I-AA Rivalries...

[Pard94]

It's my position that only Harvard and Yale or Lafayette and Lehigh can claim to have the greatest rivalry in I-AA. Accepting that premise...what I-AA rivalry comes in third? (That ought to get a response... ;) )

[Retro]

Those teams already had a great rivalry before I-AA, so we should exclude them and focus or more recent (20 years) rivalries developed.

[colgate13]

Those teams already had a great rivalry before I-AA, so we should exclude them and focus or more recent (20 years) rivalries developed.
TAKE THAT PARD! Whew!

[putter]

Montana -- Montana St. has to be up there somewhere. Over 104 years and running...

[exbearkat]

Sam Houston VS. Stephen F. Austin is one of the biggest rivalries in Texas for obvious reasons. :)

BATTLE OF THE PINEY WOODS

http://eteamz.active.com/bearkatsportsforum/images/samandsteve.jpg

Two universities named after Texas history heroes, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin State renew their “Battle of the Piney Woods” rivalry for the 78th time Saturday in Nacogdoches. The series is the second oldest NCAA I-AA rivalry in Texas. Only the SH rivalry with Texas State-San Marcos (82 games) is older.

Sam Houston State holds a 42-33-2 record in the series which started in 1923. The Bearkats are 19-15-1 in Nacogdoches.

[savannahjohn]

It's interesting how the Georgia Southern- Furman rivalry got started. Back in 1985 these two southern teams (about 185 miles apart) flew to Tacoma, Washington to play for the national championship. It was one of the wildest games ever as GSU mounted a furious rally to beat Furman 44-42. Back then, GSU played as an independent.

Then, in 1988 the same two teams went all the way to Pocatella, Idaho to play for yet another national championship. This time, Furman came out on top. Soon thereafter, GSU joined the Southern Conference where these two teams were able to tee it up without having to fly cross country first.

[Eagle_77]

Not a very old rivalry but one of the biggest in the past 20 years is Furman v. GSU. I think this is the GA v. FLA of 1-AA. 1st two times these teams met was in the Nat'l Championship game spliting the two and now they are conf foes. This is one of th most important games in I-AA almost every year.

[ChickenMan]

UD/Nova... UD leads 19-18-1... including the first 22 games when Nova was DI/1A and UD was DII/1AA.

[89Hen]

NDSU AND SDSU?

SacSt and UC-D?

VMI and El Cid?

[89Hen]

Dartmouth vs. UNH
Brown vs. URI
W&M vs. Richmond
Grambling vs. Southern
EKU vs. WKU

[colgate13]

In the past 10 years, Colgate/Lehigh has been a great rivalry.

[OL FU]

Not a very old rivalry but one of the biggest in the past 20 years is Furman v. GSU. I think this is the GA v. FLA of 1-AA. 1st two times these teams met was in the Nat'l Championship game spliting the two and now they are conf foes. This is one of th most important games in I-AA almost every year.


The Game of the Year - Year after Year.

[JMU Duke Dog]

I know Richmond-W&M has been a big rivalry, but if success continues for both JMU and W&M then this will develop into a huge rivalry recognized at the national level. W&M is already the Dukes' biggest rival from the perspective of current JMU students. No offense to Richmond, but JMU's rivalry with them seems to be diminishing after they left for the A10 in all sports.

[OrneryAggie]

The Causeway Classic has to be up there because it's the only time of the year you will actually see more than 100 people admit to being Suc St fans. Or at least they admit it before the game.

UC Davis and Sac St are about 20 miles apart, have the 2 largest enrollments in IAA (around 30k), and have played each other 51 straight years. Considering the state of college football in california that's a major accomplishment. UCD leads the series 36-16 (one extra meeting in the DII playoffs). One would think the large student bodies would translate into huge crowds but the series has been so lopsided lately that Suc St is slowly being replaced by Cal Poly in the hearts of many aggie fans. Look for the Poly-Davis rivalry to grow into one of the best in IAA. Both are Ag schools with great academics and winning traditions in athletics. (Poly still has the most DII national championships and UCD still has the most DII directors' cups)

[bisonguy]

.........(Poly still has the most DII national championships....

Abilene Christian has the most DII national championships, with a total of 48. Cal-Poly is second, with 36. Still very impressive for a school that hasn't been a member of DII for over 10 years.

Link:http://www.ncaa.org/champadmin/champs_listing2.html

[Rob]

Well, this seems to have turned into a "Post whatever rivalry comes to mind, especially if your favorite team is involved" thread, rather than the "Which is the third-best rivalry in I-AA" thread it was supposed to be.

I'm not sure I agree with the premise, by the way, but since it's supposed to be off-limits...

I'd go with Montana-Montana St.

[eaglefan452]

The GSU-Furman rivalry is up there, not the best, but definitely up there. Every year those teams meet, there is a lot at stake.

[OL FU]

Well, this seems to have turned into a "Post whatever rivalry comes to mind, especially if your favorite team is involved" thread, rather than the "Which is the third-best rivalry in I-AA" thread it was supposed to be.

I'm not sure I agree with the premise, by the way, but since it's supposed to be off-limits...

I'd go with Montana-Montana St.

Granted maybe we should start a thread on the rivalry with the most impact on the national ratings.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I'd throw these out there:

Colgate/Cornell "battle of upstate NY"

Fordham/Columbia "battle of NYC"

Brown/URI "the battle of Rhode Island"

Harvard/Holy Cross (sort of), simply due to the historic number of important games between the two

Dartmouth/UNH (sort of) "the Granite Bowl" - still pales in comparison to an Ivy Title though for Dartmouth fans

Penn/Princeton (sort of) - not really a rabid rivalry lately - plus Penn has been so diminating the past 10 years - still, a decent rivalry simply as an extension to their basketball rivalry

Also, Lehigh/Delaware is a rivalry. It's not Lehigh/Lafayette, but it definitely is a rivalry. (Just go to the smack board if you don't believe it...)

Some dead rivalries:

Princteon's real rivalry back in the day was Rutgers, but with the yawning gap between I-A and the Ivies, that's not going to happen again anytime soon.

Bucknell had a good rivalry with Gettysburg before I-AA, but Bucknell went to I-AA in the 1980's and never looked back.

Fordham and Hofstra had rivalry brewing in the 80's up to 1995 (back in the D-III days), but it was abandoned.

[mineral griz]

I have to agree with Putter........104 years of competition between Montana and Montana State has to be very close to the top..........If you are looking at rivalries in the past few years I would also throw in Montana and Eastern Washington..

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Well, this seems to have turned into a "Post whatever rivalry comes to mind, especially if your favorite team is involved" thread, rather than the "Which is the third-best rivalry in I-AA" thread it was supposed to be.

I'm not sure I agree with the premise, by the way, but since it's supposed to be off-limits...

I'd go with Montana-Montana St.

I'd say, "Who cares what the best rivalry is after Lehigh/Lafayette"... :cool:

Seriously, rivalry games are most important locally. I'd say people in Rhode Island could care about SFA/Northwestern St., but they DO care about URI/Brown. Their rivalry isn't chopped liver. It's important to them.

So critiquing this for "posting whatever rivalry comes to mind... especially if it involves your favorite team" doesn't make sense. The point is to say what rivalry is important to you, and what rivalries are important to others.

And mentioning things like Brown/URI should be fine since there's not exactly a lot of Brown and URI fans floating around on this board.

Finally, if there are other rivalries that I'm not aware of, I'd love to hear about them. For example, the Causeway Classic, I'd never have heard about that - that's interesting to me.

[Husky Alum]

The dead-est of a rivalry that never really was what it should have been..

Northeastern-BU

1. BU doesn't play any more, so it can't be a rivalry

2. BU refused to play NU from 1981-1992 because it was afraid the then 1-AA independent Huskies would beat the all powerful Terriers of the Yankee Conference

3. BU's President John "One Armed Bandit" Silber was the driving force behind keeping NU out of the YC. Only when he realized that BU needed NU for some political help in the city of Boston did he agree to push for NU's inclusion in the YC.

The two schools only played about 15 times before BU dropped football in 1997.

For those who don't know, geographically, these schools are about a mile apart and competed in the same conference for all sports except football for YEARS.

[Tribe4SF]

W&M vs. Richmond certainly has the history. The oldest rivalry in the south. W&M leads 59-50-5. But our biggest rivals now are Delaware and JMU.

[OrneryAggie]

[QUOTE=bisonguy]Abilene Christian has the most DII national championships, with a total of 48. Cal-Poly is second, with 36. Still very impressive for a school that hasn't been a member of DII for over 10 years.

Guess I'm still living in 1993, I knew I should've double checked that. Leave it to a Bison to find an Aggie's mistake and pummel him with it. I'm not looking forward to the fargodome.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

In the past 10 years, Colgate/Lehigh has been a great rivalry.

