> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.evanscutchmorepress.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # At Southern Miss, a Building Full of History and a 35-31 Finish That Added to It - URL: https://www.evanscutchmorepress.com/at-southern-miss-a-building-full-of-history-and-a-35-31-finish-that-added-to-it/ - Published: 2026-10-26T00:45:26.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-26T00:45:26.000Z - Description: The Duff Athletic Center at Renasant Stadium holds 1912 trophies, two Pro Football Hall of Famers and a Legends Club hallway. On Saturday, Jamarice Wilder scored with 58 seconds left as Southern Miss beat Louisiana 35-31 to end a five-game skid. - Author: Kim M. Braud - Tags: Sports, All Stories **SPORTS** *The Duff Athletic Center puts more than a century of Golden Eagle football on display. On Saturday, Jamarice Wilder's late touchdown beat Louisiana and ended a five-game skid.* By Kim M. Braud | October 25, 2026 HATTIESBURG, Miss. - A bronze eagle with raised wings stands on a brick pedestal outside the Jim and Thomas Duff Athletic Center. Inside, Southern Miss football tells its own story in glass cases, life-size uniforms and backlit panels, beginning with a 1912 win over the Hattiesburg Boy Scouts. On Saturday, the program added a chapter. Jamarice Wilder ran 16 yards up the middle with 58 seconds left, and Southern Miss beat Louisiana 35-31 at Renasant Stadium to end a five-game losing streak and earn its first Sun Belt Conference win of the season. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_8430.jpeg) **A bronze eagle stands outside the Jim and Thomas Duff Athletic Center, with "To The Top!" banners on the lamp posts along the walk.* (Kim M. Braud / Evans Cutchmore Press) ## **The building** The Duff Athletic Center sits at the north end of Carlisle-Faulkner Field at Renasant Stadium. Southern Miss describes it as a 60,000-square-foot building that houses the football staff, players and support staff, along with the athletic department's administrative offices. It opened as the Athletic Center and was renamed in August 2012 for Hattiesburg businessmen Jim and Thomas Duff in recognition of a major gift. The street out front is Ray Guy Way. The university renamed it in 2015 for the Hall of Fame punter, who installed one of the new street signs himself. It was previously Black and Gold Boulevard. ## **A timeline behind glass** The main corridor opens with a floor-to-ceiling case under the vertical heading "History in the Making." A black timeline runs across it, marked with dates in orange. The first entry reads 1912: Mississippi Normal College plays its first football game and defeats the Hattiesburg Boy Scouts 30-0\. Later entries mark consecutive Gulf States Conference championships in 1950 and 1951 and the college division national championships of 1958 and 1962\. Vintage helmets, gold footballs and trophies sit on shelves between black-and-white photos of the early field. Farther down the hall, a 1982 panel recounts a trip to Tuscaloosa. Southern Miss won 38-29, the panel says, snapping Alabama's 57-game home winning streak, which dated to Oct. 12, 1963. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_8423.jpeg) **The history case in the Duff Athletic Center traces Southern Miss football from its first game in 1912 through its national championship seasons.* (Kim M. Braud / Evans Cutchmore Press) ## **Two Hall of Famers, side by side** At the center of the corridor, a Pro Football Hall of Fame emblem hangs on a black tile wall between two life-size mannequins. One wears a black Southern Miss No. 44, on a gold-trimmed base reading "Ray Guy 1973." Behind it, a glass case holds a black Raiders No. 8 jersey bearing Guy's name. Guy played for the Golden Eagles from 1970 to 1972, became the first punter drafted in the first round, and in 2014 became the first pure punter inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He died in November 2022 at 73. The other mannequin wears a white No. 4, on a base reading "Brett Favre 1991." A case beside it, headed "Brett Favre Hall of Fame 2016," holds a green Packers No. 4 jersey and helmets. Between the two, a touchscreen kiosk invites visitors to scroll through photos. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_8426.jpeg) **Mannequins honoring Ray Guy and Brett Favre flank a Pro Football Hall of Fame emblem in the Duff Athletic Center.* (Kim M. Braud / Evans Cutchmore Press) ## **The Legends Club** A side hallway carries the words LEGENDS CLUB in gold capitals above a pair of frosted doors etched with the eagle logo. Tall gold-and-black panels line both walls, each with a player or coach's photo, years and accomplishments. Visible panels include Thad "Pie" Vann, Bucky McElroy, Hugh Laurin Pepper, Reggie Collier, Brett Favre, Adalius Thomas, Derrick Nix and Jeff Bower. A mannequin in a gold No. 10 jersey stands at the entrance on a base reading "Reggie Collier 1983." Southern Miss calls the Legends Club the highest honor a Southern Miss athlete or coach can receive. The idea came from former running back Sammy Winder, the university says, as a way to honor standouts without retiring individual jerseys. As of January 2025, the club had 22 individual members plus the 1958 and 1962 football teams. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_8424.jpeg) **Panels honoring Legends Club members line the hallway, with a Reggie Collier mannequin at the entrance.* (Kim M. Braud / Evans Cutchmore Press) ## **The brand on every wall** Outside the Legends Club, chrome letters spelling SOUTHERN MISS run across a gold soffit. Across the lobby, the word DISCIPLINE is set inside a gold outline of the state of Mississippi, with gold wing stripes on either side. In a window bay, two mannequins model current adidas uniforms with Sun Belt Conference patches: a black No. 4 jersey with gold pants and a black No. 10 jersey with white pants. Digital panels behind them spell out S, T, T, T, for the department's rallying cry, "Southern Miss To The Top." The same phrase hangs on gold banners from the lamp posts outside. