Southern Miss ready for heavy dose of Mississippi State RB

From one in-state rivalry game to another, Southern Miss is following up its week one win against Alcorn State with its first return trip to Starkville since 2014.

While a lot of fans from both USM and Mississippi State will be focused on bragging rights, the Golden Eagles have an eagle eye in the backfield.

Last week, MSU running back Kylin Hill torched the Louisiana defense for 197 yards and a touchdown on a whopping 27 carries. Perhaps most impressively, not a single one of those carries went for negative yardage.

Now it shouldn’t be that much of a track meet for the Bulldogs on Saturday against a unit that led the entire nation in total defense in 2018, but it’s certainly worth reading the scouting report. Southern Miss Head Football Coach Jay Hopson said, “Kylin, I’ve known back when he was at Columbus, back in high school and we all thought he was a heck of a running back there. And he, again, he didn’t disappoint on Saturday against Lafayette. He’s a total package running back.”

Assistant Head Coach/ Defensive Coordinator Tim Billings said, “He’s got great visions. He can really jump cut and he’s really strong. But he’s one of those guys that can find a small crease and get through it and before you know it, it’s not four, it’s 14. So he’s a really good football player, really good. So again, the price of poker has definitely gone up this week and we’re going to have to play really, really, really well.”

Southern Miss and Mississippi State will kick things off from Davis Wade Stadium at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.