I agree, in terms of non-geographical conference rivalries Lehigh-Colgate is one of best. Next to Lafayette, Colgate is Lehigh's second biggest homedraw and people look ahead to the game for months. There was even some whispers supporting the idea that Lehigh-Colgate had replaced Lehigh-Lafayette in terms of which was a bigger game. Most of that discussion was prior to Lafayette winning 2 out of the last 3. :bang: . However, it could be understood why some people might have believed LU-CU was bigger during LU's 7 game winning streak over Lafayette. :nod:

[Wmbgskip]

William and Mary/Richmond, at least at the moment, has seen its train leave the station...Hopefully, with Richmond shamed by its alums into sticking with the A-10 schools and Dave Clawson in the driver's seat, it can regain the competitiveness and lustre it once had.

Tribe-JMU and Tribe-Delaware are the two up-and-comers from where I sit. Valid or not, W&M looks on JMU with disdain, "Just Missed UVA," etc. Couple that with JMU's belief that the best football in VA is placed at points west of Charlottesville, and the tendency of one school to make or break the other's season, and add a dash of hieghtened expectations after this past season, and you've got a right-witches brew bubbling around. Plus, these two schools seem to match-up and fight hard in just about every sport... the onyl sport I can think of where either is dominant over the other is in mens and womens tennis, where the CAA truly is split with VCU, ODU, and W&M on top and everyone else below (those three schools won't even play but two at most, maybe three in an exceptional year, of the other schools because it would kill their rankings).

Delaware and W&M have themselves a history that includes Rich Gannon stomping all over the Tribe on their home field in the playoffs, bitter accusations about the visitor's coaches box at Zable Stadium, and the most exciting game of the 2004 playoffs.Next year should be exciting, with the Hens coming back to the Brick Box after two years of regular season match-ups in Delaware.

So, would I rank W&M-Richmond at #8 on the list of greatest I-AA rivalries? Only for sentimental reasons, if at all, at this point. Who would I put at #3, if I were to accept that Harvard-Yale and Lehigh-Lafayette are 1 and 2? I'll support Georgia Southern-Furman in that spot.

--Skip

[Grizo406]

Montana -- Montana St. has to be up there somewhere. Over 104 years and running...

In total agreement with ya', putter!

This thing has to be seen to be believed.

No matter what station in life you occupy, the Griz/Cat rivalry will start a heated, and I mean VERY heated discussion at the drop of a hat in just about any setting.

You might get some idea about it reading AGS, eGriz, or BobCatNation, but these boards only scratch the surface, and don't even come close to what it's like experiencing it first hand.

Sometimes it gets out of hand, but for the most part, it's one of the things that makes me love Grizzly Football so much.

[JMU Duke Dog]

Tribe-JMU and Tribe-Delaware are the two up-and-comers from where I sit. Valid or not, W&M looks on JMU with disdain, "Just Missed UVA," etc. Couple that with JMU's belief that the best football in VA is placed at points west of Charlottesville, and the tendency of one school to make or break the other's season, and add a dash of hieghtened expectations after this past season, and you've got a right-witches brew bubbling around. Plus, these two schools seem to match-up and fight hard in just about every sport...

W&M is definitely JMU's biggest rival right now without doubt from the Dukes' perspective. Surprisingly the Tribe students are extremely unsportsmanlike, while I was behaving myself and refraining from saying insults to them. I had higher expectations out of those "public Ivy League" students. Not all of us at JMU missed getting into UVA. JMU offers some undergraduate degrees that UVA and other Virginia schools including W&M, VT, GMU, and ODU do not such as a bachelor of science in biotechnology. Also, who wants to go to such a snob-infested school as UVA? Do you really want to wear two polo shirts with both collars popped or have to deal with some of the most high-maintenance girls at the college level? W&M and JMU both influenced each other's 2004 seasons greatly. W&M's field goal as time expired ruined JMU's chances of getting a home game in the playoffs, but fortunately the Dukes were road warriors and got another chance at the pesky Tribe. Then the winner got a ticket to the national title, and the rest is history. If both teams are in A10 title contention and playoff contention this upcoming season, the game in Williamsburg will be intense. I hope this rivalry continues grow as Richmond seems to becoming less of a rival for both JMU and W&M due to going A10 in all sports, being a private institution, and not having much recent success in football.

[blukeys]

W&M vs. Richmond certainly has the history. The oldest rivalry in the south. W&M leads 59-50-5. But our biggest rivals now are Delaware and JMU.
This is interesting. Delaware views W&M and JMU respectfully as rivals. (As evidenced by the attendance for these games, Hen fans look forward to these games. ) However, for pure outright animosity, Nothing beats Nova. Both teams could be 0-10 and this game would bring out the Hen faithful. (check out the Smack Board.)

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

[QUOTE=89Hen]NDSU AND SDSU?
QUOTE]

While this is a great budding rivalry, it's not yet one of the best. It's going to draw great year after year, but the bad blood/hatred will take a few games like last years to build that up.

[pete4256]

quote:

"The GSU-Furman rivalry is up there, not the best, but definitely up there. Every year those teams meet, there is a lot at stake."


The other thing that we have going is that we, as institutions and teams, really dislike each other. Real hate-fests in I-AA are rare, and GSU-FU is one.

[RadMann]

There is a huge dislike between UD and Nova. Nova folks think they're Ivy League (which they obviously are not) but they have the attitudes of the Ivies. The two schools first played in 1895. Delaware's other traditional rivals from most of the history of the program now play non-scholly football (Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell) or are in I-A (Rutgers, Temple). For most of Delaware's history, the school was relatively small and comparable in size to Patriot schools, but UD has grown in recent decades which is why they don't play many of their old-time rivals any more.....

The linked SI article had a accompanying poll which showed that VU's Coach Talley was the most disliked opponent sports figure by people in the entire state of Delaware. That's saying a lot.

Sports Illustrated (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/features/si50/states/delaware/clucking/)

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/features/si50/states/delaware/clucking/lg_delaware.jpg

[Mr. C]

I'm not sure that Furman-Georgia Southern is even the best rivalry in the Southern Conference. It has been extremely important in the past few years and there are those two national championship encounters, but I think that Georgia Southern and Appalachian State has been more of the rivalry game since GSU entered the SoCon in 1993. The Furman-ASU series has also been extremely exciting through the years, but nothing seems to stir the passion of the Mountaineers, or Eagles, like playing one another.

In my humble opinion, Delaware and Villanova play the best rivalry game year in and year out. It seems like that game comes down to the final play every season, with something huge always at stake. You can't beat that.

[eaglefan452]

I'm not sure that Furman-Georgia Southern is even the best rivalry in the Southern Conference. It has been extremely important in the past few years and there are those two national championship encounters, but I think that Georgia Southern and Appalachian State has been more of the rivalry game since GSU entered the SoCon in 1993. The Furman-ASU series has also been extremely exciting through the years, but nothing seems to stir the passion of the Mountaineers, or Eagles, like playing one another.
.


I agree that the ASU/GSU rivalry is a good one. That one I think is based more on mutual dislike than the GSU/Furman rivalry.

[DuckDuckGriz]

Look....I know I may be ignorant, but Harvard and Yale, Lehigh and Lafayette, and ESPECIALLY Southern and Grambling cannot touch the rivalry that is the Brawl of the Wild (UM-MSU).

There is no other state in I-AA where the entire population completely shuts down for one game. The thing is there are no other teams and you don't grow up riding the fence -- you're either a Grizzly or a Bobcat. There have been riots as a result of this game, so much that they had to hold it in a neutral site for a number of years (Butte). Also there are satellite parties all over the country to watch the games -- in 1999 when the Griz were in Bozeman I was in a packed restaraunt of fans in Tuscon, Arizona watching the Brawl of the Wild. The bartender there said it was the most people he's ever seen in there watching one game -- even the Super Bowl.

The fans fight over everything: uniforms, cheerleaders, even stadium music!

They don't call it the Brawl of the Wild for nothing. It is I-AA's best, most loathed rivalry -- and it's not just for the pride of schools or conference, it is to crown the state's team.

[DuckDuckGriz]

Tell that to the 68,911 who attended the Bayou Classic last year. Can't touch the Brawl? Sure it started more recently, 1933, but it has been the perennial most attended I-AA game and the only one on major network TV every year. And yes, Grambling and Southern have a bit of a rivalry going. :)

I can see your point in such a largely populated state. But since we are talking about these rivalries in relation to I-AA, do Grambling and Southern have the passion of an entire state, and do they often determine the outcome of the conference champion or playoff contender? I can't imagine a kid growing up in Louisiana dreaming of beating Grambling on the football field.

[EagleCrusade]

I'm not sure that Furman-Georgia Southern is even the best rivalry in the Southern Conference. It has been extremely important in the past few years and there are those two national championship encounters, but I think that Georgia Southern and Appalachian State has been more of the rivalry game since GSU entered the SoCon in 1993. The Furman-ASU series has also been extremely exciting through the years, but nothing seems to stir the passion of the Mountaineers, or Eagles, like playing one another.

Yes and no.

There is no love between ASU and GSU that's for sure, but ask any GS fan which game they want to win the most every year and its Furman. Ask a Furman fan and they'll most likely say GS (Citadel a close second). If you think the passion is amazing for the GS vs App game, go to one GS vs FU game. It will blow you away. No other game in I-AA has more on the line year after year than that game.
After attending this years game in Greenville, I have never seen two schools hate each other so much (including I-A). App ranks just behind FU in the hate column.
BUT DANG IT I RESPECT FU's PROGRAM!!! a lot of Eagle fans do.

