You know, when I started as the sports editor at the Pine Belt News, I thought of all the potential storylines throughout the season that I’d have to write.
In my head, I thought I might be writing, “Southern Miss excels under first-year coach Charles Huff at 6-6” or “Southern Miss has incredible 7-5 turnaround under Huff.”
Never did I think Southern Miss would be welcoming Troy on the final weekend of the regular season for the West title. It got me thinking: What the hell else do Southern Miss fans want?
Seriously. Southern Miss is hosting Troy for a right to meet James Madison in the Sun Belt Championship Game.
It’s a perfect dessert for the end of the week after all the thanksgiving food we get to enjoy.
But I get it.
The past two weeks have felt like a jarring return to a version of Southern Miss football this fan base hoped it had buried.
For nine games, the Golden Eagles had rewritten their trajectory — 7-2 overall, undefeated in Sun Belt play and looking like the program fans convinced themselves they’d see when Charles Huff stepped off the plane last December.
Then Texas State came into Hattiesburg and just destroyed this team. Of course Southern Miss was without quarterback Braylon Braxton and had Landry Lyddy going. But for many Golden Eagle fans, it was like they had stepped into a time machine and were watching the team from a season ago.
The Bobcats out schemed Southern Miss, exploited the holes in the offense and took care of business on the road. The loss was a reminder that momentum can flip on you in real time. Texas State dictated everything: tempo, field position, confidence, rhythm. The defense couldn’t get off the field, and the offense couldn’t stay on it. By halftime, with the score 27-0, Southern Miss fans were left silent — not angry, not emotional — just numb.
But many fans assumed it was a one-off. I mean, they didn’t have Braxton and Texas State did have one of the best offenses in the Sun Belt.
Then came South Alabama, a team Southern Miss has never beaten in its storied football program.
The Jaguars were a team with just three wins and no postseason hopes, but somehow they always seem to have Southern Miss’ number. Southern Miss was out of sync defensively, late to the edge, soft in the middle and incapable of generating pressure. Offensively, they played uphill for three quarters. And while the fourth-quarter rally was admirable, it was too late.
The story never changed: South Alabama controlled the night, and Southern Miss took its second straight punch.
For a team riding confidence and seemingly on a collision course with James Madison, it suddenly felt like a colossal crash landing. It has left the fan base with many questions and concerns. Understandable… but—
Those two weeks didn’t end the season. They simply made what comes next even bigger.
Fans forget quickly in college football. But if you zoom out, the 2025 season remains everything Charles Huff said it could and would become when he was hired last December.
When Huff was introduced as Southern Miss’ head coach, he made one promise to the fan base:
“I didn’t come here to play,” Huff said. “I came here to win. And we will win.”
His words weren’t hollow. He told players and fans the staff would build something that lasts — something not dependent on one game, one injury, one setback. He told them Southern Miss would play disciplined football, recruit with purpose and take the fight to the rest of the Sun Belt. He told them they’d have a chance when November came.
He hasn’t lied.
There wasn’t luck in Southern Miss winning its way to 7-4. They have earned every right to play meaningful, championship football on Saturday. Of course, the last two weeks haven’t been where Huff wants the team.
But Huff knows what’s in front of him. He said so Saturday after the South Alabama loss.
“We stink right now,” Huff said. “Trust me, nobody feels worse than Coach Huff. But we have championship football in Hattiesburg in November. The sky is not falling.”
“The sky is not falling” is a perfect way to explain it. Southern Miss fans might be mad they lost to South Alabama for the sixth year in a row. But honestly, who cares? Southern Miss could have played its grad assistants in that game and it wouldn’t have mattered.
All that matters is Saturday. You win and it’s for all the glory next Friday night in Harrisonburg. You lose, and then you’re left feeling sour about an incredible first-season turnaround.
Southern Miss was broken when Huff got here. And in 11 months, he has Southern Miss on the cusp of where Golden Eagle fans have always wanted to be.
And he’s done it with injuries to the starting quarterback, chaos at times in the secondary, inconsistency in the run game and, don’t forget, a roster of over 70 new players.
You could argue — pretty convincingly, actually — that this turnaround is ahead of schedule.
And now comes the moment Huff promised: the moment where everything is still on the table, everything is still attainable and everything still matters. The moment where Southern Miss can send a statement to the Sun Belt about exactly who they’re becoming.
So I ask you… what the hell else do you want?
Saturday is what Southern Miss fans have dreamed about for so many years. Through Jay Hopson and Will Hall, and now Huff has gotten them here in one?
A division championship game.
At home.
At The Rock.
In late November.
You want relevance? This is what relevance looks like. You want a program that matters? Well, programs that matter play games like this on Thanksgiving weekend.
So yes — the past two weeks were awful. They were frustrating. They were old-school Southern Miss in the worst way.
But Saturday? Saturday is new Southern Miss.
Saturday is what Huff has been building toward.
Saturday is everything you could ask for.
Southern Miss is playing for the West. At home. In front of you.
So I ask again: What the hell else do you want?
