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HATTIESBURG – It’s homecoming week on the Southern Miss campus and the Golden Eagle football team continued with their preparations for Arkansas State Wednesday morning with a two-hour, 15-minute practice.

The Golden Eagles (2-3 overall, 0-1 Sun Belt Conference) play host to the Red Wolves (2-4, 1-2) in a 6 p.m., contest at The Rock this Saturday, Oct. 15, and will mark 85th homecoming contest for the school. The game can be streamed live via ESPN+ as well as be heard on one of the affiliates of the Southern Miss Sports Network by Learfield.

This will be the first meeting between the two schools since the 2008 season as the Golden Eagles enjoy their inaugural season in the Sun Belt Conference. This contest is a key intradivisional game for both squads looking to battle for division championship.

Arkansas State comes into the contest having lost to league newcomer James Madison and Associated Press Top 25 team last weekend 42-20.

The Red Wolves, though, look to come to Hattiesburg to even their league mark.

“We have a tremendous challenge this week in Arkansas State,” said Hall. “They really play hard and present a lot of problems in all phases, and they are building their program just like we are so this is a big game for both of us.”

Heading into this weekend’s contest, Hall said following practice that the team needs to continue to improve in all facets of the game, including on offense, but did see some positives from the Troy game as his team continues its improvement.

“We took a step forward down there (in the red zone offensively), took a step forward in third-down (conversions), but we need to continue to take a step forward in everything and we are,” said Hall om his team versus Troy. “We just aren’t there yet.”

Hall also compared his true freshman quarterback Zach Wilcke to a pair of former Golden Eagle freshmen – Austin Davis and Nick Mullens – who both were called into action early and went on to be great players for the program. Wilcke has thrown for 660 yards on 61-of-105 throws with five touchdowns and four interceptions in four starts this season.

“Zach is on a really good track right now to be a really good football player,” said Hall. “He just must continue to do daily what he is doing right now, which is working. And we have to play better around Zach.”

The Golden Eagles return to the practice fields Thursday morning.

Tickets for this weekend’s contest is available by going online at SouthernMissTickets.com, by calling 1-800-844-TICK (8425) or by visiting the Pat Ferlise Center weekdays during normal business hours.