(09-01-2017 01:39 PM)Talon Jackson Wrote:  30k plus. Going to be a fun game. Good weather. Feel good about it. SMTTT

30K??? Uh...NO

(09-01-2017 02:19 PM)theheadeagle Wrote:  

(09-01-2017 09:43 AM)SouthernMissSNu Wrote:  

(09-01-2017 08:31 AM)theheadeagle Wrote:  There's a ton of tickets for sale. Nobody is excited about Southern Miss football anymore. This wretched conference has killed us. I'm thinking more like 25,000 actual butts in seats on Saturday.

However, with that said there is a few positives that could turn it around (as long as we don't TTT it up).

- Hopson, while not a luxurious hire, seems like a stable hire. Something that we needed to follow Monken. Yes you can say that he underperformed this past season, but we're on a two year postseason streak again. We have to see how he responds this year now that his systems are fully in place and the team has had a year to get used to his philosophy. All indicators that have been released from the team is that the players seem to buy into his system. That's a good start.
- Bennett is stable for the university. He's done a good job so far in what he needs to do- lead an academic institution. He did walk into a place that had no real stable leadership the 3-5 years before he took office. (Dr. Lucas was essentially a placeholder after Martha Saunders)
- The city has new leadership after over a decade of the same leadership. The mayor is open about his support of the university. Mid-town is underway and seems like it will be a big boost to the area around the University especially for gameday atmosphere.
- Overall, we have clear stability for the first time in a little while. It takes a while to recover from years like we've had. It sucks for long time supporters to see that, but as a first year season ticket holder and recent alumn (not yet too cynical), it's refreshing to see where we can go.

yeah, it takes many decades to get as cynical as I am about our team and conference. Glad to hear someone with a different perspective but...... You are right about one thing....the new mayor is a breath of fresh air in that godforsaken town that was once an incredible place to be. Hopefully he can turn things around in that city. Hopson was certainly a ho hum hire but I'm behind him 100%. We are due some stability.... Historically, the seasons in which we aren't supposed to perform well sometimes become our most incredible.....likewise historically, the seasons in which we were expecting big things we've usually fallen flat on our faces. In my opinion, our QB play has been so incredibly solid over the last 8 years that has become my largest concern. That's the biggest question on the field.

What is "mid town"

I definitely agree with the QB question as well as the O Line. Those positions will be the key to whether or not we have a terrible or great season.

Mid town is the development across Hardy Street from campus. It's going to have restaurants and shops and a new hotel and eventually nicer apartments. It's going to totally transform that area. Kind of like Highland Colony Parkway in Ridgeland. Phase one should be complete early 2018

https://www.theadp.com/district-midtown-...-ceremony/
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story...rom=global

Going to be great weather today. There will be a lot of walkup sales today. Of course, we all knew this is the way with Southern Miss fans.

I can tell you there are a lot of guys my age and younger out there that arefrustrated. I am almost 40 except for the three years I lived in OK I've had season tickets or that family fun pack. I use to donate to the eagle club. I'm just sick of the Southern Miss To The Top bull****. I love my school, I love my team, it is just years of admin bull****. You go from Fedora to Eloss to Monken to Hopson. No continuity of philosophy. No goals, we are the definition of mediocrity.

This conference is a damn joke. We'd be better off with a 9 team regional conference and rebranding. CUSA sucks, it sucks bad. I'd be more excited about MAC teams or god forbid Ark State and ULL.

Campus is dead on game day. Atmosphere in the stadium is stale. We just wait for it to fall apart these days.

In my time at school we where on an upward trajectory. I just don't think most of the fans knew the rot underneath, the contentment with just being at that level. Hell I thought we'd be TCU or UL. We where a rock ship that was used as a Cessna.

