HATTIESBURG — The Will Hall era at Southern Miss will begin with six home games, a showdown with the reigning national champion, and a couple of regional rivalries according to the 2021 football schedule released Wednesday.

Southern Miss’ non-conference schedule is a gauntlet run through programs in the state of Alabama. The season opener is a road trip to South Alabama on Sept. 4, and then a home game vs. Troy follows two weeks later.

The three-game set concludes with the biggest and baddest of the bunch, a road trip to Tuscaloosa on Sept. 25 to face reigning national champion Alabama.

Southern Miss’ other non-conference game is at home against Grambling on Sept. 11. It will be the first-ever football meeting between the two programs.

After facing Alabama, the Golden Eagles will start their Conference USA schedule with a road game at Rice on Oct. 2. Two home games against UTEP and UAB, as well as an open date, follow, before another road game at Middle Tennessee on Oct. 30.

In November, Southern Miss will play North Texas amd Florida International at home, sandwiched around road games at UTSA and Louisiana Tech.

Conference USA’s 17th annual championship game, pitting the champions of the East and West Divisions, is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 4.

2021 Southern Miss football schedule
Sept. 4…………at South Alabama
Sept. 11…………Grambling
Sept. 18…………Troy
Sept. 25…………at Alabama
Oct. 2…………*at Rice
Oct. 9…………*UTEP
Oct. 16…………*UAB
Oct. 23…………Open date
Oct. 30…………*at Middle Tennessee
Nov. 6…………*North Texas
Nov. 13…………*at UTSA
Nov. 20…………*at Louisiana Tech
Nov. 27…………*Florida International
*Conference USA games