USM Football Defensive Struggles Big Concern Heading into LSU Game

USM’s shot at hosting the Conference USA championship game took a big blow on Saturday after an underwhelming performance in San Antonio. That’s not the only problem facing the Golden Eagles this week.
They gave up a season high 55 points in their big loss to UTSA, the most they’ve allowed since 2014. Even more concerning is the number 339, the amount of rushing yards given up by the defense.
Of all weeks, that’s not a good place to be with the LSU ground game salivating over Saturday’s matchup.
On the other side, Southern Miss Head Coach Jay Hopson says stopping that SEC rushing attack starts by living up to that nasty bunch pedigree. “It’s not anything you like to see happen. You don’t ever like a game like that. Then certainly, we know we’re playing a football team this week that is a very good football team. They’re a physical football team and we know we’ve got to get better. I think that’s our charge this week. We’ve got to go out and play physical football, Southern Miss football, play with great leverage, do the little things right fundamentally and I think that’s a big push for us this week.”
Now according to multiple reports, Leonard Fournette is not expected to suit up again this week due to a bum ankle, meaning it’s going to be another heavy dose of Derrius Guice. The sophomore leads the SEC in yards per carry with 8.7.