2008 R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Troy (8-4) vs. Southern Miss (6-6)
Dec.
21, 8:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
Payout:
$325,000 Location: Louisiana
Superdome, New Orleans, LA
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2006 CFN New Orleans
Bowl Preview |
2007 CFN New Orleans Bowl Preview
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Troy |
Southern Miss |
|
Total Offense |
|
26th 245.92 ypg |
20th 434.50 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
30th 319.58 ypg |
71st 369.25 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
23rd 33.25 ppg |
33rd 30.67 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
31st 20.58 ppg |
53rd 23.83 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
36th 175.5 ypg |
24th 196.33 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
54th 139.17 ypg |
68th 145.33 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
32nd 245.92 ypg |
38th 238.17 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
23rd 180.42 ypg |
84th 223.92 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
27th 0.50 |
9th
1.08 |
|
Troy
at
Mid Tenn W 31-17
Alcorn State W
65-0
at Ohio St L 28-10
at Okla St L 55-24
at FAU W 30-17
FIU W 33-23
at N Texas W
45-17
at ULM L 31-30
W Kentucky W
17-7
at LSU L 41-30
UL Laf W
48-3
Arkansas St W 35-9 |
Southern Miss
UL Laf W 51-21
at Auburn L 27-13
at Ark St W
27-24
Marshall L 34-27
UTEP L 40-37 2OT
Boise State L 24-7
at Rice L 45-40
at Memphis L 36-30
UAB W 70-14
at UCF W 17-6
East Carolina W
21-3
at SMU W 28-12 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
T |
5
highest
1 lowest |
USM |
|
4 |
Quarterbacks |
4.5 |
|
4 |
RBs |
5 |
|
3.4 |
Receivers |
4 |
|
5 |
O
Line |
3.5 |
|
4 |
D
Line |
3 |
|
5 |
Linebackers |
3.5 |
|
4 |
Secondary |
3 |
|
4 |
Spec
Teams |
3 |
|
4 |
Coaching |
3.5 |
|
This is a good bowl game you
need to watch. No, really. The
New Orleans Bowl should be
really, really good.
Fine, so you’ll probably be
awash in NFL/your fantasy team
playoff talk on Sunday, but for
college fans, this is the lone
bowl game of the day and the
only one until Tuesday. It’ll be
worth it.
Even with a stunning 31-30 loss
to a bad UL Monroe team on the
first day of November, Troy was
the best team in the Sun Belt by
far. With terrific lines, one of
the nation’s best pass rushes, a
great offensive front in pass
protection, and a defense that
led the league in just about
every candidate, this is a tough
team that’s more than capable of
winning its second New Orleans
Bowl in three years.
Meanwhile, Southern Miss has
gotten stronger as head coach
Larry Fedora’s first season has
gone on, winning the final four
games, including a 21-3 victory
over eventual Conference USA
champion, East Carolina, to
become bowl eligible. Injuries,
personnel changes, and
inconsistencies led to a rough
start with a five-game losing
steak, bottoming out with
defeats to Marshall and UTEP all
but killing the season. And then
the offense got hot, the defense
got hotter, and the Fedora era
is off and running.
While the Golden Eagles are just
happy to be bowling with their
6-6 record, they took the New
Orleans Bowl bid early on when
they probably could’ve held out
for something a bit bigger. They
might have been able to lobby to
get the St. Petersburg Bowl bid
against South Florida over
Memphis, but they’ll have their
hands full with the Trojan team
still smarting from being left
out of the bowls last year
despite going 8-4.
This is USM’s seventh straight
bowl appearance and the 11th
in the last 12 years. While
post-season games are expected
for the program, the overall
goal is to get back to the
dominant level when this was
the
premier team in Conference USA.
There’s enough talent coming
back to be among the favorites
next year, and a win over Troy
could do wonders for 2009.
On the flip side, with the Sun
Belt improving by leaps and
bounds this year overall, Troy
can further enhance its growing
reputation with an impressive
win. The league has won the last
two New Orleans Bowls after
losing three straight to
Conference USA, hurt by two wins
from Southern Miss. A win would
be Troy’s 25th in
three years and would set the
tone for next year when it’ll
likely be the preseason pick to
win the Sun Belt title.