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_8428.jpeg) **Current Southern Miss adidas uniforms on display in a window bay of the Duff Athletic Center.* (Kim M. Braud / Evans Cutchmore Press) ## **The money around the building** The exhibits sit inside an athletic department working to raise revenue. Southern Miss's 2022 strategic plan called for a facilities master plan and for the department to "aggressively seek naming right partners for athletic facilities." In August, the state Institutions of Higher Learning board approved a naming-rights agreement with Tupelo-based Renasant Bank. According to IHL records reported by the Hattiesburg-area Star Herald, the bank will pay $500,000 in the first year and $13,706,838 over about 10 years. Southern Miss described it as believed to be the first naming-rights deal in Mississippi for a sporting venue on a university campus. The agreement replaced the name M.M. Roberts Stadium, which the facility had carried since its 1976 expansion. Roberts, a former Golden Eagle player, chaired the state College Board, and in a speech at the university he described himself as a racist, according to Mississippi Today. Fans still call the stadium The Rock. Other recent work has touched the same complex. Southern Miss renovated the football locker room inside the Duff Center in 2016 and replaced the playing surface in 2023\. Across campus, the department announced a $35 million renovation of Reed Green Coliseum in 2024. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_3069-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_3052-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_3050--1--1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_3035-1.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_3068-2.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_3050-2.jpg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b4/25/b42508fb-84b7-46ae-a8e1-00f0faf703ca/content/images/2026/10/IMG_3062-1.jpg) ## **Saturday at The Rock** A crowd of 23,244 watched on a sunny, 78-degree afternoon as the game was tied four times and the lead changed hands three times. Southern Miss improved to 2-5 overall and 1-2 in the Sun Belt. Louisiana fell to 5-3 and 2-2. Louisiana took a 31-28 lead on a 22-yard field goal by Tony Sterner with 2:51 left. The kick capped a 17-play, 74-yard drive that ran 7 minutes, 8 seconds off the clock. The Southern Miss defense kept that drive out of the end zone. Facing first-and-goal from the 8, the Ragin' Cajuns lost a yard, gained four, and then watched Landon Sylvie break up a third-down pass intended for tight end Caden Jensen at the goal line. Southern Miss answered with eight plays and 75 yards in 1:53\. Steven Robinson ran 13 yards on third-and-1 to the Southern Miss 47\. Three plays later, quarterback Landry Lyddy found Kaden Saunders for 8 yards on third-and-9, leaving the Golden Eagles a yard short at the Louisiana 44. On fourth-and-1, Wilder broke a 28-yard run to the Louisiana 16\. On the next snap, he went the rest of the way. Louisiana had one more chance. Ja'Corian Norris returned the ensuing kickoff 46 yards to the Louisiana 46, but a delay-of-game penalty backed the Cajuns up 5 yards. Quarterback Lunch Winfield completed a 6-yard pass to KeDarius Wade, then threw three straight incompletions. Malakai Murphy broke up the fourth-down throw, and Lyddy knelt to end it. ## **A ground game that carried the day** Southern Miss ran for 286 yards on 43 carries, an average of 6.7 yards per rush. Louisiana ran for 118\. Southern Miss converted four of seven fourth downs; Louisiana converted none of its three. Wilder finished with 154 yards on 13 carries, an 11.8-yard average. Robinson added 145 yards on 22 carries and scored all three of the Golden Eagles' first-half touchdowns, on runs of 8, 4 and 10 yards. The game also turned on a defensive score. With Louisiana leading 28-21 early in the fourth quarter, Winfield threw on third-and-8 from his own 25\. Kolby Peavy intercepted the pass at the Louisiana 30 and returned it for a touchdown that tied the game with 10:05 left. Safety Michael Robinson III led Southern Miss with 12 tackles and a sack. Sylvie broke up four passes. Each team recorded three sacks. Winfield completed 22 of 41 passes for 299 yards, with two touchdowns and the one interception. He also ran 5 yards for the game's first score. JJ Garner added a 42-yard touchdown run, Trenton Chaney caught a 4-yard touchdown pass with 31 seconds left in the first half, and Anthony Reagan Jr. caught a 31-yard scoring pass late in the third quarter. Linebacker Jake St. Andre had 11 tackles and a sack for Louisiana. Louisiana held the ball for 34 minutes, 18 seconds, to 25:43 for Southern Miss. Southern Miss outgained the Cajuns 450 yards to 417\. Lyddy completed 21 of 38 passes for 164 yards without an interception, and Mario Sanders caught six passes for 77 yards. ## **Next up** Southern Miss plays at ULM on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN+. The Golden Eagles' next home game is Thursday, Nov. 5, against James Madison at 7 p.m. Louisiana hosts South Alabama on Saturday, Nov. 7. --- *Kim M. Braud is the Founder & Editor of Evans Cutchmore Press, an independent newsroom covering Louisiana and the Gulf South, and the author of Financial Power for Life™, a financial literacy framework that helps people earn, protect, grow, leverage, and transfer wealth. Her reporting focuses on government, infrastructure, business, culture, and the public policies that shape communities, with a commitment to highlighting progress and the people doing meaningful work in a news landscape often dominated by conflict and crisis.* *© 2026 Evans Cutchmore Press. 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