Southern Miss football ready to speed up timeline

It wasn’t too long ago that Southern Miss football had 18 straight winning seasons, now opening up its 2022 campaign against a Liberty program that has something similar to what USM used to have, 16 straight seasons with six or more wins.

The Golden Eagles coming off a 3-9 showing in Will Hall’s first season as head coach, but showing signs of promise to close out the injury-plagued year with back-to-back double digit wins despite not having a true starting quarterback under center.

Frank Gore Jr. and the Black and Gold are back to full strength heading into 2022, now less than 72 hours away from their first major test against the Flames, led by former Ole Miss Head Coach Hugh Freeze. Coach Hall said, “Well, I think it’s a chance to hit fast-forward, and maybe skip a few steps. If you’re going up the steps one at a time and then all of a sudden you jump up three, you can get to the top faster. We want to be the best Group of Five program in America. We’ve made that no secret since we got here. That’s what we’re building to be. We’re not there yet. But to beat a program like Liberty who you can argue has been the best Group of Five program in America or in that conversation, would be a huge leap forward for us. It doesn’t define us. It doesn’t get us there whether we win or lose, but it is a jump forward.”

The Golden Eagles kick off their 2022 campaign at home against Liberty at 6 p.m. Saturday from the Rock.