HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss defensive coordinator Joe Bolden didn't shy away from the harsh reality of his defense’s performance at Troy a few weeks ago. In response, Saturday's 23-13 loss to Arkansas State didn't produce the result the Golden Eagles wanted, but it did show signs of progress on the defensive side of the ball.
Southern Miss played Arkansas State well on the ground, holding the Red Wolves to just 134 rushing yards on 51 attempts, an average of just 2.6 yards per carry. The Golden Eagles also brought relentless pressure, recording a season-high four sacks and 10 tackles for loss.
For Bolden, the turnaround began with personal accountability.
"When you have a game like you did against Troy, especially as a coordinator, as a coach, you look at yourself, and you ask, 'Okay, is it the position of our guys? Did I put them in a great position to make plays? How did I coach that week? How can I get better?'" Bolden said Monday. "Because at the end of the day, how the defense performs is ultimately on me."
Back to the Basics
Rather than completely changing his defensive approach, Bolden spent the week emphasizing the fundamentals that he believes should define Southern Miss Football.
"Going into this week, there's an emphasis, obviously, on tackling, but also to get back to the basics of our core identity defensively of playing with great effort," Bolden said. "Playing with the intent to arrive at the ball, nasty."
Bolden has a particular way of describing the mentality he expects from his players when they step on the field.
"I've told our guys before, when you play defense, you have to be unrecognizable to your mother," Bolden said. "You got to go and take your mind to a place that many and others don't go, and that your mom doesn't realize, 'Oh, wow, that's my son.' You got to be nasty. You got to be mean."
Running to the Football with Purpose
That physical approach was far more noticeable against Arkansas State, particularly when multiple defenders converged on the football.
"I told those guys last week, I said, 'You guys all wear back-plates now.'" Bolden said. "Back plates defensively serve no purpose other than to make sure you're safe from friendly fire. And the only way there's friendly fire is if we get 11 hats to the football, and I thought our guys early on did that really well."
Overall, Southern Miss limited Arkansas State to 304 total yards, including 170 through the air. Wesley Edison, JR Stegall, Kameron Cyprien, and Ramon Pernas each recorded a sack on the day. Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, the offensive and special teams units weren't able to have that same type of performance. If Southern Miss is going to snap its five-game skid, it will need to click in all three phases.
Building Consistency Moving Forward
Despite those encouraging numbers, Bolden still saw several areas that need work ahead of homecoming.
"We still had a couple of missed tackles,“ Bolden said. "You guys got to trust your speed. You trust your speed, you got to trust your violence. And when you arrive there, you got to be more violent than the ball carrier."
The Golden Eagles are now 1-5 overall and 0-2 in Sun Belt play. That's not where they wanted to be at the halfway point of this season, but Saturday gave fans a much better picture of what Bolden wants his defense to become.
With homecoming coming up this week and a very talented Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (5-2, 2-1) team coming to Hattiesburg, returning to that "nasty" mindset on defense, as Bolden put it, is more important than ever. Not only to salvage what's left of this season, but also to set the standard for next season and beyond.
Kickoff for the showdown with the Rajin’ Cajuns is set for Saturday, October 24 at 4:00 p.m. at The Rock (Renasant Stadium).
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