After Saturday’s 30-20 loss at Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss head coach Charles Huff said something very interesting at the end of the game in the postgame press conference.
He was explaining some of the missed assignments by the defense and bad reads by the offense when he said, “We didn't play well enough tonight to win. Didn’t coach well enough tonight to win. They go back to the drawing board. Hope it's a learning experience. Not sure we fully learned how to win consistently.”
He later added: “We got the ball on the six-inch yard line, and we can’t get it in the end zone. Two or three times. We miss field goals. All the things that happen when you can’t handle success.”
That raises the question: Is this a Southern Miss problem, or was it simply a bad game?
Last week, when the Golden Eagles beat Appalachian State, it gave fans a glimpse of what life under Huff could look like. But just as quickly, they let it slip away.
Good programs build off milestones. Great programs stack wins. For the better part of the last decade, Southern Miss has had neither. And it showed in Ruston.
Saturday’s loss wasn’t about talent. The Golden Eagles outgained Louisiana Tech and should have won the football game. It was about handling success — and Southern Miss once again showed it isn’t ready. The fan base on social media was quick to dismiss the team again, only a week after believing in them.
A 20-point hole in the first half was proof enough. Yes, the Golden Eagles fought back and made it interesting late, but once again, it was a fight from behind. They didn’t look like a team ready to seize momentum. They looked like a team still figuring out how to deal with it.
The pushback to that argument is that many of these players — especially on offense — came from a team that proved it could win last year. And whether fair or not, that’s how this year’s Southern Miss team will be judged.
That’s why I think it was an eye-opening statement for many fans, because in their minds, most of the key players for Southern Miss learned how to win 10 games at Marshall last season. Yet for some reason here, that same core group doesn’t know how to win consistently.
It’s more proof this football team will be judged by last year’s Marshall team, not this year’s Golden Eagles. But this roster is vastly different, and that’s what fans may not fully understand.
Of Huff’s 84 transfers, fewer than 25 came from Marshall. Granted, those are some of the most impactful pieces on the roster. But even so, as a whole this team is still learning who it is. That’s why Huff said, “They don’t know how to win yet … consistently.”
Players admitted as much. Linebacker Chris Jones said Huff told them early in the week they weren’t preparing well enough to win — a warning that proved true on Saturday.
It’s frustrating for a fan base, but the truth is this team still has the ability to win every game on the rest of the schedule. This loss didn’t change that.
The question now is whether Southern Miss can handle winning.
The answer, at least this week, is no.
Around the Pine Belt
Elsewhere in the Pine Belt, Sumrall is still riding high with first-year head coach Drew Granger. The Bobcats blew out West Marion to improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2021.
Granger is already an early candidate for Pine Belt Coach of the Year.
Hattiesburg finally played a non-rival and beat Biloxi 23-6. And Oak Grove’s Drew Causey notched his 100th career win with an impressive 36-7 victory over Neville (La.).
The Saints’ slide
Finally, let’s talk about the Saints. I’ve been a Saints fan my whole life, and I’m not sure the team has ever been this low.
Losing to Seattle is one thing, but getting eviscerated by a mid-level NFL team is a new low. At this point, there’s little debate that New Orleans might be the worst team in the league.
And don’t worry — the schedule only gets easier with a trip to Buffalo to face Josh Allen and the Bills this week.
Football is all about momentum. Southern Miss is still chasing it, Sumrall is building it and the Saints may never find it.
I’ll see you at the games this weekend.
