This is North Texas 4th trip to the New Orleans Bowl where their record is 1-2. Their lone win came in 2002 against a Cincinnati team who had 6 losses. The only reason Cincy was bowl eligible was because they played 13 games that year. North Texas has pretty much dominated the Sun Belt conference in the last few years. A conference that is by far the weakest in 1A foorball. Since the year 2000 NT has only won one non-conference game! And that came last year against a very weak Baylor team. Their only other non-conference wins came against 1AA Samford in 2000 and Nicholls St. in 2002. North Texas 4 non-conference losses this year came against Baylor, Texas, Colorado. NT closest game came against Baylor, who they lost to by 23 points. Their other non conf. game came against Florida Atlantic, who is a transistional 1A team (first year in 1A) who still plays mostly 1AA teams. But once they got in to conference play, an 0-4 North Texas team immediatley started winning. That gives you some idea of the weakness of the Sun Belt.
Another stat that stuck out with me is that there isn't one team in the Sun Belt Conference with a winning record! Every team NT played this year are losers. Except their non conference opponents who soundly beat the Mean Green.
If you look at Southern Miss you'll see that they have played 5 bowl teams this year. With 4 of those 5 teams coming in their last 5 games.
That's a pretty tough last half of the season. Especially in their last game against top 5 California, where Southern Miss made a good showing. I believe their good play will carry over for their game with NT. Southern Miss has had 10 days off and NT has had 3 weeks. But I believe in this instance coming back this quick off of a good showing last week is an advantage for Southern Miss. mentally. North Texas last 2 blowout games are deceiving, with victories against the 2 bottom feeders of the Sun Belt. Both with a combined record of 6 wins and 17 losses.
I admit Southern Miss has had some problems at times this season on the defensive side of the ball. But so has North Texas, who is giving up an average of over 4 TD's a game. I like a bad defense in the Conf. USA much more than I do in the Sun Belt. And the coaching advantage goes to Jeff Bower of Southern Miss. with a 89-62-1 in his 14 th year at SM.
Southern Miss has lost their last 2 bowl games against some tough teams (OSU in 2002 and Utah in 2003). I believe their going to be hungry for a victory here in a much softer spot. I'm taking Southern Miss -5. :banger:
Another stat that stuck out with me is that there isn't one team in the Sun Belt Conference with a winning record! Every team NT played this year are losers. Except their non conference opponents who soundly beat the Mean Green.
If you look at Southern Miss you'll see that they have played 5 bowl teams this year. With 4 of those 5 teams coming in their last 5 games.
That's a pretty tough last half of the season. Especially in their last game against top 5 California, where Southern Miss made a good showing. I believe their good play will carry over for their game with NT. Southern Miss has had 10 days off and NT has had 3 weeks. But I believe in this instance coming back this quick off of a good showing last week is an advantage for Southern Miss. mentally. North Texas last 2 blowout games are deceiving, with victories against the 2 bottom feeders of the Sun Belt. Both with a combined record of 6 wins and 17 losses.
I admit Southern Miss has had some problems at times this season on the defensive side of the ball. But so has North Texas, who is giving up an average of over 4 TD's a game. I like a bad defense in the Conf. USA much more than I do in the Sun Belt. And the coaching advantage goes to Jeff Bower of Southern Miss. with a 89-62-1 in his 14 th year at SM.
Southern Miss has lost their last 2 bowl games against some tough teams (OSU in 2002 and Utah in 2003). I believe their going to be hungry for a victory here in a much softer spot. I'm taking Southern Miss -5. :banger:
arty:
