University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Football Announces 2010 Opponents
2/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 5, 2010
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Another challenging home schedule awaits Southern Miss for the 2010 season as it includes both 2009 Conference USA championship game participant from a year ago, the Southwestern Athletic Conference champion and a BCS automatic-qualifying conference school for the second consecutive year.
Although C-USA does not release its game dates for another month for league contests, the Golden Eagles will play both East Carolina and Houston, the C-USA East and West Division champions from last season, as well as fellow league foes Marshall and UAB at Carlisle-Faulkner Field at Roberts Stadium.
Non-conference home dates include Prairie View A&M, Sept. 11, and Big 12 foe Kansas, Sept. 18.
"This is another extremely challenging schedule for Coach Fedora, his staff and players," said Southern Miss Director of Athletics Richard Giannini. "We are excited about having both teams that played in the C-USA championship game in 2009 here during the upcoming season, as well as bringing in both Prairie View A&M and Kansas for the first time. This is the second-straight year we have been able to bring in a team from a BCS automatic-qualifying conference to Hattiesburg."
Prairie View A&M, a Football Championship Subdivision school, replaces Southeastern Louisiana on the original schedule, which is another FCS institution. Prairie View A&M defeated Alabama A&M, 30-24, in the SWAC championship game to win the title and the Panthers finished the year at 9-1.
It will be the first meeting for the Golden Eagles and Panthers, while Kansas comes to The Rock for the first time in its history.
The Golden Eagles begin the year, Thur., Sept. 2, at Southeastern Conference foe South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., on the opening night of the 2010 campaign on ESPN. After a year hiatus, Southern Miss returns to playing an SEC opponent. Other than 2008, the Golden Eagles had played at least one SEC school a year since 1964. Southern Miss will also travel to Louisiana Tech on Sept. 25. The two teams have not met since 1992 and the Golden Eagles lead 29-13 in the series.
"The 2010 schedule promises to be another challenging one for this program and one that features great home games," Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora said. "We look forward to the opportunity of playing quality opponents both at home and on the road are excited about opening our season on the national stage on ESPN at South Carolina."
For Giannini, the 12-game slate follows a formula that Southern Miss tries to meet each and every season.
"This meets our scheduling criteria in which we play a major exposure game (USC), a game against a BCS automatic-qualifying conference school (Kansas), a game against a nearby rival (Louisiana Tech) and a FCS institution (Prairie View A&M)," Giannini added.
The Golden Eagles also take to the road for league games against UCF, Memphis, Tulane and Tulsa.
