More than 30 years ago, David Hosemann helped lead Southern Miss to an upset of Ole Miss. As he and the Golden Eagles returned to Hattiesburg that day, Hosemann was astonished at the sight of hundreds of fans waiting to greet the team.

The series

1935: MSU 27-0

1947: MSU 14-7

1964: MSU 48-7

1965: MSU 27-9

1966: MSU 10-9

1967: USM 21-14

1968: USM 47-14

1969: MSU 34-20

1970: MSU 51-15

1971: Did not play

1972: MSU 26-7

1973: Tie 10-10

1974: Did not play

1975: *MSU 7-3

1976: *MSU 14-6

1977: USM 14-7

1978: USM 22-17

1979: USM 21-7

1980: USM 42-14

1981: USM 7-6

1982: USM 20-14

1983: USM 31-6

1984: MSU 27-18

1985: MSU 23-20

1986: USM 28-24

1987: USM 18-14

1988: USM 38-21

1989: MSU 26-23

1990: MSU 13-10

*MSU foreits

Total: USM leads 14-12-1

“I’d never seen people along the street, in the parking lot like that. It was a special, special day,” said Hosemann, a Vicksburg native and former St. Aloysius star.

It was a memory Southern Miss fans cherished and players and fans from Mississippi’s two Southeastern Conference schools, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, quietly feared. It was also a sight that faded from the memories of a generation of fans as what had been annual games between the SEC schools and Southern Miss were discontinued.

Now, 19 years after Southern Miss last played one of the state’s “Big Two,” the rivalry is expected to be rekindled. Officials from Southern Miss and Mississippi State will hold a joint news conference today at the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in Jackson, where they were expected to announce the schools will meet again.

The two-game series will be one game in Hattiesburg and one in Starkville, the first meetings since the two played each other every year between 1964 and 1990, except in 1971 and 1974. The date of the games has not been announced.

Steve Golding of Vicksburg has been a season ticket holder for Mississippi State since 1972, and he’s now all for the match-up.

“Early on, I hadn’t thought it was a good idea to play Southern Miss,” Golding said. “From a financial standpoint it’s good for both schools. They’ll fill up the stadium and it’ll be good for the economy. I’d much rather play them than I would Georgia Tech or Houston,” he said.

The series was discontinued, in part, because of the changing nature of college football in the early 1990s. Bigger conferences, such as the SEC, saw a lot of risk and little reward in playing strong programs from smaller conferences — such as Southern Miss, which in 1994 started a string of 15 consecutive winning seasons.

Josh Morgan is a former Warren Central standout who now coaches at the high school. He played football at Mississippi State from 1998 until 2001.

“I would hate to play Southern Miss because I would be scared to death they’d beat us,” Morgan said. “It’s unspoken, but that’s what you’re thinking.”

Morgan’s attitude extended to Mississippi State’s fans. Golding said he welcomed the rivalry’s renewal — now, while the program has a new coach and a hopeful future. A few years ago, when the program was struggling under former coach Sylvester Croom, he admitted he was singing a different tune.

“I think we can beat them. I don’t look at it like some people do,” Golding said with a laugh. “I don’t know if I’d have liked it when we had Croom. But now I believe we’re an up-and-coming team.”

Among Southern Miss fans, not having the chance to play State or Ole Miss has long been a bone of contention. A victory over one of the state’s major programs could have boosted the status of USM’s team in national polls.

Now that they’re getting the chance, though, not everyone was welcoming it.

“Now that we’re in a conference, we need to play teams with a higher rating,” said Bobby Smithhart, a former Warren Central star who played at USM from 1974 until 1978. “As far as the fans, it’s great. Hopefully they’ll get to where it means something to beat them.”

That kind of debate was something both sides agreed was good for the game. One of the best parts of college football is its heated rivalries, and the renewal of the State-Southern Miss series is sure to jump-start one.

“Even though we don’t win every game, if you’re playing in-state schools it’s a good thing,” Hosemann said. “This is football. This isn’t the ER room or something serious.”

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com