University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Football Opens Season at Kentucky Saturday
9/2/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
The Southern Miss Golden Eagles open the 2016 football season Saturday at Kentucky. Game time is set for 6:30 p.m., CT from Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington.
Here are some notes about the opening game in the Jay Hopson era:
Noting the Golden Eagles
• Southern Miss opens its 100th football season, having competed for the fi rst time in
1912. The Golden Eagles have posted an all-time record of 573-409-27, which is the 37th
best among Division I FBS teams in terms of winning percentage (.581).
• The program begins the Jay Hopson era, who became the 21st person to hold the position,
after getting hired in February of this year. Hopson coached under the legendary Jeff
Bower twice, working as an assistant coach from 2001-03 and then from 2005-07.
• After enduring three sub-.500 seasons, the Golden Eagles registered a 9-5 record a
season ago, capturing the C-USA West Division title and earning its first bowl berth in
four years.
• The team's nine victories marked the 15th time in school history that the program had
recorded at least that many victories in a season.
• Southern Miss established a school record a season ago for the most 50-plus scoring
games in a season with fi ve. They also scored at least 30 points in all nine victories.
• Under the direction of Nick Mullens, the Golden Eagles enjoyed quick-strike scoring in
2015, producing 38 touchdowns that took less than two minutes off the game clock.
• Southern Miss led Conference USA during 2015 in average home attendance with its
28,334 per game in six home games this season.
• Defensively, the Golden Eagles limited their opponents to under 300 yards of total
off ensive six times, including the team's season low of 189 against Austin Peay (9/12).
The other five times came in consecutive games starting with Marshall (10/9) and ending
against Rice (11/14).
Season Openers
• Southern Miss opens its season on the road for the second time in the last three seasons
and for the 50th time in its history, having compiled a 21-28 record in those games.
• The Golden Eagles fi rst played football in 1912 and has fi elded a team each year since,
with the exception of the 1917-18 seasons for World War I and 1943-45 for World War II.
• Southern Miss is 63-35 in season openers (no score reported for the 1916 opener against
Poplarville HS).
• This will be the third-straight year Southern Miss has opened the season against an
opponent from the Southeastern Conference as the program opened with Mississippi
State the last two seasons, including a school-record 36,641 at M.M. Roberts Stadium in
Hattiesburg last fall.
The Kentucky Series
• The Golden Eagles meet the Wildcats for the third time in their football history having
dropped both previous meetings.
• Southern Miss suffered a 71-7 setback to UK on Sept. 17, 1949, to open that season and
lost a 32-0 decision on Oct. 4, 1986. Both games were played in Lexington.
Against the SEC
• The Golden Eagles look to snap a 13-game losing streak against Southeastern Conference
foes when they face Kentucky. The last time Southern Miss defeating an SEC foe was on
Sept. 16, 2000, when they blanked Alabama 21-0 at Legion Field in Birmingham.
• The Golden Eagles are 3-14 against SEC foes in season openers with the last victory over
a SEC squad coming in an 11-7 victory over Georgia on Aug. 31, 1996.
• With the game at UK, it extends a streak for Southern Miss of playing an SEC foe in 49 of
the last 53 seasons.
