There's also an injury update the report hasn't caught up to yet. WR Grant Page, still listed out with a dislocated elbow, came back against ULM after 6 weeks away and caught Lyddy's only touchdown, a 21-yarder. J. Himes is still out long-term with a foot injury, so Page's return gives this passing game a little more help than it had in September.
Southern Miss's run of form needs some context. The 3-game losing streak included a 55-34 beating at Troy and a 23-13 home loss to Arkansas State. The 2-game winning streak came against Louisiana and UL Monroe. Still, Blake Anderson's defense looked like a real unit in Monroe: a fumble recovery on ULM's first drive, 5 sacks spread across 7 players, and turnovers on downs on back-to-back possessions to finish the game. JR Stegall had 1.5 sacks and Landon Sylvie made 11 tackles. That's the kind of pressure that can rattle a team that just put the ball on the ground twice in one half.
The scheduling matters too. JMU played Thursday the 29th and gets a full week before this one. Southern Miss played Saturday in Monroe and turns around to host a Thursday game 5 days later, its first road win under Anderson followed by a short week. The forecast is no excuse for either side: around 69 degrees, mostly sunny, 3% chance of rain and 6 mph of wind in Hattiesburg.
The Dukes are the better team on paper: 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Sun Belt, against 3-5 and 2-2 for Southern Miss. But the 2 losses came the same way: a lead that slipped away and a game left to overtime. If JMU protects the ball, it has the offense to put this away early. If the giveaways continue on the road against a defense that just had 5 sacks, Southern Miss can win this the same way it beat ULM, with Robinson carrying it and Lyddy staying out of trouble.
