on Dec 26, 2011 9:41 AM CST reply actions