[blur2005]

Do you really want to wear two polo shirts with both collars popped or have to deal with some of the most high-maintenance girls at the college level?

I happily will be doing that next year...okay, maybe not the double polo-shirt, because that's just dumb.

JMU-W&M is the best rivalry for both schools. Screw Richmond.

[blur2005]

Delaware and W&M have themselves a history that includes Rich Gannon stomping all over the Tribe on their home field in the playoffs, bitter accusations about the visitor's coaches box at Zable Stadium, and the most exciting game of the 2004 playoffs.Next year should be exciting, with the Hens coming back to the Brick Box after two years of regular season match-ups in Delaware.
--Skip

Uh...maybe you weren't watching JMU-Furman...but then again, W&M did make one HELL of a comeback.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Look....I know I may be ignorant, but Harvard and Yale, Lehigh and Lafayette, and ESPECIALLY Southern and Grambling cannot touch the rivalry that is the Brawl of the Wild (UM-MSU)... There have been riots as a result of this game... Also there are satellite parties all over the country to watch the games... the fans fight over everything...

Sattelite feeds? Lehigh/Lafayette has these too, across the country as well.

Lehigh/Lafayette has caused their fair share of riots. A Lehigh/Lafayette postgame fracas used to be a rite of passage before cops surrounded the field year in and year out. Scores of arrests and violence. Lehigh, Lafayette and the Bethlehem and Easton towships had to unite to crack down on it.

One year a Lafayette grad rented out a plane and dropped leaflets all over the Lehigh campus trying unsuccessfully to convince Lehigh fans of Lafayette's superiority.

Not to take away from Montana/Montana St., but Lehigh/Lafayette is definitely not short on passion.

PS. 140 meetings. Lehigh and Lafayette were playing before Montana was even a STATE.

[galojay]

The Battle of the Bluegrass goes back to 1914. In 82 meetings, the Hilltoppers lead the series against the Colonels, 45-33-3.

[RadMann]

Earlier in this thread I saw a few claims that some programs have won 30+ "division II" championships. Correct me if I am wrong, but the division II NCAA championship began in 1973. No program has won even 10 championships let alone the highly inflated crowns being claimed. I'm guessing that the posters are referring to the days prior to 1973 when various wire services crowned small college champs each year. Then again, I'd like to hear what these claimants are referring to when they claim 30+ championships. Were you guys possibly referring to other sports other than football? If so, this is a football board.....

NCAA Div II Football Champs (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/N/NC/NCAA_Division_II_national_football_championship4.h tm)

[WCU LawCat]

I'll go ahead and mention it since no one has yet. WCU vs ASU is one of the biggest. Opinions from those outside of the rivalry don't see it being very big but if your local or a part of it...its HUGE! The Battle for the Old Mountian Jug was called "The biggest rivalry you have never heard of" by Sports Illustrated.

If your an App fan, your blood boils if you have to give the Jug to Western. (1998, 2004)
If your a WCU fan, your superbowl has been the Jug game for a number of years because WCU has not been in playoff contention at the end of the season.

[Pard94]

In the past 10 years, Colgate/Lehigh has been a great rivalry.


Sorry 13, Lehigh's already spoken for.

[Pard94]

[QUOTE=DuckDuckGriz]Look....I know I may be ignorant, but Harvard and Yale, Lehigh and Lafayette, and ESPECIALLY Southern and Grambling cannot touch the rivalry that is the Brawl of the Wild (UM-MSU).

With all due respect...you're crazy. Laf vs. Lehigh are both in the same state. It's always standing room only. As for riots...we have that covered too. I watched my girlfriend get pepper sprayed by the Bethlem police my sophomore year becasue she was going for a piece of the post (yearly tradition).

So if we all things are equal in those departments, we can only look at the fact that Laf./Lehigh have played "The Game" over 130 times.

[colgate13]

Sorry 13, Lehigh's already spoken for.
Yea, but Cornell still sucks so I couldn't bring myself to admit they're our yearly rival. :D

[OL FU]

Rivalries like most other things are in the eye of the beholder. What’s a bigger rivalry; Auburn/Alabama or USC (Gamecocks)/Clemson), I can tell you what it is in the SC. For the rest of the country it’s the other game. Why? Because of the national implications year-end and year out. So what’s bigger in I-AA? Everyone appreciates Lafayette/Lehigh history. Every one appreciates the excitement, the crowds, the enthusiasm and programs of Grambling/Southern. But for national implications, the game takes place in Paulson or Paladin Stadium.

[Umass74]

UMass-UConn
UMass-Holy Cross
UMass-Harvard

Sigh :(

[MR. CHICKEN]

I-AA RIVALRIES....DELAWARE vs DELAWARE ST.....UH..ER..UM....NEVERAH MIND!.................xcoffeex...................A WK!

[FU97]

Not a very old rivalry but one of the biggest in the past 20 years is Furman v. GSU. I think this is the GA v. FLA of 1-AA. 1st two times these teams met was in the Nat'l Championship game spliting the two and now they are conf foes. This is one of th most important games in I-AA almost every year.

For Furman fans it depends on their age as to who they consider the biggest rivalry. As a young FU grad (c/o 1997) I'd consider GSU a bigger rivalry. Ask any grad from before the 1990's and they'd likely say The Citadel.

[FU97]

quote:

"The GSU-Furman rivalry is up there, not the best, but definitely up there. Every year those teams meet, there is a lot at stake."


The other thing that we have going is that we, as institutions and teams, really dislike each other. Real hate-fests in I-AA are rare, and GSU-FU is one.

I don't hate GSU. Us Furman grads have to get our yard work done by someone. I appreciate all the GSU grads I have to choose from for that. :D

[OL FU]

For Furman fans it depends on their age as to who they consider the biggest rivalry. As a young FU grad (c/o 1997) I'd consider GSU a bigger rivalry. Ask any grad from before the 1990's and they'd likely say The Citadel.

I graduated in 79 and until the early 90's I would say El Cid, times change :) I think part of that is that Citadel grads would have said FU until then, now they would say VMI. The change is due to competition,

[BBB]

I can add

Florida A&M vs Bethune Cookman

Hampton vs Norfolk State

Hampton vs Howard

Howard vs Morgan State (played since 1896)

Harvard vs Yale

Southern vs. Grambling

App State vs NC A&T but they don't play enough.

[Eagle_77]

I'm not sure that Furman-Georgia Southern is even the best rivalry in the Southern Conference. It has been extremely important in the past few years and there are those two national championship encounters, but I think that Georgia Southern and Appalachian State has been more of the rivalry game since GSU entered the SoCon in 1993. The Furman-ASU series has also been extremely exciting through the years, but nothing seems to stir the passion of the Mountaineers, or Eagles, like playing one another.


You're telling Mr. C that? How many GaSU/FU and GaSU/ASU games have you gone to? I see a lot more hate between the Eagles and Mountaineers but I haven't been to 1/20 as many of those games as Mr. C has.

I have to disagree with you both. ASU/GSU is a huge game and there is no love for sure but as an ex-player and huge fan, Furman/GSU has to be the bigger rivalry. While ASU/GSU are rivals and the game usually means a lot the hate between GSU/FU is unreal. Like I said before I would have to compare this game to UGA/FLA or OSU/Mich in I-A.

I really don’t care how many ASU/GSU games one goes to you to truly criticize which rivalry is better you have to attend both rivalries to truly know. No disrespect to Mr. C because I admire him as a fan and a poster but since 1996 I can tell you that there is no bigger game for the Eagles or Eagle fans. Between 93-96 I was not a part of the team but since joining the team in 96 and until now GSU/FU has been the bigger game in the rivalry department.

I would agree that the ASU/GSU games have been more competitive at times but I dont believe that is what makes a rilvary a rilvary. Take ASU/WCU for instance. That game has been lopsided for several years but its a rivalry and a good one at that. A rilvary is a game where the fans and players "need" that win for bragging rights and to feel complete. I believe that if these two schools were truely rivals they would move that game to the begining of the year or end of the year.

If you attended last year’s game in Greenville you would know just how big of a game this is. After the game I saw several fights and the Furman fans stormed the field taunting GSU fans. Cops were brought in to restrain the GSU crowd from retaliating and also storming the field. After that display last year you better believe that this years game will be that much more important to each team and its fans. GSU hates traveling to Boone but GSU hates EVERYTHING about Furman and I mean EVERYTHING.

[BBB]

I can see your point in such a largely populated state. But since we are talking about these rivalries in relation to I-AA, do Grambling and Southern have the passion of an entire state, and do they often determine the outcome of the conference champion or playoff contender? I can't imagine a kid growing up in Louisiana dreaming of beating Grambling on the football field.


That's because there's not much to talk about football wise AFTER Montana and Montana State which are the TWO biggest schools (football wise) in that state. It's like saying Nebraska is the most recoginized team in America because they capture the entire state but, forgetting that it's the ONLY team that plays D-1 football in that state (if I'm mistaken please correct me.

The Southern/Grambling riviarly captures the state even with the fact that LSU (recent National Champ) is in the same state. Plus they share that area with Tulane, ULM and ULL, as well as La Tech.

