Assuming last year was unusual and a reflection of a coaching mistake, what kind of year should we expect from Southern Miss this year?

Will USM be a 5-6 game winner? Will they rise to the 7-8 game area?

(03-26-2013 08:41 AM)chess Wrote:  Assuming last year was unusual and a reflection of a coaching mistake, what kind of year should we expect from Southern Miss this year?

Will USM be a 5-6 game winner? Will they rise to the 7-8 game area?

if we get the QB situation worked out, I think 9-10 is possible.
If not, anywhere from 6-8...

(03-26-2013 08:43 AM)DaSaintFan Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 08:41 AM)chess Wrote:  Assuming last year was unusual and a reflection of a coaching mistake, what kind of year should we expect from Southern Miss this year?

Will USM be a 5-6 game winner? Will they rise to the 7-8 game area?

if we get the QB situation worked out, I think 9-10 is possible.
If not, anywhere from 6-8...

I thought 8 at the least last year....lowering expectations to 6 max...3 of the 4 ooc games are brutal.

I say USM wins anywhere from 5-7 games. Granted they get a QB in place and stick with him. The only thing that gives me pause to say more than 7 wins is their OOC schedule. Having Nebraska, Arkansas, and Boise all on the road is a tall order for anyone. Much less a team with a new staff and new QB.

I think monken's first year will look a good bit like fedora's first year (2008); he went 7-6, but lost 5 in a row at one point, and had to win out in his last 4 games to achieve a winning season. there were two OoC games with top 15 team -- auburn and boise.

one wildcard --- fedora had deandre brown . . .

and he won the NO bowl on a blocked FG in OT.

(03-26-2013 09:14 AM)BleedsGreen33 Wrote:  I say USM wins anywhere from 5-7 games. Granted they get a QB in place and stick with him. The only thing that gives me pause to say more than 7 wins is their OOC schedule. Having Nebraska, Arkansas, and Boise all on the road is a tall order for anyone. Much less a team with a new staff and new QB.

Are you my shadow....jk

We have many question marks after last year. We know it. But as the verbiage below my moniker states, "In Monken I trust". The attitude I have seen to date from him is akin to mixing oil and water compared to EJ's at this point. He wants it and wants it bad. You can just tell he has the fire to motivate and wants to continually improve. I put him on the same path as Fedora...we are a stepping stone. I am okay with that as I was with Fedora. Monken developing a QB is going to be a large part of righting the wrongs of the past. He knows it. Hammond was a QB and he knows it too.

(03-26-2013 09:34 AM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 09:14 AM)BleedsGreen33 Wrote:  I say USM wins anywhere from 5-7 games. Granted they get a QB in place and stick with him. The only thing that gives me pause to say more than 7 wins is their OOC schedule. Having Nebraska, Arkansas, and Boise all on the road is a tall order for anyone. Much less a team with a new staff and new QB.

Are you my shadow....jk

We have many question marks after last year. We know it. But as the verbiage below my moniker states, "In Monken I trust". The attitude I have seen to date from him is akin to mixing oil and water compared to EJ's at this point. He wants it and wants it bad. You can just tell he has the fire to motivate and wants to continually improve. I put him on the same path as Fedora...we are a stepping stone. I am okay with that as I was with Fedora. Monken developing a QB is going to be a large part of righting the wrongs of the past. He knows it. Hammond was a QB and he knows it too.

Nah just bored at work and with Spring Camps opening up today I am craving football talk.

(03-26-2013 09:42 AM)BleedsGreen33 Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 09:34 AM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 09:14 AM)BleedsGreen33 Wrote:  I say USM wins anywhere from 5-7 games. Granted they get a QB in place and stick with him. The only thing that gives me pause to say more than 7 wins is their OOC schedule. Having Nebraska, Arkansas, and Boise all on the road is a tall order for anyone. Much less a team with a new staff and new QB.

