Thursday: Links with anonymity

Story of the day:

More reasons to fear Southern Miss [NCAAFootball.com]

In addition to Southern Miss being big, athletic, and playing at home, Boise State will now have to contend with the Eagles being loaded. Conference USA has released its preseason polls and rankings, and Southern Miss is well represented to say the least.

Golden Eagle junior running back Damion Fletcher was chosen as the league’s preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Fletcher carried the ball 29 times for 155 yards in the Papajohns.com Bowl to finish last season with a single-season best 1,586 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Another Golden Eagle, reigning C-USA Defensive Player of the Year Gerald McRath, was picked as the preseason favorite to repeat as the conference’s top defensive player. He led C-USA in tackles with 139 (71 solo, 68 assist) in 2007 and averaged 10.7 per game.

Preseason Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year?  Yikes, indeed. Is there any way we can get Weber State back on the schedule?


Other links:

Is Brian Murphy famous enough to interview? [Kellis Robinett]
Relative to Pocatello people, he is.

Budweiser to support Hawaii athletics [Honolulu Advertiser]
Coca-cola to support head coach Greg McMackin.

BSU's new South African walk-on [Fight Fight BSU]
He plays running back, receiver, and philanthropist.

Oregon to sell single-game tickets tomorrow night [GoDucks]
Fifty-four dollars per seat. Seeing the Broncos win in Autzen? Priceless.

New coordinator brings fun to SoMiss offense

Change is in the air for the Southern Miss offense.

New offensive coordinator Larry Fedora, previously at Oklahoma State and Florida, has installed an up-tempo, spread attack that puts a premium on freewheeling and a kibosh on fullbacks.

It’s not that Fedora’s system is totally alien. It’s built on concepts that are becoming more familiar. Even the New England Patriots ran a version of the spread offense last season. But there are new assignments, new ways of thinking and everything has to be done at a fast pace and with no huddle.

Sounds like WAC football.

The departure from the Golden Eagle's staid approach to offense is expected to revitalize a program that has seen its support dwindle in recent years. While the new run 'n gun might be fun to watch, we don't expect any of the bells and whistles to throw the Broncos off when they visit Hattiesburg in the fall. It won't be anything they haven't seen before.

Fedora to unveil new So. Miss attack [SI.com]

Southern Miss' NFL alumni get less god-like

We've been a little heavy on the coverage of the Southern Miss portion of Boise State's upcoming schedule (It's just too easy!), but some big news came from one of its biggest alumni today. Yep, Brett Favre is retiring! Let the praise begin.

From Sun Herald in Gulfport, MS:

That's what separates Favre from his peers. He kept playing. Injuries,
Father Time, family tragedy, it seemed almost nothing could stop him. Once he
succeeded Dan Majkowski as the Packers' quarterback, he never missed a start.
Never. That's the record that means the most to him. That's the record that
showed how much his teammates could count on him.

And I thought the interception record would be the one he held most dear to him. Seriously though, how is John Madden taking this today? Someone should check on him.

It was probably a good idea for him to retire so he didn't have to evade another wager from Daryn Colledge and Korey Hall. We'll be looking for him in Hattiesberg this year and will gladly bring along another shirt if he's looking for one.

Southern Miss conceding victory?

In an article from the Hattiesburg American, an intrepid reporter tries to predict Southern Miss' record judging solely by the looks of the schedule. Here is his initial take.

I expect the Golden Eagles to win their season opener at home against Louisiana-Lafayette and add victories over Arkansas State, Marshall, UTEP, Rice, UAB and SMU. Conversely, I anticipate them losing to Auburn, Boise State, Memphis, East Carolina and Central Florida.

A few paragraphs later, he seems to have had a change of heart.

I see the Eagles taking care of business against UL-Lafayette, Boise State, Arkansas State, Marshall, Rice, Central Florida and UTEP, but falling victim to Auburn, Memphis, East Carolina, UAB and SMU.

In the matter of a few poorly constructed sentences, Boise State went from certain victor to certain loser. Kind of like the author.

Don't worry; readers let him have it in the comments.

Will Southern Miss football record improve? [Hattiesburg American]

UPDATE: Something reeks of censorship at the Hattiesburg American. After we posted this story about the dual-personality author, the website added a byline and changed the headlines to show that two different guys wrote the story. Don't worry, their sins live on in the comments section. What we wouldn't give for a screen grab right now.

Hattiesburg Roadtrip

Southern Miss has released it's 2008 football schedule and, to my surprise, Boise State is still on it. It's nice to see that Conference USA has found a way to put together a conference schedule and still allow their members to honor the contracts with other non-conference schools. This is a far cry from the fiasco that happened between the MAC and Bowling Green in 2006.

The game will be in Hattiesburg, Miss., on October 11th. Since it's only about 6 hours from my home in Nashville, I have every intention of making the trip. Now the last two road games I've been to have been the debacle in Georgia and the disappointment in Washington. I would also like to attend the Oregon game but I might rethink that for the betterment of Bronco Nation.