Southern Miss football vs. Louisiana: Score prediction, scouting report for Thursday night

HATTIESBURG – Southern Miss football’s second win of the season is followed by a quick turnaround.

The Golden Eagles (2-7, 1-5 Sun Belt Conference) have two fewer days of preparation than usual due to a Thursday night game (6:30 p.m., ESPNU) at Louisiana (5-4, 2-3).

Still, the 24-7 win over ULM provides Southern Miss the opportunity to push some steam into a winning streak.

Monday morning’s practice – aside from a group of young children and USM mascot Seymour d’Campus stopping by – was business as usual. Southern Miss coach Will Hall said the same can be said for the energy inside the Duff Athletic Center.

“In areas we are growing, we are proud of that and in areas we are falling short, we are addressing every day,” Hall said. “Y’all see it. I don’t think we practiced any differently today than what we’ve been practicing.”

It's difficult to gauge how good Louisiana football is

The Ragin’ Cajuns’ winning record makes it obvious that they are no cupcake, but their individual results make for a difficult read.

Louisiana has wins against Northwestern State, UAB and Buffalo but also a 34-30 win over Texas State and a 13-point win at South Alabama. Meanwhile, the losses are at Old Dominion, at Minnesota, home against Georgia State and a 37-17 loss to Arkansas State last week.

Louisiana to start third quarterback

Louisiana has battled well through attrition at quarterback.

Ben Wooldridge began the year as the starter, but got injured in Week 3 and hasn't played since. True freshman Zeon Chriss took over the job, but he got hurt last week and won't play versus Southern Miss.

That leaves redshirt junior Chandler Fields as the quarterback, with coach Michael Desormeaux confirming to reporters Monday that he will be the starter.

Fields is no easy pass, though, for a third stringer. He's started eight games in his career and has been at Louisiana since 2019. In his career, Fields has completed 130 of 224 passes for 1,371 yards with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Hall said he knows Fields, a Metairie, Louisiana native, from when he was an offensive coordinator at Louisiana and Tulane.

“They know what they’re getting,” Hall said. “It’s not like they’re playing someone who hasn’t played. He’s been in their system for a long time and so I think they know exactly what they’ve got and will build their offense around him.”

Frank Gore Jr. heating up

Perhaps it's no coincidence that Southern Miss has appeared to turn a corner the past two weeks with Frank Gore Jr. at the front of it.

Gore has been dominant the past two games, rushing for 247 yards against Appalachian State and 131 yards last week against ULM. That's good for second in the country in rushing yards in that span, behind only Oklahoma State's Ollie Gordon II. Pro Football Focus grades Gore at the top of the country in the past two weeks among running backs with at least 11 rushing attempts (93.2).

In doing so, he climbed the Southern Miss ranks to third in career rushing yards (3,703), passing Derrick Nix and Ben Garry. Gore, a junior, is now behind Ito Smith (4,538) and Damion Fletcher (5,302).

"It's a huge blessing to be behind them and to be top three," Gore said after Saturday's win. "There's a lot of running backs who came from this university, so to consider myself as a top-three running back from this university, that's a huge blessing."

Southern Miss vs. Louisiana score prediction

Louisiana 27, Southern Miss 26: I'm surprised Louisiana is a 10.5-point favorite, considering the quarterback situation and how Southern Miss has performed the past two weeks. I think the Golden Eagles cover the spread and Gore has another big game, but the Ragin' Cajuns' rushing offense that averages 197.3 yards per game grinds down the defense.

Sam Sklar is the Southern Miss beat reporter for the Hattiesburg American. Email him at ssklar@hattiesb.gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.

This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Southern Miss score prediction vs. Louisiana: College football Week 11