No, this isn’t the first bowl of
the season anymore, and six of
the seven bowls have been duds,
but it’ll be stunning if this is
anything less than competitive
and entertaining. There are
plenty of great players, each
team is coming in on a roll, and
it should all mean one of the
more fun bowls of the early part
of the season.
Players to watch:
It’s been a bit of a
disappointing season for
Southern Miss RB Damion
Fletcher, who “only” ran for
1,235 yards and nine touchdowns
after getting a bit banged up. A
good pro prospect, he didn’t
make the national noise that
former Conference USA stars
Kevin Smith and Matt Forte got
in 2007, but if he blows up
against Troy, he could be one of
the hot names going into next
year … if he doesn’t turn pro
early. With 4,209 career yards
and 35 rushing touchdowns, he
has the résumé, and he’s used to
producing in bowls with two
touchdowns in the 28-7 win over
Ohio in the 2007 GMAC Bowl and
155 yards in the loss to
Cincinnati in the 2007
PapaJohns.com Bowl.
Looking to shut down Fletcher
will be the all-star linebacking
tandem of Boris Lee and
Bear Woods. Lee was the
star of the show coming into the
season after making 82 tackles
in a breakout sophomore season.
He led the Trojans with 99 stops
this year, using is speed and
toughness to overcome his 6-0,
212-pound size. He doesn’t miss
a stop, and neither does his
running mate, Woods. A backup
coming into this season, Woods
had moments when he was the main
man of the defense. Built like
Lee, Woods can move and is
terrific in the open field.
Southern Miss has a linebacking
star of its own in junior
Gerald McRath, the intense
leader of the defense and a
strong pro prospect. A likely
second round pick if he chooses
to come out early, McRath is a
big hitter with 375 career
stops. Always looking to get
better, he made 35 tackles in a
two game stretch against Rice
and Memphis but was inconsolable
because the team lost and he
beat himself up for not doing
more. This is his chance to
shine on a national stage.
While much has been made about
the emergence of Troy’s Levi
Brown after quarterbacks
Jamie Hampton and Tanner Jenkins
went down for the year, it was
the emergence of sophomore
DuJuan Harris that helped
make the difference for the
offense down the home stretch.
The smallish, tough back ran for
234 yards in a key win over UL
Lafayette and finished with
1,025 yards and 11 scores. While
he’s not necessarily a
workhorse, he can handle the
ball 20+ times if needed and can
be used as a receiver.
Troy will win if... the
defensive front hangs out in the
Southern Miss backfield. Golden
Eagle freshman QB Austin
Davis has put together a
special season with 21 touchdown
passes with just eight
interceptions, throwing just two
in the final six games, and he’s
a runner with five touchdowns
coming against UAB alone. While
Fletcher can handle the running
game by himself, Troy needs to
pressure Davis and force him to
take off, rather than allow him
time to find star WR DeAndre
Brown. USM is 2-5 when Davis
throws an interception, and 4-1
when he doesn’t. If Brandon
Lang and the Troy line can
get to him early, there will be
at least one pick for the
ball-hawking secondary.
Southern Miss will win if...
the run defense shows up. It’s
no coincidence that the
four-game winning streak at the
end of the year happened when
the run defense became a brick
wall. After allowing 127 rushing
yards or more in each of the
first eight games, the run
defense didn’t allow more than
96 the rest of the way,
highlighted by holding East
Carolina to 66 yards and SMU to
four. Memphis ran for three
touchdowns, but those were the
only scores allowed on the
ground over the last seven
games. The Southern Miss
secondary can be beaten, but as
long as the offense shows up and
forces Troy to try to play
catch-up, the rest of the USM
defense should be able to get
the job done.
What will happen:
Southern Miss might have the top
QB-RB-WR combination of any non-BCS
team, or it’s at least among the
best with Young, Fletcher and
Brown all able to carry the
offense if needed. However, Troy
has the lines. The skill players
might not be as good, but with
the offensive front allowing
everyone time to work, the
Trojan offense should be able to
move the ball. On the other
side, the Troy front seven
should control the game for long
enough stretches to come up with
the win.
Line: Troy -4 ... CFN
Prediction: Troy 27 …
Southern Miss 17
2008 New Orleans Bowl History,
Player Profiles, Best Bowl
Moments, & More