Southern Miss and Arkansas State have both struggled to begin the season. However, they’ve both also faced some tough opponents, so it’s difficult to tell how good these teams actually are.
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The one thing that does seem certain to me, however, is that both of these teams could use improvement on the offensive side of the ball. With the style of play we may see, this game will likely not be an enjoyable viewing experience.
With that being said, here’s my preview and my best bet to take advantage of for Southern Miss vs. Arkansas State.
Check out our NCAAF Betting Hub for more college football previews, predictions, news and analysis.
Southern Miss Golden Eagles
This is now the third weekend in a row in which I have written about Southern Miss, so I feel like I have the team pegged pretty well at this point.
Southern Miss is probably better than what we’ve seen to this point based on its schedule. The Golden Eagles were not able to compete with Florida State, of course, and held Tulane to 21 points, but they were able to muster only three of their own against a solid Green Wave defense.
I believe that this week, we will start to get an indication of who this Golden Eagles team is. Currently, this team ranks 126th in Offensive Success Rate. They have thrown the ball at the 30th-highest rate in the country, but they haven’t been effective either rushing or passing.
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Quarterback Billy Wiles has shown improvement over what USM had last year, but that didn’t take much. He has thrown for 592 yards in three games with a -0.06 EPA per dropback.
Running back Frank Gore Jr. was injured in Saturday’s loss, but according to head coach Will Hall, “he’s looking good.”
Defensively, this team has been more formidable. It ranks 50th in Defensive Success Rate, coming in at 46th against the run and 63rd against the pass.
Allowing explosives and generating Havoc have been issues. Southern Miss ranks 121st in Havoc Rate and 132nd in Explosiveness. The Golden Eagles will need to rein in these big plays if they wish to have their overall productivity match their down-to-down numbers.
Arkansas State Red Wolves
Arkansas State was probably the worst team in FBS through the first two weeks of the season. In two games against Oklahoma and Memphis, the Red Wolves were outscored 110-3. It looked like this team had already given up on Butch Jones and mailed it in for the season.
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However, in Week 3, there were potential signs of life. Against FCS opponent Stony Brook, the Red Wolves put up 6.81 yards per play and won 31-7.
Arkansas State is pretty awful. However, it did get back on track with a win against Stony Brook, so maybe the team hasn’t quit yet.
This is a bad program — even for the FCS level — but the win does create some potential momentum for Jones’ squad to get back on track.
This season, Arkansas State ranks 129th in Success Rate on offense. The Red Wolves’ rushing offense is a bit better, ranking 104th compared to 128th for the passing offense.
The one bright spot has been a ranking of 19th in Rushing Explosiveness. This is a weakness for the Southern Miss defense and may be the main hope the Red Wolves have of putting points on the board.
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Defensively, things haven’t been much better. Arkansas State ranks 120th in Success Rate Allowed and 122nd in Finishing Drives. The Red Wovles are also 93rd in Rushing Success Rate Allowed and 127th in Passing Success Rate Allowed.
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Southern Miss vs. Arkansas State
Matchup Analysis
Toggle the dropdowns below to hide or show how Southern Miss and Arkansas State match up statistically:
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Southern Miss Offense vs. Arkansas State Defense
Rush Success
123
94
Line Yards
131
81
Pass Success
113
120
Havoc
98
97
Finishing Drives
103
121
Quality Drives
88
123
Arkansas State Offense vs. Southern Miss Defense
Rush Success
110
46
Line Yards
113
96
Pass Success
128
67
Havoc
87
83
Finishing Drives
128
98
Quality Drives
132
103
Pace of Play / Other
PFF Tackling
119
70
PFF Coverage
97
106
Special Teams SP+
82
122
Middle 8
128
101
Seconds per Play
30.0 (113)
23.8 (19)
Rush Rate
49.2% (103)
52.1% (96)
Southern Miss vs. Arkansas State
Betting Pick & Prediction
While I do think that Southern Miss is the better team, I think that the current line may be a touch over-inflated.
However, I can’t stomach backing Arkansas State at this point in the season.
Instead, for the second week in a row, I will be on the under in a Southern Miss game.
I believe that both of these offenses are putrid, while the defenses are a bit more respectable – despite the early-season numbers.
I don’t expect much scoring from either of these teams unless Wiles is able to turn the corner and provide USM with the passing game it’s been searching for.