Are you my shadow....jk

We have many question marks after last year. We know it. But as the verbiage below my moniker states, "In Monken I trust". The attitude I have seen to date from him is akin to mixing oil and water compared to EJ's at this point. He wants it and wants it bad. You can just tell he has the fire to motivate and wants to continually improve. I put him on the same path as Fedora...we are a stepping stone. I am okay with that as I was with Fedora. Monken developing a QB is going to be a large part of righting the wrongs of the past. He knows it. Hammond was a QB and he knows it too.

Nah just bored at work and with Spring Camps opening up today I am craving football talk.

Herd dat! I'll give you something more tangible fri evening.

(03-26-2013 09:49 AM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 09:42 AM)BleedsGreen33 Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 09:34 AM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 09:14 AM)BleedsGreen33 Wrote:  I say USM wins anywhere from 5-7 games. Granted they get a QB in place and stick with him. The only thing that gives me pause to say more than 7 wins is their OOC schedule. Having Nebraska, Arkansas, and Boise all on the road is a tall order for anyone. Much less a team with a new staff and new QB.

Are you my shadow....jk

We have many question marks after last year. We know it. But as the verbiage below my moniker states, "In Monken I trust". The attitude I have seen to date from him is akin to mixing oil and water compared to EJ's at this point. He wants it and wants it bad. You can just tell he has the fire to motivate and wants to continually improve. I put him on the same path as Fedora...we are a stepping stone. I am okay with that as I was with Fedora. Monken developing a QB is going to be a large part of righting the wrongs of the past. He knows it. Hammond was a QB and he knows it too.

Nah just bored at work and with Spring Camps opening up today I am craving football talk.

Herd dat! I'll give you something more tangible fri evening.

Good deal.

I think Monken will win some games.. I think he'll lose some games.. But after the debacle this past season, as long as we win I'll be happy.

That being said, if he comes out and does well this season, everybody better hang on for his next season.

(03-26-2013 09:33 AM)EagleX Wrote:  I think monken's first year will look a good bit like fedora's first year (2008); he went 7-6, but lost 5 in a row at one point, and had to win out in his last 4 games to achieve a winning season. there were two OoC games with top 15 team -- auburn and boise.

one wildcard --- fedora had deandre brown . . .

and he won the NO bowl on a blocked FG in OT.

All good points and is unrealistic to expect more. to being surprised in a good way!

I am in the 5-7 game win crowd. Everything is on finding a qb.

Over .500 would be a great achievement.

(03-26-2013 11:40 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  Over .500 would be a great achievement.

8+ wins would be a miricle!

(03-26-2013 10:59 AM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 09:33 AM)EagleX Wrote:  I think monken's first year will look a good bit like fedora's first year (2008); he went 7-6, but lost 5 in a row at one point, and had to win out in his last 4 games to achieve a winning season. there were two OoC games with top 15 team -- auburn and boise.

one wildcard --- fedora had deandre brown . . .

and he won the NO bowl on a blocked FG in OT.

All good points and is unrealistic to expect more. to being surprised in a good way!

I think (hope?) it's going to be difficult to compare fedora to anything. he could be maddeningly erratic. in his last year, he was a completion and a FG away from a 13-0 regular season record and a BCS bowl. but he was also a fake punt and a two point conversion away from 9-4, 2nd place in c-usa east and the new orleans bowl (or something along those lines).

but I'm assuming that monken will face the same challenges fedora had in going from a hands on OC to being a head coach. fedora didn't really seem to get the hang of it until 2011.

(03-26-2013 11:54 AM)EagleX Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 10:59 AM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(03-26-2013 09:33 AM)EagleX Wrote:  I think monken's first year will look a good bit like fedora's first year (2008); he went 7-6, but lost 5 in a row at one point, and had to win out in his last 4 games to achieve a winning season. there were two OoC games with top 15 team -- auburn and boise.

one wildcard --- fedora had deandre brown . . .

and he won the NO bowl on a blocked FG in OT.

