The biggest games and wildest moments in the Southern Miss-Tulane football rivalry
Following a nearly decade-long absence for the Southern Miss-Tulane football rivalry, the “Battle for the Bell” resumes on Saturday with a new coat of paint for the trophy.
The ESPN-televised Armed Forces Bowl kicks off at 10:30 a.m. in Forth Worth, marking the first time the Golden Eagles and Green Wave have met outside the city limits of New Orleans and Hattiesburg.
The two schools are located just 115 miles apart, but they didn’t start playing football until 1979 — a 20-19 victory for the Green Wave in Hattiesburg.
From that point forward, there have been far more valleys than peaks for Tulane in the 30-game series. USM is 23-7 against Tulane and has wins in each of the last six meetings. Ahead of Saturday’s battle at TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium, we take a look back at some of the important and odd moments in the history of the rivalry.
Brett Favre’s debut at USM
The Hancock County native’s introduction as the Southern Miss quarterback came on Sept. 19, 1987, and it just so happened to come against the rival Green Wave. He was a complete unknown at the time, listed as a reserve defensive back on the official depth chart.
Nobody was more surprised to be on the field than Favre, who expected to sit out the season and was battling a hangover when he arrived at M.M. Roberts Stadium that day.
When USM head coach Jim Carmody inserted Favre with 5:49 left the third quarter, the Eagles were trailing by 10.
The final score ended up 31-24 in USM’s favor with Favre showing off the incredibly strong arm that turned him into an NFL legend.
Tulane has only had three wins over USM since that 1987 game.
Green Wave punt on third down
There have been some ugly performances for Tulane in the history of the series, but it’s hard to believe it got any worse than a 31-3 win for the Golden Eagles at the Superdome in 2006.
Tulane managed just 85 yards of offense and seven first downs. The Green Wave passing attack was inept with Scott Elliott and Lester Ricard combining to complete just four of 16 attempts for 42 yards and an interception.
The low point of the game for Tulane came on its second to last possession. The drive started promising enough with a 12-yard completion by Ricard for a first down at the Green Wave 32, but that’s when things went sideways.
Tulane committed three straight penalties — two false starts and a delay of game before Ray Boudreaux carried three yards up the middle. The next play was an incomplete pass by Ricard.
Facing third-and-22 at his own 20, Tulane head coach Chris Scelfo called a timeout and made the extremely rare decision to punt on third down. The call drew plenty of heat from the Green Wave faithful and he was fired at the end of the season following an 4-8 campaign.
When Scelfo met with media after his firing, he was asked if he would have done anything differently during his eight-year stint at Tulane.
“I took a lot of flack for punting on third down (against Southern Miss),” he said. “I probably should have punted on second down looking back at it.”
Tulane-Southern Miss 1998 battle
When Southern Miss and Tulane met at the Superdome in 1998, it was one of the rare moments in the history of the rivalry that both teams were at a high point.
USM, which had become a Conference USA juggernaut under head coach Jeff Bower, traveled to New Orleans with a record of 1-2 following a 55-0 win over Southwestern Louisiana and losses on the road to Penn State and Texas A&M.
Tulane stood at 3-0 under second-year head coach Tommy Bowden, who quickly turned the Green Wave into a winner with a 7-4 campaign in 1997.
Tulane quarterback Shaun King played through a broken left wrist he suffered in the previous game and the Green Wave defense forced six USM turnovers.
The final score ended up 21-7 and the Green Wave did not lose a game the rest of the way, beating BYU 41-27 in the Liberty Bowl to cap off a 12-0 season.
USM finished 7-5, losing 42-35 to Idaho in the Humanitarian Bowl.
Marquee contest in 1980
After Tulane topped Southern Miss 20-19 in Hattiesburg in 1979, the stage was set for a season-opening battle between the two teams in New Orleans on Sept. 6, 1980.
The game was televised by ABC, marking the first time that a USM football game was carried by a major TV network. A crowd of more than 44,000 showed up to watch the game.
Tulane jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but the Golden Eagles rallied behind sophomore quarterback Reggie Collier. USM kicker Winston Walker made up for missing a late field goal against the Green Wave the year prior by converting from 36 yards out with 31 seconds remaining, giving the Golden Eagles a 17-14 victory.
The win for USM was the first of six straight to begin the season. The Golden Eagles finished 9-3 and beat McNeese State 16-14 in the Independence Bowl.
Tulane went 7-5 that season, losing 34-15 to Arkansas in the Hall of Fame Classic.
This story was originally published January 2, 2020 at 2:28 PM.
