Athletic Dept. announces home game themes

Southern Miss Athletic Director Jeff Hammond announced in August that there will be themes for each home game this season. Each theme will focus on a word that has allowed the university to prosper throughout its first 100 years of athletics. Also, each of the five colleges at the University of Southern Mississippi will be honored at the games this season.

“Over the first 100 years, we found that six prevailing themes have help Southern Miss excel,” Hammond said. “We use these six prevailing themes to connect the past century to the next century. Each theme is used to identify a celebratory moment in time.”

Hammond believes the themes will show students, faculty, staff and fans that the athletic department is focused on becoming a supporting part of the university.

“We are shifting a little bit of focus on where we fit,” Hammond said. “We want to be a supporting member of students, faculty, staff and the local community. We wanted to focus on the six colleges. We want to show that the athletic department belongs to the students, faculty, staff and community.”

The first home game will be one of the busiest of the season. The game, which is against East Carolina on Sept. 15, will use the theme “Be Prepared”. The athletic department will honor the Boy Scouts in this game, since the first game that Southern Miss played 100 years ago was against the Boy Scouts. 

The College of Arts and Letters will be the first college honored, the Pride of Mississippi Marching Band will host its annual All-South Band Day and the stadium will be divided into three color schemes. Fans in the east stands will be asked to wear gold, fans in the south end zone will be asked to wear white and fans in the west stands will be asked to wear black.

The second theme of the season will be “Tradition”. This will be on Sept. 29, when Louisville comes to town. This will be the traditional Blackout game. Along with the blackout game, it will also be Junior College Day, where students, faculty and staff from all junior and community colleges can receive discounted tickets. The M-Club will also honor and recognize its newest members at this game. The second college to be honored this year will be the College of Business.

On Oct. 6, Boise State will come to town for the third home game of the season. This will be the game where “Champions” will be honored, as that is the theme for the game. The five Conference USA championship teams (1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2011) will be honored, the three Gulf States championship teams (1948, 1950, 1951) and the two national championship teams (1958, 1962) will be honored as well. The College of Health and Nursing will be honored at this game, and the game will also serve as the annual Breast Cancer Awareness game.

The fourth home game of the year will be against Marshall on Oct. 20. This will be Homecoming weekend, and the theme of the game will be “Honor”. The Alumni Association will be honored, homecoming court and the king and queen will be announced, and the football team will wear throwback uniforms honoring a team from the 1970s.

On Nov. 5, Southern Miss will host UAB in a game that will be focused on “Commencements.” For this game, faculty and staff will be honored with buy one, get one free tickets. This game is also “Take a Kid to the Game,” where a child’s ticket is free with the purchase of an adult ticket. The College of Education and Psychology will also be honored at this game.

The final home game of the season will be against UTEP on Nov. 17, and “Character” will be the theme. This will also be senior day for the seniors on the football team and serve as the annual military appreciation game. Black and Gold Day will also be that weekend for the athletic department. The College of Science and Technology will also be honored at this game, making it the final college to be honored.