HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss will open the 2010 college football season Thursday, Sept. 2, at South Carolina and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN.

“This is a huge opportunity to be the first nationally televised game of the year that signals the start of the 2010 season,” Southern Miss Director of Athletics Richard Giannini said. “This game generates a tremendous amount of attention and it gives us a chance to showcase our football program to the nation.”

ESPN Vice President of Programming and Acquisitions Dave Brown helped to secure the matchup for the network’s first Thursday night telecast of the season.

“We’re excited to have Southern Mississippi at South Carolina in our season opening Thursday night telecast next year,” Brown said. “I would like to thank both schools for their help in scheduling this.”

The game will be the first meeting ever between the Golden Eagles and Gamecocks and will be played at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.

The Golden Eagles were originally scheduled to play Southeastern Louisiana that weekend but are in talks to move the game to a later date during the season or to another year.

Southern Miss also is moving its scheduled 2010 game with LSU to the 2011 season at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge on Nov. 12. This was made possible by moving the Tennessee game from the 2011 to 2017 season.