I attended USM from 2000 to 2005, a span that coincided with wins over a string of ostensibly heavier hitters — Alabama in 2000, Oklahoma State in 2001, Illinois in 2002, Nebraska in 2004 — all of which unfolded on national TV, and not all of which were upsets. It also included stunners over heavily favored, nationally ranked outfits from TCU in 2000 and again in 2003, when Southern Miss clinched the C-USA title by toppling the undefeated Horned Frogs (as well as a goalpost, which I helped escort out of the stadium) with hordes of national media on hand on a Thursday night. The fan base relished Southern Miss’s self-styled “Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere” rep, and the team generally lived up to the motto. In my freshman year, USM started at no. 22 in the AP poll and rose as high as no. 13 in early November; in my senior year, the last home game was a thrilling, down-to-the-wire loss at the hands of a loaded edition of Cal that featured Aaron Rodgers and Marshawn Lynch1 and subsequently cost the best Berkeley team of the century a spot in the Rose Bowl.
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/southern-miss-golden-eagles-college-football-realignment-losers/
