The school has a very long history in the NCAA. The intercollegiate athletic teams work under the auspices of the University’s Department of Intercollegiate Athletics sponsors. Its frequent occurrences have been the Conference championships, All-American athletes and Bowl games. Seymour d'Campus is the name of the modern-day mascot eagle. Among notable alumni is former Green Bay Packers quarterback, Brett Favre.

At the end of the year 2006, the Golden Eagles were one of the few schools in Division I, with at least 13 consecutive winning seasons, a distinction they shared with the University of Michigan, Florida State University, Virginia Tech and the University of Florida

Tulane and Memphis are the biggest rivals of the team so far. The rivalry between Southern Miss and Tulane is known as The Battle for the Bell. Both the teams are in Conference USA but the last game that they played against each other was in the year 2006. Later the league was split up into East and West divisions.

Since both South Miss and Memphis are in Conference USA, these teams play each other every year. The rivalry between these teams is often referred to as the Black and Blue Bowl getting its name from black of Southern Miss and the blue of Memphis.