A week after the UConn Huskies routed his team, Southern Miss head coach Blake Anderson made a comment that reverberated from Hattiesburg, Miss., to Storrs, Conn.

And UConn athletic director David Benedict commented back.

It’s an interesting story that’s so relevant in today’s name, image and likeness world, but we need to put Anderson’s words into context first.

Just a reminder about what happened on the field in Hattiesburg on the evening of Sept. 19.

UConn won its second game of the season, soundly beating the Golden Eagles 48-20.

The Huskies held the ball for just over 34 minutes, and up 27-6 at halftime, UConn forced Southern Miss to largely abandon the run and shift to a pass-first game.

Southern Miss gained 299 passing yards, but on a 29-for-51 day with two interceptions. After converting just five of 15 chances on third down and going 0-for-2 on fourth down, the Golden Eagles couldn’t reach the end zone enough to compete with the Huskies.

In Week 4, Southern Miss traveled to New Orleans for a clash with Tulane, a fellow 1-2 team. The Golden Eagles and Green Wave were tied at 14 at halftime, and Southern Miss headed into the fourth quarter with a 21-14 lead. Tulane took the lead on a field goal and a 74-yard TD run by Maurice Turner.

Southern Miss kicker Creighton Wilbanks missed a 44-yard field goal with 5:44 left. Four minutes later, his 21-yard attempt that would have tied the game was blocked. Tulane held on to win 24-21.

When Anderson signed on to the Sun Belt Conference coaches’ media call on Sunday, the first-year coach said his team’s three losses on the season – also routed by Auburn – were not a fair fight.

Anderson was asked what Southern Miss needed to do in the future, in terms of scheduling, to get off to a better season start.

He answered bluntly, stating his team struggled to compete with better-compensated teams.

“We played three really well-built and bought defenses,” said Anderson, a veteran head coach. “The defensive front in all three of those games is their strength. Auburn has got 20 million (dollars) in their defense, and UConn spends 13 million on their team, probably over half of that is on their defense. Tulane spends somewhere around eight to 10 million on their team, and I'd say probably five to six million on their defensive front.”

Anderson said his team will keep playing a “buy game” – a contest in which a school receives a hefty payday to play a Power Four team on the road. This year, Auburn paid Southern Miss $1.85 million to travel to its campus, AL.com reported.

In a perfect world, Anderson said, Southern Miss would play other teams with similar roster budgets, those “that are kind of in the same market we're in, that's spending what we're spending somewhere in the million-dollar range a year and rev share or something in ballpark.”

Athletic director David Benedict responded to a post on X on Monday about the situation, writing that Anderson was far off in his assessment.

“I guess it’s a compliment, but a wildly inaccurate take,” Benedict wrote. “I guess facts don’t matter anymore.”

UConn (2-2) will host Syracuse (1-2) on Saturday at noon at Pratt and Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. Will the Orange be estimating the Huskies’ roster value?