The Mid-Season Report Cards are a subjective look using objective numbers with a look toward the remainder of the season as well. Teams are being reviewed in random order once they reach 6 games.
The Golden Eagles are in year two of Larry Fedora’s rebuilding program, and are still in search of the dominance they enjoyed in Conference USA before the 2005 realignment. They’re a young team this year, but had high hopes nonetheless, and build a lot of excitement just getting out to a 3-0 start. But much like Colorado State, their schedule beefed up and they couldn’t keep winning.
Sadly, reports are in now that their walk-on punter who passed away this weekend died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. I won’t try to put this into any kind of football sense, but my condolences go out to the inevitably large circle of people affected by this news.
- Wins: C. 3-3, things started well with wins over division rival UCF and Virginia, but after a close loss to Kansas, two more defeats to a UAB team they’ve never lost to before, followed by a blown lead at Louisville, have been disappointing.
- Offense: A. USM has probably the most balanced offensive attack in the conference and one of the best in the country. 183 rushing ypg, 235 in the air, and the total of 418 is in the top 45 nationally in every category, and top four in the league (2nd for total offense behind Houston). The offense is putting up 30+ ppg, good for third in a high scoring conference.
- Defense: A. Again, their defensive production numbers are outstanding. 109 ypg allowed on the ground, a top 50 pass defense, and a scoring number (23.83) well below their offensive production.
- Special Teams: C. Net punting has been a problem, and the only category on the stat sheet where they’re in the bottom 20 nationally. Their return game is top 35 in both categories.
- Turnovers: C. Their margin is even- 10 given, 10 taken. This isn’t what they’ll want to keep doing through the rest of the fall, but if they can improve on the margin, their effective offense will have better chances to win games for them.
- Grading Curve: No Change. 3-3 isn’t too far from where I thought USM could be, but without knowing how bad Virginia was, I would have expected that to be a loss and UAB to be a win.
- Final Grade: B. In this case, I think the record is worse than the team. That’s never a good thing, but USM should have the chance to improve on the scoresheet in the second half and contend for postseason attention.
Remaining Games:
- Memphis
- Tulane
- at Houston
- at Marshall
- Tulsa
- at East Carolina
Best Case Scenario: As Conference USA schedules go, this is a tough one. 5-1 is possible, if not probable.
Worst Case Scenario: Losses to all the teams that look like 50/50 or so matchups, to go 2-4.
Prediction:4-2, second or third in the East, but probably good enough for a bowl bid at 7-5. They have a team capable of doing well in this schedule, but the inconsistency makes me think it’ll be tough to do better than 2-2 in their last four games.