All I want is vision, from someone. Give me a reason to hope and believe again. Not a lecture on how I should be loyal to a dying program. I mean Dang I could even stomach 1aa if we set out to be the best team there and compete in all sports. Just give me something to buy into, not just the good ole boy mentality and he is one of us bull****. I'd rather hire a Fedora in every sport every year than to have the loyalty from a 2nd rate coach.

I hope we win today. I took my family on vacation to enjoy my kids and wife. I'll check the score. I'll wish this is a magical year (it isn't) and I'll hope that one day some AD will come along and use this program for what it can be. And afterwards if he leaves for a bigger school or better gig, great because he did his dam job while he was here.

(09-02-2017 08:11 AM)Cyc Wrote:  I can tell you there are a lot of guys my age and younger out there that arefrustrated. I am almost 40 except for the three years I lived in OK I've had season tickets or that family fun pack. I use to donate to the eagle club. I'm just sick of the Southern Miss To The Top bull****. I love my school, I love my team, it is just years of admin bull****. You go from Fedora to Eloss to Monken to Hopson. No continuity of philosophy. No goals, we are the definition of mediocrity.

This conference is a damn joke. We'd be better off with a 9 team regional conference and rebranding. CUSA sucks, it sucks bad. I'd be more excited about MAC teams or god forbid Ark State and ULL.

Campus is dead on game day. Atmosphere in the stadium is stale. We just wait for it to fall apart these days.

In my time at school we where on an upward trajectory. I just don't think most of the fans knew the rot underneath, the contentment with just being at that level. Hell I thought we'd be TCU or UL. We where a rock ship that was used as a Cessna.

All I want is vision, from someone. Give me a reason to hope and believe again. Not a lecture on how I should be loyal to a dying program. I mean Dang I could even stomach 1aa if we set out to be the best team there and compete in all sports. Just give me something to buy into, not just the good ole boy mentality and he is one of us bull****. I'd rather hire a Fedora in every sport every year than to have the loyalty from a 2nd rate coach.

I hope we win today. I took my family on vacation to enjoy my kids and wife. I'll check the score. I'll wish this is a magical year (it isn't) and I'll hope that one day some AD will come along and use this program for what it can be. And afterwards if he leaves for a bigger school or better gig, great because he did his dam job while he was here.

A real truth in life is that you become who you associate with. Birds of a feather flock together. No matter who we hire or how well we do, perception is everything in college Football and we cant escape the shackles and chains that CUSA has bound us in.

(09-02-2017 08:11 AM)Cyc Wrote:  I can tell you there are a lot of guys my age and younger out there that arefrustrated. I am almost 40 except for the three years I lived in OK I've had season tickets or that family fun pack. I use to donate to the eagle club. I'm just sick of the Southern Miss To The Top bull****. I love my school, I love my team, it is just years of admin bull****. You go from Fedora to Eloss to Monken to Hopson. No continuity of philosophy. No goals, we are the definition of mediocrity.

This conference is a damn joke. We'd be better off with a 9 team regional conference and rebranding. CUSA sucks, it sucks bad. I'd be more excited about MAC teams or god forbid Ark State and ULL.

Campus is dead on game day. Atmosphere in the stadium is stale. We just wait for it to fall apart these days.

In my time at school we where on an upward trajectory. I just don't think most of the fans knew the rot underneath, the contentment with just being at that level. Hell I thought we'd be TCU or UL. We where a rock ship that was used as a Cessna.

All I want is vision, from someone. Give me a reason to hope and believe again. Not a lecture on how I should be loyal to a dying program. I mean Dang I could even stomach 1aa if we set out to be the best team there and compete in all sports. Just give me something to buy into, not just the good ole boy mentality and he is one of us bull****. I'd rather hire a Fedora in every sport every year than to have the loyalty from a 2nd rate coach.

