What Auburn's $1.85 Million Payment Means to Southern Miss Football

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss will arrive at Jordan-Hare Stadium this season hoping to leave with what would undoubtedly be one of the biggest upset wins of the year. Financially, though, the Golden Eagles will have already secured a significant victory before even taking the field.

What Auburn is Paying Southern Miss, and What It Means

USM Footbal — Director of athletics Jeremy McClain presents a jersey to Blake Anderson after he was announced as the new head football coach for the Golden Eagles at the Thad Cochran Center on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Auburn is reportedly paying Southern Miss $1.85 million for its Week 2 matchup at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Sept. 12. That is a meaningful amount of money for an athletic department that must continue to find creative ways to compete in the increasingly expensive college sports landscape.

Although that money could be injected directly into the football program to help with expenses such as scholarships, facility improvements, travel, equipment, nutrition, staff, new costs associated with athlete revenue sharing, and much more, it could also be distributed across a handful of different Southern Miss athletic programs if needed. Those important decisions will be left up to Southern Miss Athletic Director Jeremy McClain.

Can Southern Miss Keep Competitive Trend vs. Auburn Going?

USM Football Aubur — Sep 29, 2018; Auburn, AL, USA; Southern Miss Golden Eagles running back Trivenskey Mosley (22) is chased by Auburn Tigers defensive back Smoke Monday (21) and Montavious Atkinson (48) during the first quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

The odds will be heavily stacked against a Golden Eagles program that hasn't beaten Auburn since 1991, but you truly never know what could happen. Aside from receiving the hefty payday, that's another reason why you play these games–for the chance to have your cake and eat it too.

For example, Southern Miss starting quarterback candidate Ethan Hampton has some "David and Goliath" experience, as he was the starting quarterback on that 2024 Northern Illinois team that took down No. 5 Notre Dame on the road in a buy game. It's no secret that Southern Miss is dealing with a lot of change this season, but so is an Auburn program coming off a 5-7 campaign in 2025 and entering 2026 with a new head coach, Alex Golesh (previously at UCF).

Also, even though the Golden Eagles haven't beaten Auburn in 35 years, it's not like the last four defeats have been blowouts. Southern Miss has lost its last four games to Auburn by an average of only 11 points. So, for the most part, the Golden Eagles have found ways to keep the games competitive. That's not me being overly optimistic, either; that's simply the numbers. Although Southern Miss ranks 138th out of 138 teams in returning production this year, we'll see if that trend of competitiveness can continue.

As unlikely as it is, we can't help but think about how great it would be for Southern Miss if the Blake Anderson head-coaching era started with a massive Week 2 upset win, plus a $1.85 million check. Either way, the Golden Eagles are going to be winners here.

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