All good points and is unrealistic to expect more. to being surprised in a good way!

I think (hope?) it's going to be difficult to compare fedora to anything. he could be maddeningly erratic. in his last year, he was a completion and a FG away from a 13-0 regular season record and a BCS bowl. but he was also a fake punt and a two point conversion away from 9-4, 2nd place in c-usa east and the new orleans bowl (or something along those lines).

but I'm assuming that monken will face the same challenges fedora had in going from a hands on OC to being a head coach. fedora didn't really seem to get the hang of it until 2011.

It was maddening at times, that is for sure. In 2010, to put up 40+ twice and 50 in another and lose all 3 was nuts.

The scrimmage is confirmed for this Friday...don't have the time yet. I will post what my eyes see afterwards.

Fedora had Bradford as defensive coordinator his first three years and was short about 10 scholarship players his first year. Monken brought in Duggan who was co def. Coordinator in Fedoras last year. If we can get the qb situation settled we can make some noise.

I think the QB competition will be fierce and I believe we have multiple guys currently on the roster who can be successful at this level. I'm not worried about that.

We cannot base ANYTHING off what we saw last year from our QB's.

My main concerns are offensive line (replacing 4 starters) and linebackers (they were awful).

(04-03-2013 07:07 AM)eaglerock Wrote:  Fedora had Bradford as defensive coordinator his first three years and was short about 10 scholarship players his first year. Monken brought in Duggan who was co def. Coordinator in Fedoras last year. If we can get the qb situation settled we can make some noise.

I agree, Fedora had horrible defenses his first three years and one year we lost several games because we couldn't kick a #%&$ extra point. The only real question for Monken is the QB'S. If we get any kind of consistent QB play I don't think 7 or 8 wins are out of the question.

Well guys I dropped the ball again. I had work that had to be done and was not able to make it. However, I buzzed Tim Dougherty (our local sports journalist) afterwards and asked for a quick thumbs up or down signal (since he had to do the baseball game immediately afterwards). Even though he works for the agenda based media brainwashing nuthouse, he is one of few that I wholeheartedly trust by writing with least of opinion and the most of fact.

BTW, his response was thumbs up and here is the link to the article he wrote Southern Miss scrimmage report

I am not surprised with the offensive inconsistencies, especially since Campbell and Floyd are still down (not implying they would've set the world on fire) but this is Sloter's first go at it being a redshirt and Weeks just doesn't have it. Weeks looks like Flutie in stature and doesn't come close to playing like him.

The one thing I really enjoyed out of the responses from Monken relative to EJ's last year is the positivity of what is trying to and what is expected. EJ would always blame something and it was usually the players..damn sure wasn't himself or the rest of the coaching staff. Monken adds the positive side when describing what is wrong and how he addresses it by backing the effort of the players. There is no question we are light years ahead of last year at this same time just b/c of that.

As a first year coach implementing a new system and attitude, the staff has now witnessed things at basically game time speed. I am certain that Monken will do what is necessary to get the best out of our talent. He has the time and desire to balance the O-side equation but most importantly, he has the right attitude about it. I am also excited to see Hardy getting what appears to be more looks. Why Fedora and shite for brains hardly utilized him is beyond me. The first practice I witnessed his freshman year, I turned to my buddy and said, we finally have another Winder/Nix style RB.

Great news about the defense. If it turns out the offense struggles, it would nice to hold the opposing teams to teens and twenties vs the 30+ version like we have seen 4 out of the last 5 years. I like how Monken stated, "I can't speak for the defense....". To me that demonstrates a trust in the coaching staff in general which will allow him to focus on the O-side w/o worrying about both sides. It's his playbook and his offense now. Ole Depends wearing sourpuss and our nepotistic OC from last year never demonstrated a single ounce of having a clue on this side of the ball.

I am going to buzz Tim tomorrow and get the opinion version (which I also have a very high level of respect for) of what he saw. With his permission I will post what I can sometime tomorrow.