I hope we win today. I took my family on vacation to enjoy my kids and wife. I'll check the score. I'll wish this is a magical year (it isn't) and I'll hope that one day some AD will come along and use this program for what it can be. And afterwards if he leaves for a bigger school or better gig, great because he did his dam job while he was here.

a very telling post that gives the current state of the fanbase. i cant disagree with much of what you said (except the D-IAA part). I do feel your pain. hopefully we can turn things around and at least start consistently winning (and start dominating) against these terrible CUSA foes. Ive been yelling for years about how CUSA is gonna be the death of USM and we should go Independent.

Despite CUSA, we were really in good shape as a football program / product. Then...EJ happened. Certain death spiral. How can you escape the EJ + CUSA combo? That's a tough one. Then, Sadler screwed any momentum BB had.

As far as tickets - looks like Sections M,N and O will be sold out by game time. That's better than not being sold out. Section N was sold out but now there's 1 ticket available.

(09-01-2017 09:35 AM)SouthernMissSNu Wrote:  

(09-01-2017 08:31 AM)theheadeagle Wrote:  There's a ton of tickets for sale. Nobody is excited about Southern Miss football anymore. This wretched conference has killed us. I'm thinking more like 25,000 actual butts in seats on Saturday.

I think it's going to be just north of 25k. Maybe 27-28k. Unfortunately, you're right. Southern Miss football isn't exciting to people in our area anymore. While I don't buy into the conference being wholly to blame, it is definitely one of the many factors that have killed our program as a whole.

- CUSA is inefficient and ineffective as a governing body. They are extremely reactive instead of proactive in regards to the changing tv markets, securing marketing/tv deals, positioning itself in the changing sports landscape, etc. The CUSA Commissioner needs to be removed and replaced.
- Years of faltering and changing with our own administration has not given us the chance to stabilize yet. Miscues and bad hires have hurt us as a whole and specifically in the athletic department (i.e forcing Bower out, Martha Saunders, Fedora leaving the cupboard bare, E12loss Johnson, Donnie Tyndall etc.). Additionally, many of our internal staff which was beginning to stabilize the program have been hired away by other programs.
- Budget cuts, decreases in enrollment, and the state of education as a whole within the State of Mississippi have hurt us as well. We went through a period of decreased enrollment between 2013 and now that have not recovered yet. Early indications are that this freshman class is the biggest in quite some time, however. It's taken a while, but I think the work that Bennett has done on the academic and enrollment side of things is finally showing its benefits (many disagree with his leadership over things such as the flag, etc. but you can't argue that it's nice to see stable leadership over the university).
- The rise of rival in-state programs, stability of close out of state high resource 5 programs, and the severed ties of some of our own supporters has definitely cut into the target fan base within the state. People who came here as "xSEC" supporters are unfortunately still leaving here as "xSEC" supporters because the product hasn't been consistently good on the field. Not a new problem, but definitely has been exacerbated.

Just one thing: "Fedora leaving the cupboard bare" is an utter b.s. myth perpetrated by people trying to pin blame on him. I can find a link with a detailed breakdown if you'd like, but in a nutshell, the majority of starters on both sides of the ball from the 2011 CUSA championship (plus Lampley, who was technically a sub) were underclassmen and even on Ellis Johnson's first and only Spring Game roster. The lack of talent going forward from there rests on a combination of Johnson himself and having to fire him and go to a 3rd different head coach in as many years.

Were we loaded enough to repeat as champs in '12? Without Austin Davis, probably not, but there was plenty enough in place to not go into a losing skid.

(09-02-2017 12:01 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  

(09-01-2017 09:35 AM)SouthernMissSNu Wrote:  

(09-01-2017 08:31 AM)theheadeagle Wrote:  There's a ton of tickets for sale. Nobody is excited about Southern Miss football anymore. This wretched conference has killed us. I'm thinking more like 25,000 actual butts in seats on Saturday.

I think it's going to be just north of 25k. Maybe 27-28k. Unfortunately, you're right. Southern Miss football isn't exciting to people in our area anymore. While I don't buy into the conference being wholly to blame, it is definitely one of the many factors that have killed our program as a whole.

