Southern Miss releases 2013 football schedule

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Conference USA released its 2013 composite football schedule Wednesday afternoon designating Southern Miss playing dates for the 2013 campaign.

The Golden Eagles will play a challenging early season non-conference schedule that includes road contests at Nebraska (Sept. 7), Arkansas (Sept. 14) and Boise State (Sept. 28). The season begins Aug. 31st at Carlisle-Faulkner Field at Roberts Stadium when the team under the leadership of Todd Monken compete against Sun Belt Conference member Texas State .

Conference USA has scheduled the Golden Eagles to compete against newcomers Florida International (Oct. 5), North Texas (Oct. 26), Florida Atlantic (Nov. 16), and Middle Tennessee (Nov. 23). When the Golden Eagles "step outside of league play," they do so in competitive fashion traveling to powerhouse opponents from the Southeastern, Big 10 and Mountain West Conferences. Southern Miss returns to Lincoln, Nebraska for the second-straight season and takes on Arkansas for the first time in school history.

"We have scheduled a challenging, competitive non-conference schedule for the 2013 season," said Director of Athletics Jeff Hammond. Additionally, C-USA has the Golden Eagles hosting four new league members this season and we look forward to welcoming them into C-USA via South Mississippi and The Rock."

The 14-team alignment for the 2013 season will feature each team playing eight conference games, along with four non-league contests.

The 2013 alignment will feature seven teams in both the East and West Divisions. East Carolina, FAU, FIU, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss and UAB comprise the East Division, while Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Tulane, Tulsa, UTEP and UTSA make up the West Division.

Each school will play every team in its division once for six games, while playing two cross-over opponents from the opposite division. The 2013 schedule has 14 playing weeks, which provides for two open dates for each team. The schedule is a one-year model, meaning that as the conference lineup changes for the 2014 season, opponents may change and locations of games for that season are not yet determined.

A schedule of televised games will be released at a later date. Conference USA's national television partners are Fox Sports Media Group and CBS Sports Network for regular season games. The league's ninth annual Championship Game, pitting the champions of the East and West Divisions, is scheduled for Saturday, December 7 and will be televised by ESPN or ESPN 2.

Southern Miss is the only returning Conference USA member for the 2013 season that will entertain a new league member in each of its home conference match ups.

Please note that all games are subject to date changes.

2013 Southern Miss Football Schedule

Aug. 31 Texas State - Hattiesburg, Miss.

Sept. 7 Nebraska - Lincoln, Neb.

Sept. 14 Arkansas - Fayetteville, Ark.

Sept. 28 Boise State - Boise, Idaho

Oct. 5 FIU* - Hattiesburg, Miss.

Oct. 19 East Carolina* - Greenville, N.C.

Oct. 26 North Texas* - Hattiesburg, Miss.

Nov. 2 Marshall* - Huntington, W.Va.

Nov. 9 Louisiana Tech* - Ruston, La.

Nov. 16 FAU* - Hattiesburg, Miss.

Nov. 23 Middle Tennessee* - Hattiesburg, Miss.

Nov. 30 UAB* - Birmingham, Ala.

* Conference USA game