[OL FU]

GSU hates EVERYTHING about Furman and I mean EVERYTHING.

Dang!!!!!! Don't hold back.

[EagleCrusade]

You're telling Mr. C that? How many GaSU/FU and GaSU/ASU games have you gone to? I see a lot more hate between the Eagles and Mountaineers but I haven't been to 1/20 as many of those games as Mr. C has.

Honestly, yes I am. I respect Mr. C and I admit I know 1/104954305 the amount of I-AA that he does. Yet I have to respectfully disagree. I'm just a student and I can only admit I have seen 5 GSU FU games and 5 GSU/ASU games (both including playoffs). The atmosphere and energy is higher for GS/FU games. Appalachian might feel more strongly about the GS game. Please dont think I don't count the ASU game a rivalry. It's just a close #2. A VERY VERY close #2. It gets more heated every year (and because of goalposts) but I have to once again vote GS/FU the #1 rivalry in the conference/nation.

If I had to pick between which game (GS vs ASU or FU) in which GS had to lose, I would choose ASU. I really cannot stand losing to Furman...at any sport (I'm going to the tourney this afternoon).

Mr. C, Ralph, I dont have the street cred at AGS, but I have to respectfully disagree with y'all based on my knowledge as a fan (albeit a young fan) and as a student at one of the universities involved. Just my opinion...but again isnt this all this thread is about?

[OL FU]

Montana population per the 2000 census. 902,195

While important to Montana and also I-AA. I am not sure the fact that it is the state championship applies to the rivalries national standing.

[eaglefan452]

Montana population per the 2000 census. 902,195

While important to Montana and also I-AA. I am not sure the fact that it is the state championship applies to the rivalries national standing.

I think the Montana/MSU rivalry is so big because that is the only big football teams there. They don't have any I-A teams and no other professional sports, so on the day of that game, there is nothing else worth talking about, sports-wise.

[NoCoDanny]

Earlier in this thread I saw a few claims that some programs have won 30+ "division II" championships. Correct me if I am wrong, but the division II NCAA championship began in 1973. No program has won even 10 championships let alone the highly inflated crowns being claimed. I'm guessing that the posters are referring to the days prior to 1973 when various wire services crowned small college champs each year. Then again, I'd like to hear what these claimants are referring to when they claim 30+ championships. Were you guys possibly referring to other sports other than football? If so, this is a football board.....

NCAA Div II Football Champs (http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/N/NC/NCAA_Division_II_national_football_championship4.h tm)

They were talking about in all sports. So those totals include things like Women's Golf, Equstrian, Cross Country, Basketweaving...

[bison95]

[QUOTE=89Hen]NDSU AND SDSU?

Not really a rival yet. Just a conference game. No hate, no nasty t-shirts, nothing. The two schools are too much alike, and so are the students and alumni. The administrations are trying to make it a rival game but great rivals just grow over time. Anyway who can hate a Rabbit, ther cute, fluffy, and taste like chicken! :D

[GannonFan]

The UD/nova one is a pretty fierce rivalry. It first had the animosity of a Div II team (UD) playing a Div 1 (nova) in the old days, and then after nova got back into football it remained fierce. The schools are relatively close in distance, the games are normally very competitive (even when one school is on a run against the other one the games are typically close), and when the game's are at nova the upswing in nova attendance is noticeable as the place is 40% filled with UD fans. It's nova's only guaranteed sellout every year. Heck, there were even accusations of a drunk priest trying to run down UD fans after a UD win - that's pretty fierce if you ask me.

[Proud Griz Man]

I think the Montana/MSU rivalry is so big because that is the only big football teams there. They don't have any I-A teams and no other professional sports, so on the day of that game, there is nothing else worth talking about, sports-wise.

Spoken like true experts, you and OL FU.

So, following your logic. The Montana/MSU game could qualify as a big 1-AA rivalry if we had an in-state professional team and 1-A teams.

:confused: :confused: :confused: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

If you want qualifiers on the thread, then name it:

Top 1-AA Rivalries but only between teams in states with professional franchises and/or major 1-A programs and preferably states with large populations.

;)

[DTSpider]

Ahhhh how quickly they forget. Believe me that W&M vs. Richmond means much more than recent records to many alums.

The Richmond W&M rivalry extends off the field as well (actually probably more off the field than on lately). Two schools are close together with similar academics. Traditionally W&M actually used to draw more students from out-of-state until about the mid-80s. Both schools are viewed as elistists and the alumni bases are proud folks. Richmond leaving for the A10 was kind of a messy point since W&M refused to play Richmond outside of football.

Bottom line is that W&M alumni generally are jealous of UR, but can you blame them? :)

[BBB]

Spoken like true experts, you and OL FU.

So, following your logic. The Montana/MSU game could qualify as a big 1-AA rivalry if we had an in-state professional team and 1-A teams.

:confused: :confused: :confused: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

If you want qualifiers on the thread, then name it:

Top 1-AA Rivalries but only between teams in states with professional franchises and/or major 1-A programs and preferably states with large populations.

;)

But a qualifier for the Mont/MSU rivarly was based on the fact that the ENTIRE state is into it. The response that came back to that were to point out that There are the ONLY 2 BIG TIME schools in that state.

Don't get me wrong, it's bigtime and ranks up there.

The problem is that alot of people feel other rivarlies are bigger and vice versa. This entire thread is nothing but opinion.

[WMTribe90]

The WM vs. UR series is billed as the South's oldest rivalry and is tied with Minnesota v Wisconsin as the fourth longest series in all of DI. WM holds a series lead of 59-50-5, but the series has been rather one-sided in recent years (last decade or so). The emergence of rivalries with JMU and UD and UR's departure for the A-10 in other sports has also dimished this rivalry. Also, while both schools boast strong academics, UR is an expensive private school catering largely to out-of-state students. WM is a public school rated one of thebest values (in-state tuition) by US News. The UD series is split 11-11 over the last 22 meetings, including several OT games. WM has won three of the last five :) . The game is almost always close (hint, if you havn't voted for the AGS Game of the Week, this is a good one). Interest and fan support at UR has also diminished over the last five years, which has lessened the intensity of the rivalry. On a list of current rivals, I would rate UR third behind JMU and UD.

[OL FU]

Spoken like true experts, you and OL FU.

So, following your logic. The Montana/MSU game could qualify as a big 1-AA rivalry if we had an in-state professional team and 1-A teams.

:confused: :confused: :confused: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

If you want qualifiers on the thread, then name it:

Top 1-AA Rivalries but only between teams in states with professional franchises and/or major 1-A programs and preferably states with large populations.

;)

No, There is no doubt about how huge the rivalry is. However, the premise seemed to be because it was the biggest in the state, it was a big rivalry nationally. I may have misunderstood the premise but if I didn't then I don't think that issue makes it a big rivaley.

Never been to the game, but seen a few pictures from it. It looks awesome.

[putter]

I disagree with your assesments of UM/MSU rivalry. Look at Delaware. It has more people that Montana as a state yet the UD/DSU doesn't come across as one of the top rivalries in the country. Each rivalry will speak for itself.

[OL FU]

I disagree with your assesments of UM/MSU rivalry. Look at Delaware. It has more people that Montana as a state yet the UD/DSU doesn't come across as one of the top rivalries in the country. Each rivalry will speak for itself.

Does UD Play DSU?

The question what is the third best rivalry. And my point is, which I stated very poorly, the one that has the biggest impact on the national scene. My argument is for FU and GSU. That does not mean that MU and MSU is not a big rivalry.

On the other hand it depends on how you define rivalry. FU and GSU has a very short life and is based on its competitive past not a geography or a long history.

[GannonFan]

I disagree with your assesments of UM/MSU rivalry. Look at Delaware. It has more people that Montana as a state yet the UD/DSU doesn't come across as one of the top rivalries in the country. Each rivalry will speak for itself.

Technically speaking, as UD and DSU do not play each other in football, there really is no rivalry in-state, let alone nationally.

[Eagle_77]

Dang!!!!!! Don't hold back.


LOL no hard feelings! You know the point I was trying to get across. While Im not gonna pick a fight with a FU fan or dislike them because of who they root for there is just no love between these teams.

[OL FU]

LOL no hard feelings! You know the point I was trying to get across. While Im not gonna pick a fight with a FU fan or dislike them because of who they root for there is just no love between these teams.

No problem. You can keep the love. We probably can agree on mutual respect? :cool: :D

[JoltinJoe]

I'd like to hear from some Hoya fans on this one: are Fordham and Georgetown big rivals in football?

The Hoyas are our most frequently played opponent. We are yours.

Fordham's great historical rivals don't play football anymore. Fordham and NYU once fielded powerful teams, and played to full capacity at Yankee Stadium to determine city bragging rights. But NYU has dropped football.

Fordham and St. Mary's played throughout the 1930's and 1940's to sell-out crowds at the Polo Grounds, and was annually one of the biggest games of the year, pitting an East Coast power against a West Coast power. But St. Mary's doesn't play football anymore.

I'm afraid we have no real football rival anymore, unless it's Georgetown.

[Eagle_77]

I will agree with that. Mutual respect I like it.