- CUSA is inefficient and ineffective as a governing body. They are extremely reactive instead of proactive in regards to the changing tv markets, securing marketing/tv deals, positioning itself in the changing sports landscape, etc. The CUSA Commissioner needs to be removed and replaced.
- Years of faltering and changing with our own administration has not given us the chance to stabilize yet. Miscues and bad hires have hurt us as a whole and specifically in the athletic department (i.e forcing Bower out, Martha Saunders, Fedora leaving the cupboard bare, E12loss Johnson, Donnie Tyndall etc.). Additionally, many of our internal staff which was beginning to stabilize the program have been hired away by other programs.
- Budget cuts, decreases in enrollment, and the state of education as a whole within the State of Mississippi have hurt us as well. We went through a period of decreased enrollment between 2013 and now that have not recovered yet. Early indications are that this freshman class is the biggest in quite some time, however. It's taken a while, but I think the work that Bennett has done on the academic and enrollment side of things is finally showing its benefits (many disagree with his leadership over things such as the flag, etc. but you can't argue that it's nice to see stable leadership over the university).
- The rise of rival in-state programs, stability of close out of state high resource 5 programs, and the severed ties of some of our own supporters has definitely cut into the target fan base within the state. People who came here as "xSEC" supporters are unfortunately still leaving here as "xSEC" supporters because the product hasn't been consistently good on the field. Not a new problem, but definitely has been exacerbated.

Just one thing: "Fedora leaving the cupboard bare" is an utter b.s. myth perpetrated by people trying to pin blame on him. I can find a link with a detailed breakdown if you'd like, but in a nutshell, the majority of starters on both sides of the ball from the 2011 CUSA championship (plus Lampley, who was technically a sub) were underclassmen and even on Ellis Johnson's first and only Spring Game roster. The lack of talent going forward from there rests on a combination of Johnson himself and having to fire him and go to a 3rd different head coach in as many years.

Were we loaded enough to repeat as champs in '12? Without Austin Davis, probably not, but there was plenty enough in place to not go into a losing skid.

Agree with you 100% on that Harb.

(09-02-2017 08:11 AM)Cyc Wrote:  I can tell you there are a lot of guys my age and younger out there that arefrustrated. I am almost 40 except for the three years I lived in OK I've had season tickets or that family fun pack. I use to donate to the eagle club. I'm just sick of the Southern Miss To The Top bull****. I love my school, I love my team, it is just years of admin bull****. You go from Fedora to Eloss to Monken to Hopson. No continuity of philosophy. No goals, we are the definition of mediocrity.

This conference is a damn joke. We'd be better off with a 9 team regional conference and rebranding. CUSA sucks, it sucks bad. I'd be more excited about MAC teams or god forbid Ark State and ULL.

Campus is dead on game day. Atmosphere in the stadium is stale. We just wait for it to fall apart these days.

In my time at school we where on an upward trajectory. I just don't think most of the fans knew the rot underneath, the contentment with just being at that level. Hell I thought we'd be TCU or UL. We where a rock ship that was used as a Cessna.

All I want is vision, from someone. Give me a reason to hope and believe again. Not a lecture on how I should be loyal to a dying program. I mean Dang I could even stomach 1aa if we set out to be the best team there and compete in all sports. Just give me something to buy into, not just the good ole boy mentality and he is one of us bull****. I'd rather hire a Fedora in every sport every year than to have the loyalty from a 2nd rate coach.

I hope we win today. I took my family on vacation to enjoy my kids and wife. I'll check the score. I'll wish this is a magical year (it isn't) and I'll hope that one day some AD will come along and use this program for what it can be. And afterwards if he leaves for a bigger school or better gig, great because he did his dam job while he was here.

A real truth in life is that you become who you associate with. Birds of a feather flock together. No matter who we hire or how well we do, perception is everything in college Football and we cant escape the shackles and chains that CUSA has bound us in.

and our dumb*** coach playing this dumb*** QB ain't helping.