Which Conference USA teams will be on Southern Miss' football schedule in 2018?

The Southern Miss football team's Conference USA competition will not change in 2018. 

The Golden Eagles will face the same league opponents they did last season, the only differences being the dates and sites. Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Rice and UTSA will travel to Hattiesburg, while Southern Miss will take trips to UAB, North Texas, Charlotte and UTEP.

The Black and Gold will host Rice on Sept. 22 in the team's Conference USA opener. The team's date with North Texas is set for Oct. 13. UTSA will visit Hattiesburg on Oct. 20, before Southern Miss travels to Charlotte on Oct. 27. Marshall will make the trip to M.M. Roberts Stadium on Nov. 3. The Golden Eagles will visit UAB on Nov. 10, before hosting Louisiana Tech on Nov. 17. 

Southern Miss concludes the regular-season schedule at UTEP on Nov. 24. 

The non-conference portion of the 2018 schedule has also been set. The Golden Eagles will host Jackson State on Sept. 1, and Louisiana-Monroe on Sept. 8. Road games versus Appalachian State and Auburn are set for Sept. 15 and Sept. 29, respectively.

Southern Miss is coming off an 8-5 season, finishing in third place in C-USA’s West division and falling to Florida State in the Independence Bowl.

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The Golden Eagles’ 2019 non-conference schedule features a home game with Alcorn State on Aug. 31 in the season opener, before road dates with Mississippi State (Sept. 7), Troy (Sept. 14) and Alabama (Sept. 21).

While uncommon, scheduling five home contests is not unprecedented at Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles played only five home games in 2013, the year after the worst season (0-12) in program history.

According to documents obtained by the Hattiesburg American via open records requests, Southern Miss will receive guaranteed financial payouts of $1.7 million for the game at Auburn later this year, $1.2 million for the date with Mississippi State in 2019, and $1.85 million for playing at Alabama in 2019.