[eaglefan452]

Spoken like true experts, you and OL FU.

So, following your logic. The Montana/MSU game could qualify as a big 1-AA rivalry if we had an in-state professional team and 1-A teams.

:confused: :confused: :confused: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

If you want qualifiers on the thread, then name it:

Top 1-AA Rivalries but only between teams in states with professional franchises and/or major 1-A programs and preferably states with large populations.

;)

You misread my post. I meant that game is huge because probably everybody in the state has a preference of team, even if they didn't attend either school or aren't even football fans. It's not like here in Georgia, when GSU plays one of our rivals, most of the state doesn't even care. I wasn't trying to say it wasn't big because there aren't any I-A teams or professional teams. Hell, I wish there weren't any I-A or professional teams sometimes here in Georgia. GSU has little chance of getting any press here.

[Eagle_77]

Just because I have respect doesnt mean that I have any love. lol
Come that saturday I will be rooting that he gets his heart broken. Then I may rub it in his face a little. OK maybe a lot! ;)

How does the saying go? My two favorite teams are Georgia Southern and who ever is playing Furman this weekend.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I'd like to hear from some Hoya fans on this one: are Fordham and Georgetown big rivals in football?

...

I'm afraid we have no real football rival anymore, unless it's Georgetown.

Fordham/Columbia
Fordham/Hofstra

I'm under the impression that Fordham/Columbia is actually a decent football rivalry.. it's always on TV and I've actually heard it referred to on a Mets broadcast. Geographically of course it makes a boatload of sense, since they're so close.

I've always felt that Hofstra, Fordham and Columbia should all play each other every year and compete for the "Bloomberg Trophy" or something like that. What better way to publicize I-AA football in the NYC area? I'd be willing to bet it would increase interest.

Add the proposed West side stadium as well, and now you've get a really great potential for revenue for all 3 schools.

[UNH_Alum_In_CT]

I'm afraid we have no real football rival anymore, unless it's Georgetown.

Thought I read about a good series with Hofstra? That one could be nurtured into a rivalry. Seeing as you play in the A-10 for all other sports, I'd guess that URI could be nutured as well. For the same reason, I'd normally say UMass as well, but they have other possibilities that you guys can't compete with. I think UMass would look toward Holy Cross and Harvard before Fordham.

UMass-UNH is a decent football rivalry (as is Maine-UNH), just not up there with Montana-Montana State or Furman-GA Southern. It might mean more to UNH than UMass, but I know that UMass can't stand losing to its smaller, poorer cousin to the North!! I've been to enough hockey games at the Mullins Center to ascertain that! :D

While I don't want to give props to the Ivies, one can't ignore the Yale-Harvard game. It usually sells out Harvard Stadium and I think the last game at Yale Bowl had 55K or so. That number in New England is like filling the Rose Bowl AND Michigan Stadium!!

[JMU Duke Dog]

Bottom line is that W&M alumni generally are jealous of UR, but can you blame them? :)

Who is jealous of Richmond? No one. Period.

[JoltinJoe]

Fordham/Columbia
Fordham/Hofstra

I'm under the impression that Fordham/Columbia is actually a decent football rivalry.. it's always on TV and I've actually heard it referred to on a Mets broadcast. Geographically of course it makes a boatload of sense, since they're so close.

I've always felt that Hofstra, Fordham and Columbia should all play each other every year and compete for the "Bloomberg Trophy" or something like that. What better way to publicize I-AA football in the NYC area? I'd be willing to bet it would increase interest.

Add the proposed West side stadium as well, and now you've get a really great potential for revenue for all 3 schools.

The Fordham/Columbia game might someday develop into a rivalry, but it just isn't there yet. We haven't played Hofstra since 1995. Some bad feelings developed between Hofstra and the Patriot League after Hofstra practically begged to get it, and was turned down. Hofstra had a superior team at the team, and took to humiliating Fordham by running up some scores. Fordham refused to extend the series when the contract lapsed in 1995. I don't see that game happening for the foreseeable future. Bad feelings still linger.

Actually, Fordham, Holy Cross, and Georgetown all are Jesuit schools, and already play each other every year as part of the PL schedule. I always thought they should, among themselves, compete each year for the "Loyola Trophy."

[mikebigg]

I can see your point in such a largely populated state. But since we are talking about these rivalries in relation to I-AA, do Grambling and Southern have the passion of an entire state, and do they often determine the outcome of the conference champion or playoff contender? I can't imagine a kid growing up in Louisiana dreaming of beating Grambling on the football field.

You're more right than you know... they dream of playing for Grambling on the football field. The Bayou Classic between Grambling and Southern has the attention of the entire state. College students and fans from throughout the state and region make it down for this EVENT. It has grown to "bigger than 1AA proportions"...so big that we decided to forego the playoffs because of the magnitude of the game to our fans.

That's gonna irk some of the 1AA posters...no disrespect to your playoffs but the rivalry of this game supersedes all else to our fans. This game has outsold LSU/Tulane games played in the Superdome. With all due respect to the rivalry of other teams in the state...the Gmen vs The Jags is the biggest in-state rivalry (based on attendance) in the state.

[ngineer]

In the past 10 years, Colgate/Lehigh has been a great rivalry.

Very much agreed, there. In fact, until Lafayette turned their program around a couple years ago, there was concern that the Colgate was going to become 'bigger'. That won't ever happen, but there's not doubt both teams really get 'up' for each other. :D

Lehigh has always had a good rivalry with Delaware, too, going back several decades. Just a shame we can't get together more frequently; but hopefully we'll be able to get it on at least once every other year or so, now that a 12 game is being added.

[ngineer]

Despite the excellent rivalries that Lehigh has with Colgate and Delaware, Lehigh/Lafayette transcends football. It's in EVERYTHING. Any sport played between the schools, male or female, is a war. It is amazing how the freshmen are indoctrinated through the year. For anyone to discount the depth of the L/L rivalry has no awareness of football history. The game is actually credited with creatiof the "Flying Wedge" aka the "V Trick".
The number of riots that have resulted in significant police 'incursions' are legion. The stringent security measures implimented in 1991 resulted in a drop in attendance for several years as severe clampdowns on bringing alcohol into the stadium were started, readmission to the stadium if one left was denied, and steel goalposts imbedded four feet into the ground were erected to prevent the riot-spawning charging of the goalposts. In 1975, the goal posts in Taylor Stadium came down at halftime. I could go on....I'll just refer you to the book: Legends of Lehigh-Lafayette, College Football's Most-Played Rivalry by Todd Davidson and Bob Donchez.
As stated by Beano Cook, "This rivalry proves you need not crowds of 80,000 to show passion, tears and broken hearts...if any present-day rivalry fulfills the meaning of college football, take the time and see for yourself on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and watch Lehigh/Lafayette."
"It's not just a game. It's not just a rivalry. It's a way of life."
Last evening, I travelled to a dinner meeting about 50 miles away where I was the guest speaker. At my table was 8 other people, and as we did the usual intros, etc., one of the members mentioned he was a Lafayette grad. Needless to say, the rest of the night the zingers went back and forth.
WE JUST CAN'T HELP IT!!!! :argue: :shakingma :dizzy: xprost2x :beerchug: :hurray: :hyped: :smiley_wi :D

[Purple Knight]

Yes and no.

There is no love between ASU and GSU that's for sure, but ask any GS fan which game they want to win the most every year and its Furman. Ask a Furman fan and they'll most likely say GS (Citadel a close second). If you think the passion is amazing for the GS vs App game, go to one GS vs FU game. It will blow you away. No other game in I-AA has more on the line year after year than that game.
After attending this years game in Greenville, I have never seen two schools hate each other so much (including I-A). App ranks just behind FU in the hate column.
BUT DANG IT I RESPECT FU's PROGRAM!!! a lot of Eagle fans do.

I agree with this. Rarely has this game been a blowout (twice). It's down to the wire every time. Mutual respect grows every year. Not just from our game, but what GSU has done to others. Yea, the student still push the 'hate button' before & after the game, but the other fans are worth throwing down a 'cold one' with before the game. Its really best to past by quitely after the game and watch out for the 'frayed nerves'.

[GAD]

To add to what Mikebigg said you would be amazed at how many people who have absolutely no association with either school show up to be part of the Bayou Classic.

[Mr. C]

On the subject of Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and Furman, perhaps some of these young whippersnappers need a history lesson.

Furman didn't really emerge from its doldrums until 1999 after its program had eroded during the decade of the 1990s. From 1993 through 1998, this game wasn't even on the radar in terms of SoCon importance. The seeds of the current rivalry between Furman and GSU were sown in 2001, when Georgia Southern beat Furman at home in the regular season, but was beaten by the Paladins in the semifinals in Statesboro, breaking several long streaks. That game was famous for Furman players doing the "Whose House, Our House" cheer in the visiting locker room, much to the chagrin of GSU. In 2002, GSU beat both ASU and Furman (who tied for second) handly to win the SoCon title. In 2003, both GSU and Furman finished out of the playoffs and the biggest SoCon games that year were Wofford's contests against ASU (the runner-up) and The Citadel (in the title hunt at the time). In 2004, there is no doubt that GSU and Furman were among the country's top teams, hence the game had a lot of meaning. So, excluding those great I-AA championship games in the 1980s, this game hasn't been that important but a few times.

