Southern Miss is back in the postseason after a three-year hiatus, gearing up to take on Western Kentucky in the New Orleans Bowl on Tuesday afternoon.
Southern Miss (7-5, 5-3 Sun Belt) made for one of the bigger storylines in college football this season as head coach Charles Huff – who recently departed for Memphis after one year in Hattiesburg – engineered the second-best turnaround in the FBS. The Golden Eagles went from 1-11 in 2024 to 7-5 and one win shy of a Sun Belt West title in 2025. Blake Anderson, formerly the team’s offensive coordinator, has been named head coach and will lead the team in the bowl game and into the foreseeable future.
“It’s a big challenge for us,” Anderson said during his introductory press conference. “We need to try to find a way to win a bowl game with this group, finish strong, win eight games, and focus on what we’re going to do next year.”
Western Kentucky (8-4, 6-2 Conference USA), on the other hand, has become a mainstay in bowl season. The Hilltoppers, coached by Tyson Helton, are playing in their seventh consecutive bowl game and are looking to get back in the postseason win column after falling short to James Madison in the 2024 Boca Raton Bowl.
From opt-outs and injury reports to start time and how to tune in live, here’s what to know ahead of the New Orleans Bowl.
Mostly full rosters
In the day and age of opt-outs and quick dives into the transfer portal, both Southern Miss and Western Kentucky will have mostly full rosters for the New Orleans Bowl.
For Southern Miss, star quarterback Braylon Braxton and defensive back Josh Moten quickly made it clear after Huff’s resignation that there won’t be many opt-outs and winning the team’s first bowl game since 2022 is the locker room’s main priority.
We gon be ready believe that! Need all the support we can get down in New Orleans‼️ #SMTTT https://t.co/0RUYC6CA6P
— Braylon Braxton (@braylon_braxton) December 7, 2025
Western Kentucky has also been virtually untouched by opt-outs or the transfer portal heading into the New Orleans Bowl.
“Everybody is with us – players and coaches,” Helton said, per WJOX. “We want to finish this thing out together.”
While Western Kentucky is heading into the game with an all-hands-on-deck approach, it remains unclear who will start at quarterback for the Hilltoppers. Both Maverick McIvor and Rodney Tisdale Jr. will be available. McIvor (1,863 yards, 12 touchdowns, five interceptions) started the team’s first seven games before going down with an injury, allowing Tisdale (1,367 yards, nine touchdowns, six interceptions) to step in and ultimately be named Conference USA’s Freshman of the Year.
Braxton, who dealt with a late-season knee injury, is expected to line up behind center for Southern Miss. He’s played in 11 games and has totaled nearly 3,000 yards and 24 touchdowns with seven interceptions.
“He looks better now than he has looked in a very long time,” Anderson said. “I’m very encouraged that we can open things back up. What makes Braylon so hard to defend is his ability to create. We had to be very, very vanilla with what we were doing (without him). We weren’t as effective as we needed to be. I expect him to be much more like himself.”
Quick numbers
- 29.8: The number of points scored on average by each team. The number places Western Kentucky as the best scoring offense in Conference USA and Southern Miss as the fifth-best scoring offense in the Sun Belt.
- 45.2: The percent in which Western Kentucky converts on third down. The number ranks No. 31 in the FBS.
- 26: The number of turnovers Southern Miss has forced this season. It’s the fourth-most in the FBS. Western Kentucky has a slight advantage in terms of points allowed, giving up 23.4 points per game compared to the Golden Eagles’ 27.4.
- 7: The number of consecutive bowl games Western Kentucky has played in.
- 2022: The the last time Southern Miss has played in a bowl game, defeating Rice in the LendingTree Bowl behind an all-time performance by now-Buffalo Bills running back Frank Gore Jr. – one that included a bowl record of 329 rushing yards.
- 8: The number of wins Southern Miss will have if they beat Western Kentucky. It would be the first time since 2018 that the Golden Eagles have reached the mark.
- 0-4: The all-time series record between these two teams in favor of Western Kentucky. The last time they played was a 10-7 Hilltopper win in 2020.
New Orleans Bowl start time
The New Orleans Bowl will kick off from inside Caesars Superdome on Tuesday, Dec. 23, at 4:30 p.m. CT. Tickets are still available and can be purchased here.
How to listen to the New Orleans Bowl
For those tuning in via radio, 11 stations in Mississippi will be carrying the game through the Southern Miss Sports Network. A list of dials can be found here. The Hilltopper Sports Network will have nine stations throughout Kentucky and Tennessee carrying the game. A list of dials can be found here.
How to watch the New Orleans Bowl
For those tuning in via TV, the New Orleans Bowl will be carried by ESPN.