The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and Southern Miss Golden Eagles will square off in the 2025 New Orleans Bowl on Tuesday. Western Kentucky enters with an 8-4 record, while Southern Miss finished the regular season at 7-5. Both teams ended the regular season on losing streaks and will try to bounce back in their final action of 2025. Before kickoff from the Crescent City, you will find my Western Kentucky vs Southern Miss prediction right here.
Our Western Kentucky vs Southern Miss Pick
Game Snapshot
- Matchup: Western Kentucky Hilltoppers vs Southern Miss Golden Eagles
- Date & Time: Tuesday, December 23, 2025, 5:30 PM ET
- Venue: Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Broadcast: ESPN
Key Storylines
Western Kentucky arrives in New Orleans following an 8-4 season that featured a productive offense averaging 405 yards per game, with a strong passing attack driving much of that production. But the quarterback situation for Western Kentucky has been a problem toward the end of the season, with the Hilltoppers dropping two straight games heading into this bowl game.
Southern Miss finished 7-5 this season despite losing three straight games heading into the New Orleans Bowl. The Golden Eagles can certainly hold their own on offense, averaging 29.8 points per game. They will try to get their offense back up and running after failing to reach 20 points in two of their final three regular-season games.
This New Orleans Bowl is the first meeting between these former Conference USA rivals since 2020, with Western Kentucky holding the all-time series advantage. Both teams have maintained most of their rosters into bowl season, but Southern Miss underwent a coaching change, with Charles Huff leading for Memphis. It will be interesting to see how that impacts this game, if it does at all.
Quarterback Play
Western Kentucky’s offense was led by Maverick McIvor for a good chunk of the season. But injuries contributed to him relinquishing the starting quarterback job to Rodney Tisdale Jr. Tisdale has been inconsistent at quarterback for the Hilltoppers and I’m anxious to see how he performs in his first taste of bowl action.
Southern Miss has relied on Braylon Braxton at quarterback, who has thrown for close to 2,800 yards and 23 touchdowns. Braxton’s production is a major reason the Golden Eagles have remained competitive, but he has thrown an interception in three straight games and will need to clean that up for his team to succeed here.
Betting Trends & H2H
- Western Kentucky is 4-0 all-time against Southern Miss.
- Western Kentucky was an impressive 9-3 against the spread during the regular season.
- Southern Miss went 5-6-1 against the spread in the regular season.
- Both of these teams went 6-6 on over/unders this year.
Western Kentucky vs Southern Miss Model Projection
Final Thoughts