In the ASU-GSU rivalry, things got off to a heated start when ASU knocked off GSU 19-0 on a snowy, icy field in Boone in the 1987 quarterfinals. When GSU came into the SoCon, it won the title in 1993, but had to survive a big upset bid from an undermanned ASU to do it. In 1994, GSU beat ASU a week before the Mountaineers' win over No. 1 Marshall, a loss that eventually helped cost ASU the SoCon title. During these days, ASU and Marshall was the premier SoCon rivalry, with the ASU-GSU game a close second in terms of importance. In 1995, ASU had to beat ranked playoff teams from GSU and Marshall in back-to-back weeks on the way to a perfect regular season. 1996 was the year of the famous Bake Baker comeback as ASU won at Paulson for the first time. The rivalry heated more the next year when Paul Johnson (a native of nearby Newland, N.C. and a one-time scholarship athlete at WCU) took over as GSU's head coach. He hated losing, but in particular, hated losing to ASU. The teams split four games (always winning at home) from 1997-2000. In 2000, these teams were only a tipped pass away from meeting each in the national championship game (after GSU had held ASU off on the final play of the game in the regular season with an interception at the goal line).

Until 2001, GSU had usually handled Furman with relative ease and since then, Furman has managed only last year's win. No doubt, the GSU-Furman game was the game of the year in the SoCon in 2004 and it looks like it could be again this year as well. But there has been much more passion flowing in the ASU-GSU games through the years. As Joe Friday would say, just the fact ma'am.

[Tod]

Just what this board needs, someone who knows what they're talking about... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D :)

[Tribe4SF]

The Richmond W&M rivalry extends off the field as well (actually probably more off the field than on lately). Two schools are close together with similar academics. Traditionally W&M actually used to draw more students from out-of-state until about the mid-80s. Both schools are viewed as elistists and the alumni bases are proud folks. Richmond leaving for the A10 was kind of a messy point since W&M refused to play Richmond outside of football.

Bottom line is that W&M alumni generally are jealous of UR, but can you blame them? :)

Jealous of UR? :lmao:

The football rivalry has really faded since the advent of I-AA. Tribe is 19-5 against UR as I-AAs. The old days were a different story. I can remember City Stadium being packed and real animosity between fans. You guys in those awful red slacks. Looked like a gay pride parade.

[DTSpider]

No question is has died down some. The jealousy comment was just for kicks. Still don't like W&M, maybe if Clawson turns it around some it'll get better. I thin kits just a down time, back a faw years ago when UR was good I remember it being a little more intense.

I thin kthat the schools are playing it up anymore either. The bookstore used to carry all sorts of anti-W&M stuff, but I haven't seen it lately. Now they're trying to hype a "rivalry" with GW.

[Pantherpower]

In conference I would have to give the nod to UNI-WIU as the biggest rivalry. An OOC rivalry that I would love to see renewed would be UNI-McNeese St., UNI-SDSU & UNI-NDSU. (UNI, SDSU, & NDSU are former NCC foes) ;)

[EagleCrusade]

On the subject of Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and Furman, perhaps some of these young whippersnappers need a history lesson.

Furman didn't really emerge from its doldrums until 1999 after its program had eroded during the decade of the 1990s. From 1993 through 1998, this game wasn't even on the radar in terms of SoCon importance. The seeds of the current rivalry between Furman and GSU were sown in 2001, when Georgia Southern beat Furman at home in the regular season, but was beaten by the Paladins in the semifinals in Statesboro, breaking several long streaks. That game was famous for Furman players doing the "Whose House, Our House" cheer in the visiting locker room, much to the chagrin of GSU. In 2002, GSU beat both ASU and Furman (who tied for second) handly to win the SoCon title. In 2003, both GSU and Furman finished out of the playoffs and the biggest SoCon games that year were Wofford's contests against ASU (the runner-up) and The Citadel (in the title hunt at the time). In 2004, there is no doubt that GSU and Furman were among the country's top teams, hence the game had a lot of meaning. So, excluding those great I-AA championship games in the 1980s, this game hasn't been that important but a few times.

In the ASU-GSU rivalry, things got off to a heated start when ASU knocked off GSU 19-0 on a snowy, icy field in Boone in the 1987 quarterfinals. When GSU came into the SoCon, it won the title in 1993, but had to survive a big upset bid from an undermanned ASU to do it. In 1994, GSU beat ASU a week before the Mountaineers' win over No. 1 Marshall, a loss that eventually helped cost ASU the SoCon title. During these days, ASU and Marshall was the premier SoCon rivalry, with the ASU-GSU game a close second in terms of importance. In 1995, ASU had to beat ranked playoff teams from GSU and Marshall in back-to-back weeks on the way to a perfect regular season. 1996 was the year of the famous Bake Baker comeback as ASU won at Paulson for the first time. The rivalry heated more the next year when Paul Johnson (a native of nearby Newland, N.C. and a one-time scholarship athlete at WCU) took over as GSU's head coach. He hated losing, but in particular, hated losing to ASU. The teams split four games (always winning at home) from 1997-2000. In 2000, these teams were only a tipped pass away from meeting each in the national championship game (after GSU had held ASU off on the final play of the game in the regular season with an interception at the goal line).

Until 2001, GSU had usually handled Furman with relative ease and since then, Furman has managed only last year's win. No doubt, the GSU-Furman game was the game of the year in the SoCon in 2004 and it looks like it could be again this year as well. But there has been much more passion flowing in the ASU-GSU games through the years. As Joe Friday would say, just the fact ma'am.

Prepare to enter the "No-Spin Zone":

In 2000 GS was handedly deafeated by Furman 45-10 in Greenville, a game in which the greatest RB of all time was sidelined with an ankle injury and where the SoCon crown was also decided. The domination insued as Louis Ivory romped up and down the Eagle defense for the entire game.
In 1999 featured a game that GS fans curse loudly and unashamed as the Eagles blew a huge lead (This game is where the "Eagle Ref Excuse" became a legend). A last-second field goal saved the game for the Eagles over the hated Paladins. The Eagles dropped an earlier game in Boone, in which they wore the infamous blue pants......the same pants worn against UMASS in 1998. Handled with ease?

As the Eagles emerged from their bleakest period that included their only losing season (1996) the games that still meant the most to Eagle fans were the Furman games. Ever since the 85 Emerald Bowl game, and the 88 fumble fiasco the desire to crush The Purple was engrained into the souls of the Eagle faithful.

So using the above history recap, the importance of the GS/FU game may not have had national title ramifications for a brieft period in the mid-1990's (for GSU was in their 'doldrums' as well). ASU has been GS's biggest thorn in terms of record and there is definately a rivalry there but it is not the same as Furman. Furman and GS have met twice in the national championship, once in the semi's. ASU has never gained the national respect and prestige that Furman has, even though it is a highly successful program. It is just something that it never has acheived. That is what makes the FU game so special to GS fans. Georgia Southern and Furman go into the season both having legitimate chances to win National Titles every year for nearly 20 years (not counting 1994-1996). Unfortunately, App does not. Should this change will the App/GS rivalry change with it? Of course. UGAy/UFla or Auburn...which is the bigger rival? It's hard to tell, both are huge huge games for those teams. Why can't App/GS/FU love triangle be viewed the same way?

Since P.Johnson was brought up, and using it to further the GS hates App more cause, I want to point out he was the offensive coordinator for the GS teams in the 80's. That includes the 85 title game in Tacoma. As well as the 88 defeat in Pocatello. So did you think he liked losing to Furman either?

I knew the history of the App and Furman rivalries (even though I am young) and I dislike both teams nearly equally. Yet as for me, my fellow students and a huge portion of the alumni I have met and talked to agree that the Furman game is the bigger rivalry of the two. Besides, isnt App's biggest rival WCU? Paladins and Eagles agree they are each others biggest rivals, their secondaries being Citadel and App respectively. Wouldnt App's secondary be GS?

[Tod]

Prepare to enter the "No-Spin Zone":


Stopped reading right there... :rolleyes:

[CatFan22]

Montana St. - Montana has to be in the top three if not the top spot.

[youwouldno]

But his point is that many of the biggest games have been FU/GSU, obviously in the '80s but also recently.

How do you weigh what happened in the '90s versus that? I dunno, it's arbitrary. But it makes sense to me to look at the fans, and as of now, FU-GSU is the bigger rivalry than GSU-App. Furman and GSU are also closer geographically for whatever that's worth, and as others have mentioned I think there's the private/public rivalry aspect as well.

I'm so looking forward to next year's matchup. THAT is going to be some serious football. If we keep having games like 2004 the rivalry question will have a definite answer.



Oh and how 'bout Paladins baseball? :D For Eagles fans' sake, they better hope their football defense is better than the baseball version!!

[Eagle22]

On the subject of Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and Furman, perhaps some of these young whippersnappers need a history lesson.

