Southern Miss Golden Eagles

The Southern Miss Golden Eagles play Sun Belt Conference football at M.M. Roberts Stadium — affectionately known as 'The Rock' — in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, a program with deep national pedigree and a long history of producing NFL talent, including Brett Favre. Southern Miss has built a reputation over decades as one of the toughest Group of Five programs to face, known for physical defense and a rowdy home crowd. The Golden Eagles' black-and-gold tradition runs through multiple conference eras, from independence to Conference USA to the Sun Belt.

Southern Miss first fielded a football team in 1912 under coach Ronald Slay and has claimed a total of eight conference championships across its history, including three straight Gulf States Conference titles from 1948 to 1951 and multiple Conference USA titles in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Teams coached by Thad Vann in 1958 and 1962 are recognized by some selectors as national champions, adding to the program's small-college-era prestige. The Golden Eagles have appeared in 25 bowl games and left Conference USA for the Sun Belt Conference in 2022.