MONROE, La – Southern Miss beats Louisiana-Monroe 20-10 to reach acclaimed bowl eligibility for the first time since 2019. After beating Louisiana almost a month ago, USM had been vying for bowl eligibility in their last four games. They had lost three in a row but now get their bowl bid in the last game of the season.

The win for Southern Miss gets them to their 26th bowl game in school history, 19th since the 1997 season and first since going to the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas, following the 2019 campaign.

The Sun Belt conference has nine bowl affiliations. The top-ranked Sun Belt Champion will be in the mix for the Cotton Bowl if it is the highest Group of Five champions. ESPN-owned and operated bowls get Sun Belt teams’ first pick and third and fourth picks.

The New Orleans Bowl gets the second pick, and the LendingTree bowl gets the fifth selection. Along with these two bowl games, Sun Belt will get spots in at least three of the following bowls: Camellia Bowl, Cure Bowl, RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl, Tropical Smoothie Café Frisco Bowl, and the Myrtle Beach Bowl.

They also have an affiliation to fill in if needed in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl and the New Mexico Bowl.

Southern Miss likely will be headed to the Lending Tree or the Camellia Bowl. Southern Miss will have to wait until the bowl committee announces the bowls.

But Will Hall got it done, and getting this team to a bowl game after the heartbreaks they faced is nothing short of a successful season.