The Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles (5-4, 6-3 ATS, 5-4 O/U) will collide with the first-place Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (8-1, 4-4-1 ATS, 4-5 O/U) in a Sun Belt battle on Saturday night. The Golden Eagles were clobbered by Georgia State last week. The Chanticleers recorded a home win against Appalachian State in their previous action.
The Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles are one victory away from bowl eligibility with two games remaining. They had won three games in a row including two home wins in that span but were narrow 1.5-point favorites in a rough 42-13 home loss against Georgia State last week to dip to 3-2 in conference play. The defeat came as a surprise considering how effective the defense has been. The Golden Eagles have covered the points in two of their five conference games.
Zach Wilcke is struggling. The freshman QB has thrown a whopping eight picks in his last five games and has 1163 passing yards along with a 9:9 TD to INT ratio. Trey Lowe saw a good portion of the action last week and recorded 84 passing yards. The junior QB has accrued 163 passing yards in limited action.
The Golden Eagles will run frequently. Frank Gore Jr. is e njoying a remarkable season, amassing at least 82 yards in six of nine bouts on the year, and now has 742 rushing yards on an average of 4.9 yards per carry. Jason Brownlee is having a productive season. The senior WR has filed at least 100 yards in two out of his last five games and leads the team with 564 receiving yards. The Southern Mississippi offense is slumping, logging 21 or fewer points in four out of their last five bouts.
Make the throw ?? Take the hit
What a play by 8?? to keep that touchdown drive alive@treylowe10 | #SMTTT pic.twitter.com/sPKWwwqTNT
— Southern Miss Football (@SouthernMissFB) November 5, 2022
The Golden Eagles' defense is looking to rebound from a bad game. Overall the unit is a strength. Last week marked the most points they have allowed in conference play. The defense allowed 521 total yards. The pass defense ranks 88th while the rush defense is usually an asset, marking 56th although they had trouble defending the run last week. Southern Mississippi is averaging 25.3 points on the season, ranking them 88th. They are allowing an average of 24.3 points, positioning them 51st in the country.