The Tennessee Volunteers return home to take on the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium. Tennessee was unable to stop the run against the California Golden Bears last Saturday. Can they stop the Golden Eagles or will their backs be tempted to clean off shelf space for the Heisman on Sunday morning? We look for this question to be answered on Saturday night in front of the faithful.
From utsports.com
Tennessee owns a perfect 4-0 record in its all-time gridiron series with Southern Mississippi, which dates to 1950. All four meetings took place in Knoxville, and two of the four wins were shutouts. The Vols posted a 56-0 triumph in 1950, and the three most recent clashes all have come during the Phillip Fulmer era. Fulmer’s Vols defeated the Eagles 42-0 in 1995, 44-20 in 1997 and 19-16 in 2000.
Fulmer is 13-1 all-time against current members of Conference USA (1-0 vs. East Carolina, 1-0 vs. Houston, 2-0 vs. Marshall, 6-1 vs. Memphis, 1-0 vs. Southern Miss and 2-0 vs. UAB) and has never lost to a C-USA team at Neyland Stadium.
Tennessee owns an all-time record of 45-4 (.918) against current Conference USA teams, and that includes an unblemished 32-0 mark at home. All four of UT’s wins over Southern Miss have taken place in Knoxville.
Interesting matchup, and Kudos to your boys for your non-conference scheduling. Smells like a trap game, with a possible Cal hangover, and your bitter rivals on slate next week in The Swamp.
I don't think this is working out exactly like we planned it. As I understand it, California had won one game the previous year when we scheduled them. And now Southern Miss is coming off of a Conference USA Championship. I think we are going to get all we want Saturday night.
I see that 3rd string runningback LaMarcus Coker is supposed to be in the game Sat. He's fast and the staff and team are excited about his return. Also defensive end Xavier Mitchell was cleared for practice Wed. He'll probably play. Did you see that ? Foster (I can't remember his first name) said he did look back over his shoulder during the game with Cal? He said that slowed him down and he is working on correcting the problem. Hopefully the VOLS will be in better shape for this game.
Having Coker back will be a plus. But is he ready?
Yes I saw that Mitchell might play. Amazing. I am concerned about the fact that he has had two concussions though. He may need to rethink playing football for his health's sake.
I agree with Nostradamus, this game has "trap" written all over it, sandwiched between a tough loss and a rivalry game. I think Tennessee will not give up the big plays that Cal produced last week (I really don't think Southern Miss is anywhere near that level of speed), but I'm worried they'll line up and ram the ball up the middle with success. That said, I see Tennessee holding on in a fairly close one (I'm thinking 10 points), and Cutcliffe opening up the passing game a bit more downfield with some success.
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