Why 2011 Stands Alone: Larry Fedora Reflects on Southern Miss' Greatest Football Season

For two months this summer, the Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI team ran a tournament on social media to determine the greatest Southern Miss football season of all time through fan voting. After two months of polls and narrowing it down from 32 teams to one, the No. 1-seeded 2011 Southern Miss Golden Eagles captured the championship crown. In the championship, 2011 took down the 1981 Southern Miss squad with 61 percent of the total vote.

Here's a complete wrap-up of this tournament and its champion, including input from the head coach of that legendary 2011 Southern Miss team, Larry Fedora, who took some time to speak with Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI this week.

The Build-Up to 'The Greatest Southern Miss Football Season of All Time'

Nov.26, 2011; Hattiesburg, MS, USA; Southern Miss Golden Eagles head coach Larry Fedora on the sidelines against the Memphis Tigers at M.M. Roberts Stadium.Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Legendary Southern Miss head coach Jeff Bower announced his retirement after USM's 2007 appearance in the PapaJohns.Com Bowl against No. 22 Cincinnati. This started a big search for the one who would replace the man who had devoted the past 17 seasons to leading the Golden Eagles. Among the candidates named to replace Bower were Jimbo Fisher, Will Muschamp, Ellis Johnson, and Larry Fedora. On December 12, 2007, 10 days before the Golden Eagles' bowl game, Richard Giananni, former Southern Miss Athletics Director, announced Oklahoma State's offensive coordinator Larry Fedora would be hired as the Golden Eagles' next head football coach. Funnily enough, when Jeff Bower was hired in 1990, he had also been Oklahoma State's offensive coordinator in 1990.

Fedora's first three seasons at the helm of the Golden Eagles program (2008-2010) saw USM obtain a 22-17 overall record, a 14-10 Conference USA record, and a 1-2 bowl record. The Golden Eagles also went 5-3 against their biggest rivals at the time (Tulane, Memphis, and ECU) and had a 1-2 record against AP Top 25-ranked teams. Needless to say, things seemed to be going pretty much as they did when Bower was head coach: averaging 7-8 wins a season and making a bowl game.

But Southern Miss fans were still hoping for more. In 2011, Fedora's Golden Eagles fufilled those hopes.

A Regular Season to Remember

October 13, 2011; Orlando FL, USA; Southern Miss Golden Eagles wide receiver Quentin Pierce (85) during the second quarter against the UCF Knights at Bright House Networks Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The 2011 squad's spread opened with a win against Louisiana Tech in the "Rivalry in Dixie" at M.M. Roberts Stadium. The following week, the Golden Eagles would travel to West Virginia, where they'd drop a heartbreaking 20-26 loss to Marshall, but Southern Miss would quickly jump back. The Golden Eagles went on an eight-game win streak, racking up wins against teams such as Virginia, SMU, and UCF. USM even managed to enter the AP Top 25, going into the UCF game being ranked for the first time since the week of November 6, 2004.

Ranked No. 22 in the AP Poll, the Golden Eagles took on the UAB Blazers at historic Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala. However, the ranking did not mean a thing in this game, as the Golden Eagles dropped a heartbreaker to the Blazers, 34-31, and exited the rankings for the time being. But a 37-point win over Memphis in the "Black and Blue Bowl" earned them a spot in the AP Poll once again. The 6-2 CUSA record earned the Golden Eagles their first Conference USA Championship since 2006 to face a familiar foe: the Houston Cougars.

The 2011 Conference USA Championship: Proving the Critics Wrong

2011 USM CUSA Champions — Dec 3, 2011; Houston, TX, USA; Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles offensive lineman Joe Duhon (68) and quarterback Austin Davis (12) and offensive lineman Lamar Holmes (72) celebrate a victory against the Houston Cougars at Robertson Stadium. Southern Miss defeated Houston 49-28 to win the Conference USA championship. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Since the inception of Conference USA in 1995, Houston has been quite a nuisance to the Golden Eagles. The teams had met once before their time together in CUSA, in 1957, when the Cougars defeated Southern Miss 27-17 at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson. The teams would not meet again for 39 years, until the first year of Conference USA football. Houston defeated Southern Miss again in 1996, splitting the inaugural Conference USA title. However, the Golden Eagles put together a six-game winning streak against the Cougars between 1997 and 2004, a span during which they captured three CUSA titles.

In 2006, Houston was once again a problem for Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles defeated Houston 31-27 in the regular season, but by this time, Conference USA had enough members to adopt a conference championship game. In the Conference USA title game, Southern Miss would have to face Houston yet again, but would lose this time, 34-20, and not see another appearance in the title game until... 2011.

Southern Miss was ranked No. 24 in the AP Poll with a 10-2 record heading into the 2011 CUSA championship game. Houston was ranked No. 7 in the AP Poll and was undefeated with a Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback.

