Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles

Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles were in danger of losing their 14 year winning season streak after a dismal start to their 2008 campaign. An opening win against Louisiana-Lafayette was followed by a road loss at Auburn and road win at Arkansas State. What followed was a bunch of erratic home performances with consecutive losses to Marshall, UTEP and Boise State. The Eagles weren’t much better on the road either, losing at Rice and Memphis and entering the finishing straight of the season with a 2-6 record. Southern Miss had to win all four of their remaining matches to guarantee the continuation of their streak and an expected postseason berth. They destroyed UAB 70-14 in the Homecoming game and then successfully travelled to beat UCF 17-6. The win against eventual champions East Carolina meant that the Eagles had to travel to SMU and win to ensure a chance to extend the winning streak to 15 seasons. They beat SMU 28-12 and then triumphed over Troy in overtime in the New Orleans Bowl, finishing 7-6 for the season and protecting their streak – only Florida State, University of Florida and Virginia Tech have better streaks in the nation.