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The Southern Miss Golden Eagles take on the ULM Warhawks in Monroe, Louisiana, on Saturday, Oct. 31. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Southern Miss is favored by -3.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -162. ULM, meanwhile, enters as a +3.5 underdog and is +134 on the moneyline to pull off the upset. The over/under sits at 56.5 total points.
Here's my Southern Miss vs. ULM predictionand college football pick for Saturday, October 31.
Southern Miss vs. ULM Pick: Southern Miss -3.5
My ULM vs. Southern Miss best bet is on the Golden Eagles to cover the spread. Find the best line available on our live NCAAF odds page .
Southern Miss vs ULM point spread: Southern Miss -3.5 (-108), ULM +3.5 (-112)
Southern Miss vs ULM over/under: 56.5 (-108o / -112u)
Southern Miss vs ULM moneyline: Southern Miss -162, ULM +134
Southern Miss is laying 3.5 points at ULM, and I like the Golden Eagles here.
The Warhawks are a team with a lame-duck coach in Bryant Vincent, and they're fresh off a miracle win. They had just three points heading into the fourth quarter, finished with only 243 yards, and then somehow scored 18 points in the final 2:34 to shock Troy and win outright, 21-14.
But without that win, they'd be 0-7. Instead, they're 1-6. The reality is this is just not a good team.
Vincent is now 9-22 as a head coach there. I don't think he can survive another season, and I'd expect some kind of reset. Maybe they go with a young coordinator type and try to bring in somebody who can breathe life back into the program. It's just a tough job.
ULM looked like it was heading in the right direction when star running back Ahmad Hardy was there, but as we've said, whenever you find a diamond in the rough, a Power 4 program usually comes and takes it.
Southern Miss, meanwhile, comes in after a late comeback win over Louisiana last week. That was a little different for a couple of reasons.
First, this team has a real head coach with a strong track record in Blake Anderson. He's been a rebuild specialist and has led nine separate teams to bowl games. He has the trust of the administration, and they're going to give him time.
So being 2-5 isn't the same thing as ULM being 1-6 with Vincent basically staring down the barrel.
The Golden Eagles still need a 4-1 finish to reach bowl eligibility. The JMU game looks like a likely loss, so there's no room to overlook anyone. To get to six wins, they have to treat every game like this as a must-win.
Can they do it? I think so.
If you go back and watch their game against Louisiana, the running game is where it starts, and it looks good.
Running back Jamarice Wilder came over from Louisville and just broke out for 150 yards and a touchdown last week, kind of out of nowhere, because he's been the second back behind Steven Robinson.
Robinson has been a really versatile weapon for Anderson this year as well, catching passes out of the backfield and running the ball. Over the last two weeks alone, he's piled up 279 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns.
So, I trust them to stick with the game plan and execute it.
USM also showed plenty earlier this season in a 24-21 road loss at Tulane, so this road trip doesn't worry me. TeamRankings actually has ULM's home-field advantage rated 130th in the nation, and that might even be generous.
Against a Southern Miss team that probably isn't listening to its coach anymore, I just don't see much here for the home side.
That ULM win over Troy felt like a classic dead-cat bounce. It gained 243 total yards, and Troy had 200. That's bottom-of-the-barrel FBS football.
Southern Miss, meanwhile, can keep building and maybe finish 5-7 or even 6-6 if things break right. And as the line sits right now at 3.5, I think it's mispriced. I see it as a gift.
Pick: Southern Miss -3.5
