Who is more delusional, Southern Miss or Bama?

I am a Southern Miss grad. I was there back in the mid-late 90's when we won 3 conference championships in 4 years and went to the Liberty Bowl twice. We were consistently ranked in the Top 25, almost breaking through to the Top 10 in 2000. Since 2000, we've won one conference championship.

No one at Southern Miss expects to compete for the NC or even for a BCS bid. The level of our conference would never allow for it. We understand that. However, there is no reason we shouldn't be dominating the conference right now. The conference lost the most competitive teams we had - Louisville, Cincy, USF, etc. There is NO reason a team that was able to consistently win when the conference was competitive should be losing to the likes of Rice and UCF. Right now, all we want is to be able to dominate the conference and pull out the occasional upset against a tough OOC opponent (Bower has beat LSU, Alabama, Georgia, and Nebraska to name a few).

As much as I appreciate everything Bower has done, we are in a rut. Our offense is horribly inconsistent and the prevent defense has become his specialty. Bringing in someone with a fresh perspective and a lot to prove could really invigorate the program and get us back to where we want to be: a consistent Top 25, consistent conference champion, and a potential spoiler for the tough OOC teams we play. That's it. No delusions of NC or BCS dancing in our heads.

I wish Bower all the best and I hope he finds much success wherever he goes. I am grateful for his loyalty and commitment to the program. It was just time for a fresh start for both Bower and the University.


One more thing:

quote:

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Southern Miss has NEVER filled their 36k seat stadium yet they are adding 10k more seats

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I will admit our attendance is not the best - I blame the crappy conference teams on that - but we have had many sellouts and near sellouts through the years. It's a bit severe to say we've NEVER filled our stadium.

If we ever want to bring the bigger schools to play in our house, we have to make room for them.