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I’m going to bet against that happening this week and take the under at 49 points.
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Arkansas Razorbacks (5-1) vs. Illinois Fighting Illini (5-1)
Kansas City, Missouri; Thursday, 4 p.m. EST
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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Fighting Illini -2.5; over/under is 154
BOTTOM LINE: Illinois plays No. 19 Arkansas in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Fighting Illini are 5-1 in non-conference play. Illinois leads the Big Ten in rebounding, averaging 46.3 boards. Tomislav Ivisic leads the Fighting Illini with 8.7 rebounds.
The Razorbacks are 5-1 in non-conference play. Arkansas averages 12.5 turnovers per game and is 4-0 when turning the ball over less than opponents.
Illinois scores 89.0 points, 29.8 more per game than the 59.2 Arkansas allows. Arkansas averages 8.3 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.8 more made shots on average than the 5.5 per game Illinois gives up.
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TOP PERFORMERS: Will Riley is scoring 17.2 points per game and averaging 5.3 rebounds for the Fighting Illini.
Boogie Fland is shooting 48.1% from beyond the arc with 2.2 made 3-pointers per game for the Razorbacks, while averaging 17.2 points, 5.5 assists and 2.2 steals.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The No. 21 Missouri Tigers enter their final regular season game with the least injury questions than they have had for most other games since the beginning of November.
But, there was a few new additions to the team’s availability report ahead of the Week 14 game against Arkansas. Below is the full availability report for the Tigers and the Arkansas Razorbacks.
This post will be updated throughout the week with new availability reports posted Thursday, Friday and 90 minutes before the 3:15 p.m. kick off.
Missouri Initial Availability Report:
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Note: Missouri players with injuries previously reported to be season-ending are not listed on this post.
• DB Shamar McNeil – OUT • LS Brett Le Blanc – OUT • OL Logan Reichert – OUT • RB Kewan Lacy – QUESTIONABLE
True freshman running back Kewan Lacy took one carry against Mississippi State in Week 13 before exiting the game with injury. Head coach Eli Drinkwitz said in the week leading up to that game that he would expect Lacy to see more opportunities going forward.
Le Blanc handles punting long snapping duties for Missouri, while Trey Flint takes care of field goals and extra points. Expect Flint to slide in for Le Blanc Saturday.
Arkansas Initial Availability Report:
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• DL Nico Dalliver – OUT • DB Jaylon Braxton – OUT • K Kyle Ramsey – OUT • DL Anton Juncaj – DOUBTFUL • RB Braylen Russel – QUESTIONABLE • DB Anthony Switzer – QUESTIONABLE
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The partnership will improve Arkansas Children’s service and care for patients and their families. Credit: Vita Monart/Shutterstock.
Arkansas Children’s, a private, non-profit paediatric care organisation, has partnered with Press Ganey to improve paediatric patient experience.
Beginning 1 January 2025, this collaboration is aimed at bolstering the paediatric care organisation’s commitment to improving service and care for patients and their families.
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Arkansas Children’s executive vice-president and chief operating officer Jamie Wiggins said: “We believe that every interaction with our patients is an opportunity to make a meaningful impact.
“By leveraging Press Ganey’s expertise and industry-leading pediatric benchmarks, we will gain valuable insights that will empower our teams to continuously improve and innovate in delivering compassionate care.”
Press Ganey will offer its patient experience and provider star-rating solutions to help Arkansas Children’s monitor feedback and enhance care quality.
The partnership will enable Arkansas Children’s to leverage Press Ganey’s AI-powered text analytics.
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This will help analyse open-ended feedback from online reviews and post-visit surveys, providing an understanding of patient and family perspectives.
The goal is to gain actionable insights that can further improve the patient experience.
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Press Ganey provides experience measurement, data analytics and insights to health systems and caters to more than 65% of all freestanding paediatric hospitals.
This partnership will allow Arkansas Children’s to benefit from shared learning and innovation within Press Ganey’s network of institutions.
Press Ganey CEO and chairman Patrick Ryan said: “Families trust Arkansas Children’s to provide the highest quality care for their children.
“This partnership reflects their dedication to listening to families, responding to their needs, and innovating to create a world-class paediatric healthcare experience.”
Arkansas Children’s network includes two paediatric hospitals, a nursery alliance, statewide clinics, a research institute, a USDA nutrition centre, and numerous education and outreach programmes.
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