Southern Miss to grace national spotlight against defending conference champs

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WLBT) - The Southern Miss Golden Eagles orchestrated another comeback victory Saturday to beat Sun Belt Conference foes, who hadn’t lost a home game, the Texas State Bobcats 20-14 to earn their second consecutive conference win.

It required some magic to leave Texas with a win from freshman quarterback Zach Wilcke and sophomore wide receiver Chandler Pittman to boast the Golden Eagles’ best start to a season in three years.

As called by John Cox on Southern Miss radio & heard on the @varsity app: pic.twitter.com/a0mqyrLslB
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 23, 2022

Head Coach Will Hall consistently reiterates that he and his staff are rebuilding the program the “right way,” no matter how ugly the wins are. Now, Southern Miss is surging, with the program trending in the right direction and already passing last season’s win total in just seven games played.

The Golden Eagles will be rewarded for their efforts with their contest against defending Sun Belt champs, the Lousiana Ragin’ Cajuns, gracing the national spotlight Thursday night in “the Rock.”

“We got a big one Thursday night against the defending champs,” Coach Hall said. “Southern Miss is a proud place... Everyone knows our history and tradition, and that’s one reason why I love being here so much. We take great pride in building this program back. We aren’t there yet, but we are 4-3, which is the best we’ve been in a long time. We got another great opponent Thursday. We’ll have to put our best foot forward.”

The occasion is so massive for the program that the university canceled all classes for the day, encouraging students and fans to pack the stadium and be loud to support the black and gold.

“It would really be huge. It would be huge to help us win the game,” Coach Hall said. “And that’s the number one deal, we all want to win, because it will help us win.”

Southern Miss will host the Ragin’ Cajuns Thursday night. Kick-off is set for 6:30 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN2.

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