The Golden Eagles came into the game swinging. Attitudes were high and morale strong; the team was motivated partly by ESPN's pregame coverage, which spent a lot of time discussing Houston and very little on Southern Miss. At the time, Southern Miss players were on a bus in Houston watching that segment. Coach Fedora says the team's reaction to watching the national media discount them is when he knew his team would handle business.

'They never even talked about us," Fedora tells Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI. "And one of our linebackers on the back of the bus jumped up and started yelling and screaming, and he was mad, and they all started up with him, and I never turned around to say anything. It was at that moment I knew we were going to play well."

And well they played. The No. 24 Golden Eagles defeated the No. 7 Cougars 49-28 in front of Houston's own home crowd, with NCAA career passing yards leader Case Keenum taking a beating from a stout Southern Miss defense. Following the championship win, the Golden Eagles were left to choose between the Ticket City Bowl against Penn State or the Hawaii Bowl against Nevada. Coach Fedora admitted he knew some players may never get the chance to experience Hawaii, so off to Honolulu the Golden Eagles went. They defeated the Nevada Wolfpack 24-17, finishing the season with the most amount of wins in a season in program history (12) and ranked in the AP Top 25 at No. 20.

As good a job as Fedora and his staff did coaching during that 2011 season, he says the credit has to go to the special group of players they had: "It was our guys. They showed up every day at practice and played hard. There was no whining, complaining, moaning, just guys getting better at football."

The Coaching Carousel That Followed

September 15, 2012; Hattiesburg, MS, USA; Southern Miss Golden Eagles head coach Ellis Johnson during their game against the East Carolina Pirates at M.M. Roberts Stadium. East Carolina won, 24-14. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook - USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Shortly before the Hawaii Bowl, it was announced that Larry Fedora would be replacing Everett Withers as the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. After being considered as a potential Jeff Bower replacement in 2007, Ellis Johnson was instead hired to replace Fedora in 2011. The Golden Eagles took a complete downturn from past success in 2012, finishing 0-12 in the program's first winless season since 1925. Johnson and his entire team were released after that lone season, and Oklahoma State's offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, was hired to rebuild the program.

Coach Fedora led the Tar Heels from 2012-2018 and led them to an ACC Championship in 2015. Fedora's former offensive coordinator, Blake Anderson, followed Fedora to UNC before taking over the Arkansas State Red Wolves in 2014, leading them to two Sun Belt Conference Championships. In 2021, Anderson was hired as the next coach of the Utah State Aggies, and he won the Mountain West Championship in his first season. In 2025, when Charles Huff became the head coach at Southern Miss, he brought Anderson back to Hattiesburg as his own OC. When Huff left for Memphis, Anderson was hired as the Golden Eagles' next head coach.

Larry Fedora shared his thoughts on Anderson's hiring, saying, "Southern Miss made the right decision. I have the utmost confidence in Coach Anderson and his team this year, and I'm excited to see how far they go."

Austin Davis and fans after the 2011 SMU-USM Gam — Oct. 22 2011; Hattiesburg, MS, USA; Southern Miss Golden Eagles quarterback Austin Davis (12) celebrates with fans after their game against the Southern Methodist Mustangs at M.M. Roberts Stadium. Southern Mississippi won, 27-3. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Final Numbers of the Champs

2011 Statistics

Record: 12-2 (6-2 CUSA)
Conference USA Champions over #7 Houston
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl Champions over Nevada
5 Weeks Ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll (Finished at #20)
Notable Players: Austin Davis (QB), Kevin Bolden (WR), Jamie Collins (LB)
1 Player Drafted Into the NFL (Lamar Holmes, T - Atlanta Falcons, Pick #91)
Notable Wins: vs. SMU (27-3) & @ #7 Houston (49-28, CUSA Championship)

2011 Stat Leaders

Austin Davis - Passing: 286/475, 3,496 Yards, 30 TDs, 11 Ints
Jamal Woodyard - Rushing: 110 Attempts for 732 Yards & 3 TDs
Ryan Ballentine - Receiving: 49 Receptions for 742 Yards & 8 TDs
Jamie Collins - Defense: 98 Total Tackles, 1 Interception, 1 Int. for TD
Danny Hrapmann - Kicking: 61 Extra Points of 62 Attempts, 23 FG Made of 24 Attempts

Other 2011 Stats

Average Home Attendance: 28,365
Largest Home Attendance: 32,295 (vs. UCF)
Season Point Difference: Southern Miss 513, Opponents 291
Most Points Scored: 63 vs. Navy
Most Points Allowed: 35 vs. Navy
Fewest Points Scored: 19 vs. LA Tech
Fewest Points Allowed: 7 vs. Memphis

We'd like to thank everyone who voted and shared opinions during this tournament. Remember to stay tuned to Southern Miss Golden Eagles On SI for more football coverage, with the 2026 season right around the corner.

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