Southern Miss — Sun Belt
HC
Blake Anderson · M. M. Roberts Stadium · Hattiesburg, MS · 36,000 cap
PPA off / def
0.16 / 0.12
2025
Class rank
#108
class of 2026
Returning PPA
90%
returning production
2026 schedule
2025 results (7–6)
Statistical comps — 2025 Southern Miss's closest analogs
Nearest neighbors by z-scored success rate, explosiveness, run rate & havoc (offense + defense), 2015–25.
2025 leaders
Transfer portal — 2026 (38 in / 28 out)
Origins
Favre arrived as a seventh-string quarterback and beat Florida State in Tallahassee. The 1980s and 90s teams made a habit of ambushing power programs for a paycheck.
Founded 1910 · Mississippi Normal College, the state's teacher-training school · first football 1912 · defined by Brett Favre
All-time record
All-time
413–373–7
1913–2025
Win %
52.5%
89 seasons played
Winning seasons
51
57% of seasons
By level: ii/iii 9–18 (1913–1954) · D-II 0–8 (1948–1951) · FBS 404–347–7 (1955–2025)
| Best seasons | W | L | Conference |
|---|
| 2011 | 12 | 2 | Conference USA |
| 1988 | 10 | 2 | FBS Independents |
| 1981 | 9 | 2 | FBS Independents |
| 1999 | 9 | 3 | Conference USA |
| 1997 | 9 | 3 | Conference USA |
Season records from CollegeFootballData, which is why the span starts at 1913 — that is where its coverage of this program begins, not necessarily the first year it fielded a team.
Play-calling tendencies (2025 · garbage time excluded)
| Situation | Plays | Run % | Success % | Nat'l | Avg yds | Expl % |
|---|
| 1st down | 373 | 53% |
38% | 124 of 136 | 5.6 | 12% |
| 2nd down | 276 | 47% |
40% | 80 of 136 | 6.0 | 11% |
| 3rd & short (≤3) | 42 | 71% |
60% | — | 4.1 | 7% |
| 3rd & medium (4–7) | 59 | 31% |
39% | — | 4.9 | 10% |
| 3rd & long (8+) | 67 | 24% |
28% | — | 8.4 | 21% |
| 4th down | 19 | 47% |
47% | — | 5.2 | 11% |
166 drives · 30% ended in points · 7.2 plays and 39.4 yards per drive · 0.88 PPA per drive
Success: 50% of yardage needed on 1st, 70% on 2nd, 100% on 3rd/4th. Explosive: 12+ yd rush / 16+ yd pass. National rank is shown only for 1st and 2nd down, where every team has 100+ plays; the later buckets average 18-43 and a rank there would be noise.
League leaderboard →Most valuable plays (by PPA, 2025)
| Wk | Opp | Play | Yds | PPA |
|---|
| 8 | Louisiana |
Braylon Braxton pass complete to Micah Davis for 98 yds for a TD (Creighton Wilbanks KICK) |
98 | 7.37 |
| 11 | Arkansas State |
Elijah Metcalf 76 Yd pass from Landry Lyddy (Creighton Wilbanks Kick) |
76 | 6.15 |
| 9 | UL Monroe |
(12:13) No Huddle-Shotgun #1 B.Braxton pass complete short middle to #88 K.Heath caught at… |
34 | 4.65 |
| 4 | Louisiana Tech |
Davis Dalton 34 Yd pass from Braylon Braxton (Creighton Wilbanks Kick) |
34 | 4.49 |
| 3 | App State |
Braylon Braxton pass complete to Elijah Metcalf for 48 yds to the APP 36 for a 1ST down |
48 | 4.27 |
| 14 | Troy |
(03:26) No Huddle-Shotgun #1 B.Braxton pass complete deep left to #7 C.Chester caught at T… |
30 | 4.17 |
| 13 | South Alabama |
(06:34) No Huddle-Shotgun #1 B.Braxton pass complete deep left to #7 C.Chester caught at U… |
52 | 4.01 |
| 13 | South Alabama |
(14:04) No Huddle-Shotgun #1 B.Braxton pass complete deep middle to #7 C.Chester caught at… |
44 | 3.93 |