The novelty is gone, but the presence remains.
Sweet revenge might no longer be the obvious angle for Shannon Dawson when he faces Kentucky on Saturday in Hattiesburg, Miss., but one aspect hasn’t changed. In this matchup, the Southern Miss offensive coordinator is still the wild card.
In last year’s opener, Dawson played the winning card. Fired by Mark Stoops after one year as Kentucky’s offensive coordinator, Dawson helped engineer Southern Miss’ stunning 44-35 comeback win over the Cats at Commonwealth Stadium.
Down 35-10 in the second quarter, the Golden Eagles got the rally train started with a touchdown 26 seconds before halftime, then added a TD on each of their three third-quarter possessions to take a 38-35 lead on the way to scoring 34 unanswered points.