Furman didn't really emerge from its doldrums until 1999 after its program had eroded during the decade of the 1990s. From 1993 through 1998, this game wasn't even on the radar in terms of SoCon importance. The seeds of the current rivalry between Furman and GSU were sown in 2001, when Georgia Southern beat Furman at home in the regular season, but was beaten by the Paladins in the semifinals in Statesboro, breaking several long streaks. That game was famous for Furman players doing the "Whose House, Our House" cheer in the visiting locker room, much to the chagrin of GSU. In 2002, GSU beat both ASU and Furman (who tied for second) handly to win the SoCon title. In 2003, both GSU and Furman finished out of the playoffs and the biggest SoCon games that year were Wofford's contests against ASU (the runner-up) and The Citadel (in the title hunt at the time). In 2004, there is no doubt that GSU and Furman were among the country's top teams, hence the game had a lot of meaning. So, excluding those great I-AA championship games in the 1980s, this game hasn't been that important but a few times.

In the ASU-GSU rivalry, things got off to a heated start when ASU knocked off GSU 19-0 on a snowy, icy field in Boone in the 1987 quarterfinals. When GSU came into the SoCon, it won the title in 1993, but had to survive a big upset bid from an undermanned ASU to do it. In 1994, GSU beat ASU a week before the Mountaineers' win over No. 1 Marshall, a loss that eventually helped cost ASU the SoCon title. During these days, ASU and Marshall was the premier SoCon rivalry, with the ASU-GSU game a close second in terms of importance. In 1995, ASU had to beat ranked playoff teams from GSU and Marshall in back-to-back weeks on the way to a perfect regular season. 1996 was the year of the famous Bake Baker comeback as ASU won at Paulson for the first time. The rivalry heated more the next year when Paul Johnson (a native of nearby Newland, N.C. and a one-time scholarship athlete at WCU) took over as GSU's head coach. He hated losing, but in particular, hated losing to ASU. The teams split four games (always winning at home) from 1997-2000. In 2000, these teams were only a tipped pass away from meeting each in the national championship game (after GSU had held ASU off on the final play of the game in the regular season with an interception at the goal line).

Until 2001, GSU had usually handled Furman with relative ease and since then, Furman has managed only last year's win. No doubt, the GSU-Furman game was the game of the year in the SoCon in 2004 and it looks like it could be again this year as well. But there has been much more passion flowing in the ASU-GSU games through the years. As Joe Friday would say, just the fact ma'am.

The GSU-ASU tilts are good ones where you know that usually you're going to get your opponents best shot .... but IMO it takes a 'close' backseat to the GSU-FU rivalry.

Considering the first two meetings between the schools had such tremendous implications, and the fact that both games could have gone either way .... validates what fans in the GSU and FU camps are saying ..... ASU is a worthy and tremendous opponent but it doesn't rattle the nerves the same way ...

GSU's domination over the early run of the series probably fueled the fire in the belly of the Furman fans, and I know for certain that our loss in 1996 in Greenville did not sit well w/ the average GSU fan ... up until that time we enjoyed a 5-1 alltime mark against the Paladins ...

I was in Paulson Stadium the day we beat Furman in 1997, to win our second SoCon title and first of what would become a record six straight (SoCon). The atmosphere that day was secondary only to some exciting playoff games against other opponents, and no GSU-ASU game played in Paulson has ever approached that level of frenzied excitement. Don't be deceived by the final 30-13 margin ... that game was quite a bit closer than the score indicates and Ryan Hadden's interception in that game set the tone that has followed ...

GSU's distaste for Furman has pretty much been indoctrinated since 1988 ... it became even more intense after we joined the conference ... before, when we were independent, we loved to hate MTSU ... they were the chief rival and we usually had knock-down/drag out games with the Blue Raiders.

Don't get me wrong, I thing GSU-ASU games are intense and certainly there are enough moments in the history to point to some feelings that rivalries are borne from, it's just not the same during mid-October as it is in mid-November ... rarely has the conference title been determined before GSU-FU takes place ... and that game has a lot of impact when other games of consequence have faded somewhat from earlier in the season ....

I'll grant you PJ hated losing to ASU, however the PJ I knew hated losing PERIOD !

Montana whipped us 45-0 in the playoffs and ice in 1995 w/an experienced QB, so getting punked in the playoffs in '87 w/ a freshman QB wasn't as big of a deal to the GSU fans as the ASU fans might think ... embarrasing ? Certainly ... but not like losing to Furman ;)

[ngineer]

Sorry 13, Lehigh's already spoken for.

Gosh, it's such an honor to have you guys fight over us! ;)

[Lapper]

THE BATTLE FOR THE BEACH: Coastal Carolina vs. The Citadel

That is if the Citadel is "brave" enough to accept our challenge :cool: .

[Mr. C]

ASU has been GS's biggest thorn in terms of record and there is definately a rivalry there but it is not the same as Furman. Furman and GS have met twice in the national championship, once in the semi's. ASU has never gained the national respect and prestige that Furman has, even though it is a highly successful program. It is just something that it never has acheived. That is what makes the FU game so special to GS fans. Georgia Southern and Furman go into the season both having legitimate chances to win National Titles every year for nearly 20 years (not counting 1994-1996). Unfortunately, App does not. Should this change will the App/GS rivalry change with it? Of course. UGAy/UFla or Auburn...which is the bigger rival? It's hard to tell, both are huge huge games for those teams. Why can't App/GS/FU love triangle be viewed the same way?

I knew the history of the App and Furman rivalries (even though I am young) and I dislike both teams nearly equally. Yet as for me, my fellow students and a huge portion of the alumni I have met and talked to agree that the Furman game is the bigger rivalry of the two. Besides, isnt App's biggest rival WCU? Paladins and Eagles agree they are each others biggest rivals, their secondaries being Citadel and App respectively. Wouldnt App's secondary be GS?
Where do we start with this post?

First off on ASU-Western Carolina. App expects to win this game EVERY YEAR and the record indicates that it usually does (50-18-1 in the all-time series). The Old Mountain Jug was something that didn't come about until 1978 (as a marketing gimmic) and ASU has won it 21 of 27 times. ASU enjoys its wins over Georgia Southern more than its wins over any other opponent. In the Mountaineer fans minds, the GSU-ASU rivalry is tops and it has been played for far more importance throughout the years in the SoCon.

If GSU fans don't put much stalk in the 1987 playoff loss, why do I hear them complain about it so often? Of all the losses to ASU, that seems to be the one that rankles the Eagles the most.

I can't believe how you put down ASU's program, as if it is some second-class citizen to Georgia Southern and Furman. True enough, no program has shared GSU's success. The Eagles have those six flags that no other I-AA team can match. And Furman has a rich history too, with three title games appearances and one championship.

But there are schools that most I-AA fans would equate as being on par, if not better, than Furman's who haven't won any titles, or been to any championship games. McNeese State, Northern Iowa and ASU are arguably the three best programs in I-AA history not to have a title and neither ASU or Northern Iowa has ever been to a championship game. But they are in the thick of things in most years. Since ASU made its first playoff appearance in 1986, the Mountaineers have been in the field 12 times in 19 years. Furman has been in the field 13 times in 23 years. Since 1994, ASU has been in seven times, while Furman has made six appearances.

On your statement that ASU isn't a team that has a legitimate chance to win a national championship, you couldn't be more wrong. ASU was the top seed in the playoffs in 1987 and beat GSU, before being upset by Marshall (a team it had handled earlier in the season) in the semifinals. In 1995, ASU was the No. 2 seed in the playoffs and along with McNeese State was one of two undefeated teams in the regular season. Only disastrous injuries to All-Americans cornerback Matt Stevens and middle linebacker Joe DiBernardo derailed that Mountaineer team. In 2000, ASU came within a tipped pass of beating Montana in Washington-Grizzly Stadium and advancing to the finals against Georgia Southern. Those were three teams right there that were definitely "legitimate championship-caliber teams." You need the breaks to fall your way sometimes and in ASU's defense, the Mountaineers haven't caught the breaks on the big stage (no excuses here, just the facts).

GSU very well could have added another three or four more championships to its flag pole with a few breaks. The 1998 championship game was the biggest fluke in I-AA history. You play that game 100 times and that Eagle team wins 99 of them against UMass. I also thought that GSU had teams capable of winning it all in 2002 and last year. The Eagles missed a long field goal by inches as the semifinal game ended against Western Kentucky in 2002 and I think most people think that GSU beats New Hampshire if you play that game again. Things happen sometimes in the playoffs.

There are a certain group of teams I look out for every year, based on my experience in I-AA. They are Montana, McNeese State, Northern Iowa, Western Kentucky, Georgia Southern, Furman, Appalachian State and Delaware. Maybe, based on the last couple of years, you could add Southern Illinois to that list. Youngstown State and Eastern Kentucky are a pair of schools that at one time would have also been on that list as the top 10 programs in I-AA. In most years, you can pick teams from that list who will be your semifinalists, finalists and national champions.

History has shown App State to be a far more dangerous opponent for GSU than Furman and most people in the country recognize this as one of the premier rivalries in the country, judging on the I-AA polls, fan voting, television exposure and many other factors. The Furman-GSU game is a great one, but in most people's minds in I-AA, it doesn't shine as brightly as ASU-GSU.

[EagleCrusade]

Where do we start with this post?

