Southern Miss to face a hot Georgia State team with bowl eligibility in sight

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - The Southern Miss Golden Eagles keep on winning. After starting the season 1-2, the Golden Eagles sit at a record of 5-3 and are on a three-game win streak, looking to extend an impressive turnaround on Saturday against the Georgia State Panthers.

With a win on Saturday, the Golden Eagles have a chance to become eligible for a bowl game for the first time since 2019. However, Southern Miss’ ambitions lie with more than just a victory on Saturday.

“We really haven’t talked about [being bowl eligible]... We got Georgia State this week and obviously wanna win it and whoever we play next we’ll want to win it,” Coach Hall said. “Along the way, want to win as many games as we can win. Obviously, as the coach of this program, I know it would be big to get back to bowl eligibility. I understand that’s a step we need to take. I don’t think the players are thinking right now ‘We win this week, we’ll be bowl eligible, and then we can take it easy.’”

A win on Saturday won’t come easy, though. Georgia State, despite their deceiving 3-5 record, has presented to be a challenge to two power 5 teams and has won three of their last four games after beginning the season 0-4.

“I have a ton of respect for Coach Elliot and what [his staff] have done there. They’ve won three of their last four games and are playing really, really well right now,” Coach Hall said. “They hit extremely hard... It will be another tough week in the Sun Belt, and we’ll really have to get after it.”

It will be strength against strength Saturday afternoon in The Rock with the 17th-ranked rushing attack in the country of the Panthers matching up against the “Nasty Bunch” defense of Southern Miss, who have been lights out all season.

The Sun Belt Conference matchup is set to kick off at 2 p.m. inside M. M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg. Live game coverage will be aired on ESPN Plus.

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