# 2011 Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team

The 2011 Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team represented the University of Southern Mississippi in the 2011 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Golden Eagles were led by fourth-year head coach Larry Fedora and played their home games at M. M. Roberts Stadium. They are a member of the East Division of Conference USA. They finished the season 12–2, 7–2 in C-USA play. They were champions of the East Division and defeated undefeated Houston, 49–28, in the C-USA Championship Game to become conference champions. They were invited to the Hawaii Bowl, where they defeated Nevada, 24–17.
Fedora resigned at the end of the regular season to become the head coach at North Carolina. He stayed on and coached the Golden Eagles in the Hawaii Bowl and finished at Southern Miss with a four-year record of 34–19. South Carolina assistant head coach Ellis Johnson took over as head coach in 2012.

## Pre-season
### Top 25 rankings

During the pre-season, Southern Miss was ranked in several notable top 25 polls. Phil Steele ranked the team as No. 20. Outside the Top 25, Southern Miss was ranked as No. 55 by Sporting News, No. 31 in the AP Poll, and No. 42 in the Coaches' Poll.

## Schedule

| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 3 | 9:00 pm | Louisiana Tech* | | M. M. Roberts StadiumHattiesburg, Mississippi (Rivalry in Dixie) | FSN | W 19–17 | 22,356 |
| September 10 | 2:30 pm | at Marshall | | Joan C. Edwards StadiumHuntington, West Virginia | CSS | L 20–26 | 24,247 |
| September 17 | 6:00 pm | Southeastern Louisiana* | | M. M. Roberts StadiumHattiesburg, Mississippi | | W 52–6 | 27,433 |
| September 24 | 3:30 pm | at Virginia* | | Scott StadiumCharlottesville, Virginia | FS South | W 30–24 | 43,220 |
| October 1 | 6:30 pm | Rice | | M. M. Roberts StadiumHattiesburg, Mississippi | CSS | W 48–24 | 28,656 |
| October 8 | 3:30 pm | at Navy* | | Navy–Marine Corps Memorial StadiumAnnapolis, Maryland | CBSSN | W 63–35 | 33,462 |
| October 22 | 7:00 pm | SMU | | M. M. Roberts StadiumHattiesburg, Mississippi | CBSSN | W 27–3 | 32,685 |
| October 29 | 7:00 pm | at UTEP | | Sun BowlEl Paso, Texas | CBSSN | W 31–13 | 24,906 |
| November 5 | 3:00 pm | at East Carolina | | Dowdy–Ficklen StadiumGreenville, North Carolina | CSS | W 48–28 | 50,345 |
| November 12 | 7:00 pm | UCF | No. 25 | M. M. Roberts StadiumHattiesburg, Mississippi | CBSSN | W 30–29 | 32,925 |
| November 17 | 7:00 pm | at UAB | No. 22 | Legion FieldBirmingham, Alabama | CBSSN | L 31–34 | 14,103 |
| November 26 | 3:00 pm | Memphis | | M. M. Roberts StadiumHattiesburg, Mississippi (Black and Blue Bowl) | CSS | W 44–7 | 26,347 |
| December 3 | 11:00 am | vs. No. 7 Houston | No. 24 | Robertson StadiumHouston (C-USA Championship) | ABC | W 49–28 | 32,413 |
| December 24 | 7:00 pm | vs. Nevada* | No. 22 | Aloha StadiumHonolulu, HI (Hawaii Bowl) | ESPN | W 24–17 | 32,630 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll released prior to the gameAll times are in Central time ||||||||

## Poll rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Final |
| AP | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 25 | 22 | RV | 24 | 22 | 20 |
| Coaches | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 25 | 24 | 23 | 20 | RV | 23 | 21 | 19 |
| Harris | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | RV | RV | RV | RV | 23 | 20 | RV | 23 | 21 | Not released |
| BCS | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | — | — | 25 | 22 | 20 | — | 24 | 21 | Not released |