Southern Miss included on Sun Belt and C-USA football schedules

The Southern Miss football program has two schedules this season, the one it’s not going to play in Conference USA, and the one it is going to play in the Sun Belt Conference.

This morning, the Sun Belt released its 2022 composite schedule, including USM, as well as other three members that have maintained their desire to join a year early, those being Marshall and Old Dominion from C-USA and FCS James Madison.

This move essentially confirms USM’s ‘stop us if you can’ statement from last month, declaring its intention to join the Sun Belt, no later than July 1^st, 2022.

C-USA has repeatedly doubled down on pursuing legal action against league members that don’t abide by their contractual bylaws, but according to the Action Network, there’s no extra penalty for leaving early despite requiring 14 months’ notice.

USM owes about $3 million in exit fees.

Unless we hear otherwise, this is USM’s football schedule for the 2022 season.

The first four games are unchanged in the non-conference, starting at home with Liberty, at Miami, Northwestern State at home, and then at Tulane.

Following a bye week, here comes the Sun Belt debut, Troy, Arkansas State, Texas State, Louisiana, Georgia State, Coastal Carolina, and the presumed end-of-season rivalry game each year in South Alabama.