Southern Miss will look to senior quarterback Landry Lyddy to take the reins as the starter against Tulane on Saturday.
First reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Lyddy will start Saturday for the second time in his Southern Miss (1-2) career after Ethan Hampton suffered a hand injury in the team’s 48-20 loss to UConn (2-1) on Sept. 19. Hampton began the season as the Golden Eagles’ starter.
“He’s beat up. He’s got a pretty significant hand injury,” Southern Miss head coach Blake Anderson said. “We do not anticipate him to be able to squeeze and throw a football this week. He’s clearly not in a position to play.”
Hampton is expected to miss four to six weeks with a fracture in his throwing hand after he slammed it into a player’s helmet during a play against the Huskies. In his first three starts of the 2026 season for Southern Miss, Hampton is 45 of 75 for 419 yards, two touchdowns, and four interceptions.
After his injury, Lyddy came in for the Golden Eagles in the second half, going 14 of 25 for 194 yards in the air with a touchdown and an interception.
“Lyddy came in and did a pretty good job in [Hampton’s] absence,” Anderson said. “Made a couple mistakes that he needs back. The interception he can’t have, took a sack on a movement play he should have thrown away, but other than that, he really made good decisions and got the ball out in space when he needed to and moved the chains with his feet a couple times, so I was glad he was prepared for the moment, and we’ll turn it over to him and let him run with it.
“I have no doubt he’ll do everything he can to be prepared. It’s his offense this week, and we’ll see where things lead from there.”
In Lyddy’s limited playing time during the Golden Eagles’ 1-2 start, he has thrown for 20 of 33 in the air for 265 yards, a touchdown, and an interception, with most of his productivity coming in the second half against UConn.
Southern Miss will travel to New Orleans to face off against the Tulane Green Wave (1-2) on Sept. 26 at 6 p.m.
