I would like to hear from a Southern Miss fan what exactly happened last year. How did the team collapse to that extent? You guys played us tough last year and then fell off the map. It was bizarre.
Wow. Where to start? First of all, I didn't think we played you tough at all besides the majority of the first half. Eloss took out our starting quarterback and put in the golden ponyboy Anthony Alford. EJ wasn't interested in winning. He was interested in riding off into the sunset of retirement after a few winning seasons at lil ol' Suthun Miss... After the Nebraska game, he was quoted saying, "We weren't going to win that game. So I used a sort of a practice." What. The actual. F***. We had the talent to win the conference and beat one or two of Nebraska, Boise State, or Louisville. Unfortunately, this would have required great coaching. All we had last year was a pile of crap who were getting paid to ruin our program. Johnson was also caught talking about how our players weren't at the SEC "pad level" that he was used to. That the slow, unathletic, uncoordinated, and completely untalented players from lil ol' Suthun' Miss didn't deserve to have such an esteemed coach from the holy of all holy conferences, the $EC. Johnson NEVER respected his players. He would always refer to them by their last names in press conferences as if they were just his little wooden puppets that would do all the work for him and carry him into retirement. He never, not once, had a connection with his players. From banning the play of music on the practice field, locker room, and weight room to hiring a Strength and Conditioning coach that had been out of the game for over 20 years.(This guy was half the problem. Didn't believe in stretching but was a firm believer in playing SOCCER every day before practice.) From hiring a defensive coordinator who had failed just about everywhere he had been to hiring one of his old drinking buddies (who had a very serious alcohol problem which led to our quarterbacks coach to coach the entire offense. Disaster.). Like I said, he hired a bunch of his old friends to ride off into the sunset with him into retirement, because "Everybody can win at Southern Miss. It's just a fact." (Yes, he actually said that.) He never respected his players, therefore his players never respected him. Simple as that. It was bad enough to where the players had to call a meeting with our AD about their troubles, with no coaches allowed. About as ignorant and snide as it gets. And if you know anything about the South, you know that people around here don't appreciate that. I could literally write a book on this. Made me so mad to see my University taken advantage of in such a way. Auburn better hope they have enough talent to outplay EJ's coaching because if they don't it will get bad. I hope that answered your question.