HATTIESBURG — The preparations for the Southern Miss football team Tuesday evening served two purposes.

First, the Golden Eagles were able to get in their normal Tuesday game week workas they gear up for a meeting versus Appalachian State this Saturday at Kidd Brewer Stadium in Boone, North Carolina. Game time is slated for 2:30 p.m.

While the Golden Eagles had to go later in the evening for their workout session due to lightning in the area, it secondly gave them the opportunity to allow the team to work out in the rain, thus getting them acclimated to the potential weather conditions for the team’s first road game of the season.

The rain may have cut down the practice time some for the Golden Eagles workout, but third-year coach Jay Hopson was still pleased with the team’s effort over the last two days, despite the looming possibility of not traveling north due to Hurricane Florence.

The storm, which currently has a hurricane warning and storm surge warning in effect from the South Santee River, South Carolina, northward to Duck, North Carolina, including the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, is expected to hit along the Atlantic Coast sometime over the next few days and officials from both schools have been closely monitoring the storm.

All that the Golden Eagles can do at this point is to continue to get ready like a normal game week. 

“We are just doing our regular prep, so that’s all we can do right now,” said Hopson, whose team is 1-1 this season.

In fact, it is something Hopson has not brought up to the team at this point, wanting to keep the focus on this weekend’s opponent.

“It is something that we haven’t even talked about right now,” said Hopson. “We just have to keep preparing (to face Appalachian State).”

The Mountaineers are 1-1 on the season as well, as this weekend’s game is slated for their home opener.