Ranking the Opponents Most Likely to Upset the Bulldogs

Nov 30, 2013; Birmingham, AL, USA; Southern Miss Eagles Wide Receiver James Cox (15) and offensive lineman Rashod Hill (73) dunk coach Todd Monken at Legion Field. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

Number 5: The Southern Miss Golden Eagles

Make no mistake about it, Southern Miss wants to beat the Bulldogs. This is a major opportunity for the Golden Eagles to make a statement. When this game was scheduled, Southern Miss was in the middle of surge as a possible BCS crasher with Larry Fedora at the helm. A lot has changed since then. Fedora shortly left for Tar Heel Blue in Chapel Hill and Ellis Johnson was brought in to keep the winning alive. What happened was one of the worst seasons ever in 2012. They were the only team to not win a game in 2012, and they followed that up by losing their first 11 games in 2013 before ending the losing streak against UAB in the final game of the year. Can they get a winning streak against the Bulldogs?

Upset chance: 5% Probably not. Ellis Johnson did a surprising amount of damage to the Southern Miss program, and it is going to take a long time for anyone to get that program back to the respectable level that they were at before he ran it in to the ground. If the Bulldogs were a talented team, but had lots of inexperience then I might be willing to think that Golden Eagles might have a chance at upsetting the Bulldogs since it is the first game of the year. The Bulldogs are one of the most experienced teams in the SEC, so the Golden Eagles don’t even have that going for them. The one thing they do have is the burning desire to beat the Bulldogs so that has to be worth 5%.