Week 9 college football pick

Like the rest college football landscape, the Sun Belt Conference was flipped in 2024.

The long-shot to win the Sun Belt, Louisiana-Monroe (which was 350/1 in the summer), is 5-1 overall and 3-0 in conference play, while the overwhelming favorite, Appalachian Wait, wait. bottom of the standings with an 0-3 record against Sun Belt opponents.

Colloquially known as the “Fun Belt” among college football fans, the Sun Belt is delivering again this season, and we’re betting on more mayhem this week with the Ugly Underdog: The Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi.

It’s been a rough start to life in the Sun Belt for Southern Miss.

After establishing themselves as one of the powers in Conference USA from 1996 to 2019, the Golden Eagles have taken a step up in class.

The decision has yet to pay off as Southern Miss went 3-9 in its first year, 7-6 in 2023 and 1-6 overall in 2024 and has yet to win a conference game in three tries.

Looking ahead to another down year, Southern Miss fired head coach Will Hall and replaced him with Reed Stringer, who has been at Southern Miss since 2018 on an interim basis.

Stringer has his work cut out for him as Southern Miss has yet to defeat an FBS opponent this season.

In fact, their best result was a 10-point loss to Louisiana in Hattiesburg on October 5th. It was ugly.

But a change at the helm can often do wonders for a team, especially in its first game under a new head coach. It’s always best to err on the side of caution when betting on narratives, but the “new coach bump” is a real thing in every sport.

Running Back Kenyon Clay Could Help Southern Miss, A?

You should get an inspired effort from Southern Miss against James Madison on Saturday, and the best part is that we’re not asking the Golden Eagles to pull off the upset, but rather to keep this game within 24.5 points.

And as disheartening as this spread is, it seems to flatter James Madison a little.

The Dukes have been one of the stories early this season thanks to one of the strangest starts to a season I’ve ever seen.

JMU started things off with a 30-7 win over Charlotte in their opener, but then was barely scratched by Gardner-Webb, 13-7, on September 7th.

The Dukes then followed that performance with a 70-50 (yes, you read that right) win over North Carolina and a 63-7 (you read that right) win over Ball State.

This team scored 13 points against an FCS opponent and then went on to score 163 in three wins against FBS teams, including UNC.

College football is weird.

That inconsistency continued to be a theme in recent games, as the Dukes bookended an impressive win against Coastal Carolina with losses to Georgia Southern and UL-Monroe.

In other words, no one has any idea what to expect when James Madison takes the field, and the same can be said for Southern Miss for this upcoming game given the turnover on the sidelines.

Bet on college football?

This should (and I stress, should be) the best effort you get from the Golden Eagles this season.

There is so much mayhem built into this game, and that should be good news for an underdog who only needs to lose by 24 points or less to send you to the window.

Let’s hope the Reed Stringer era gets off to a good start.

Recommendation: Southern Miss +24.5 (-110, ESPN BET)

Why Trust New York Post Bets

Michael Leboff handicaps the EPL, NHL, golf and everything else that isn’t the NFL and NBA for the NY Post. He grew by 49.73 units betting EPL with an ROI of 7.17%.