First off on ASU-Western Carolina. App expects to win this game EVERY YEAR and the record indicates that it usually does (50-18-1 in the all-time series). The Old Mountain Jug was something that didn't come about until 1978 (as a marketing gimmic) and ASU has won it 21 of 27 times. ASU enjoys its wins over Georgia Southern more than its wins over any other opponent. In the Mountaineer fans minds, the GSU-ASU rivalry is tops and it has been played for far more importance throughout the years in the SoCon.

If GSU fans don't put much stalk in the 1987 playoff loss, why do I hear them complain about it so often? Of all the losses to ASU, that seems to be the one that rankles the Eagles the most.

I can't believe how you put down ASU's program, as if it is some second-class citizen to Georgia Southern and Furman. True enough, no program has shared GSU's success. The Eagles have those six flags that no other I-AA team can match. And Furman has a rich history too, with three title games appearances and one championship.

But there are schools that most I-AA fans would equate as being on par, if not better, than Furman's who haven't won any titles, or been to any championship games. McNeese State, Northern Iowa and ASU are arguably the three best programs in I-AA history not to have a title and neither ASU or Northern Iowa has ever been to a championship game. But they are in the thick of things in most years. Since ASU made its first playoff appearance in 1986, the Mountaineers have been in the field 12 times in 19 years. Furman has been in the field 13 times in 23 years. Since 1994, ASU has been in seven times, while Furman has made six appearances.

On your statement that ASU isn't a team that has a legitimate chance to win a national championship, you couldn't be more wrong. ASU was the top seed in the playoffs in 1987 and beat GSU, before being upset by Marshall (a team it had handled earlier in the season) in the semifinals. In 1995, ASU was the No. 2 seed in the playoffs and along with McNeese State was one of two undefeated teams in the regular season. Only disastrous injuries to All-Americans cornerback Matt Stevens and middle linebacker Joe DiBernardo derailed that Mountaineer team. In 2000, ASU came within a tipped pass of beating Montana in Washington-Grizzly Stadium and advancing to the finals against Georgia Southern. Those were three teams right there that were definitely "legitimate championship-caliber teams." You need the breaks to fall your way sometimes and in ASU's defense, the Mountaineers haven't caught the breaks on the big stage (no excuses here, just the facts).

GSU very well could have added another three or four more championships to its flag pole with a few breaks. The 1998 championship game was the biggest fluke in I-AA history. You play that game 100 times and that Eagle team wins 99 of them against UMass. I also thought that GSU had teams capable of winning it all in 2002 and last year. The Eagles missed a long field goal by inches as the semifinal game ended against Western Kentucky in 2002 and I think most people think that GSU beats New Hampshire if you play that game again. Things happen sometimes in the playoffs.

There are a certain group of teams I look out for every year, based on my experience in I-AA. They are Montana, McNeese State, Northern Iowa, Western Kentucky, Georgia Southern, Furman, Appalachian State and Delaware. Maybe, based on the last couple of years, you could add Southern Illinois to that list. Youngstown State and Eastern Kentucky are a pair of schools that at one time would have also been on that list as the top 10 programs in I-AA. In most years, you can pick teams from that list who will be your semifinalists, finalists and national champions.

History has shown App State to be a far more dangerous opponent for GSU than Furman and most people in the country recognize this as one of the premier rivalries in the country, judging on the I-AA polls, fan voting, television exposure and many other factors. The Furman-GSU game is a great one, but in most people's minds in I-AA, it doesn't shine as brightly as ASU-GSU.

Again, I respectfully disagree based on the same arguments presented in the last two postings on this subject.

Georgia Southern does not view App State as its biggest rival no matter how bad App wants them to. Is it a one-sided rivalry? No. Just not the biggest.

Sure, ok the 1987 loss does come up but only when the subject of App football is discussed. However, when talking football the school that always and I mean always gets mentioned in conversation is Furman and how badly we want to beat them. Furman is Georgia Southern's biggest rival and vice versa. ASU enjoys beating GS more than any other SoCon opponent, I'm glad that they do. However, GS relishes a win against Furman more, always has since 1985. In Eagle and Paladin fans minds, the FU-GSU rivalry is tops and has had national championship implications three times (including the 2001 semis).

I never once put the ASU program as second-class or inferior, just not at the perceived level that Furman and Georgia Southern have attained. It is not because ASU has a bad program, if you read my previous post, most of this perception between the two rivals (GS/FU) comes from mainly the two National Championship games, and the endless annual pursuit for a crown since. Not one time did I say or belive that ASU sucks or is not a good program. I, in fact, stated it was a "highly successful" program. Since 1978 ASU has not played in a National Championship game...or in a NC game against GS. Since 1985 Furman has played in 3 NC games and has a NC. Since 1985 GS has played in 8 NC games and has 6 NC's (plural). That right there is the reason why there is so much "rivalry-ness" between GS and Furman!!! So ASU and GS beat each other every other year, as stated by the all-time records, it just makes for a great game and has created an outstanding rivalry among the two universities. According to Eagle and Paladin fans, it is not THE game.

History has shown App State to be a far more dangerous opponent for GSU than Furman and most people in the country recognize this as one of the premier rivalries in the country, judging on the I-AA polls, fan voting, television exposure and many other factors. The Furman-GSU game is a great one, but in most people's minds in I-AA, it doesn't shine as brightly as ASU-GSU. Just don't tell the people in Statesboro or Greenville this.

It's hard for me to accept the fact that I am being told, as a true blue Eagle fan, that I am wrong for saying that GS's biggest rival is Furman. I am not the only one who is saying this. Read the other posts from both FU and GS fans alike saying the exact same thing I am.

[Spider]

Ahhhh how quickly they forget. Believe me that W&M vs. Richmond means much more than recent records to many alums.
You're right about that Ralph...............

[eaglesrthe1]

Only 77 and 22 have posted that Furman is GSU's biggest rival in their opinion besides you. Others including 452 have not. Some may view that the overwhelming winning record of GaSU over Furman and the closeness of the GaSU/ASU rivalry has some validity of ASU being GaSU's biggest rival. Some may not. Interesting that you seem to feel you are speaking for all GaSU fans...


I missed the part where he said he spoke for all GaSou fans. Looked to me like he was expressing an opinion.

Add me to the list that thinks that GSU's biggest rival is FU. It's true that ASU has beaten GSU more often than FU has. The losses to FU have been much more costly, however.

[eaglefan452]

It is very hard to say which rivalry is stronger. You can use all the stats and specific game references to argue either case and still there are fans who will agree or disagree just because of which team they hate more. Here is my answer, in mid-October, the App St. rivalry is stronger, when the first weekend in November rolls around, the Furman rivalry can't be beat. Any other day of the year, my dislike for both is equal.

[EagleCrusade]

Only 77 and 22 have posted that Furman is GSU's biggest rival in their opinion besides you. Others including 452 have not. Some may view that the overwhelming winning record of GaSU over Furman and the closeness of the GaSU/ASU rivalry has some validity of ASU being GaSU's biggest rival. Some may not. Interesting that you seem to feel you are speaking for all GaSU fans...

So SavannahJohn, Pete4256, Eaglesrthe1, OL FU, youwouldno, etc. don't count or their shared opinion on the matter just chosen to overlook? It's not just Eagle fans that share my opnion but all the Furman replies echo the same. 452 is the only Eagle poster not to have posted one way or the other. A fence sitter if you will. I simply do not understand all the wrath that I am getting because of this issue. Yes I feel that I speak for a majority of Eagle fans on this subject because it is the truth. The only person who has come out in complete disagreement is Mr. C. In fact, I do not know your posistion ralph. You could just be devil's advocate for all I know.

Georgia Southern's biggest football rival is Furman, Appy is a close second.

[thirdgendin]

As a Furman fan, I agree that GSU is our biggest rival, and it seems to be a mutual feeling from those in gnatsboro.

The funniest thing in this whole thread is Coulson trying to tell GSU fans that I-AA fans from around the nation know more about their biggest rival than they themselves do. That doesn't make sense.

[OL FU]

Sorry, I missed all this over the week end. But let's face it. Everyone wants to beat the team with six flags. Me, I am changing my rival back to the Citadel.

Until November 5th.

[OL FU]

Synopsis - FU/GSU rivalry due to 85, 88 National Championship and GSU entry into SoCon,

Now with that said, this year who do I want to beat the most. After three long years.


The Mountaineers.

[pete4256]

GSU/ASU=Eagles have a healthy respect for the 'neers (and a little fear everytime we play in Boone--winning there is a big deal). We love this rivalry, but face it: PJ and Jerry Moore played golf together.

GSU/FU=Every single Eagle fan that I know has a "sincere disdain" for those cheese-eating, wine-swilling, rich-@$$, purple you-know-whats. That's not smack, just a summary of our attitude.

It's about more than football, and while the games were fairly mediocre between 88 and 99, the tensions have flaired back up big time. You should have seen the 70-yr-old belle hurling profanity at the eagles in 2001 in Paulson, or the tense situation in Greenville this past year. I've been to UGA/UF and UGA/AU, and this was comparable.

[eaglefan452]

I guess I am a "fence sitter" on this issue. This rivalry is really too close to call in my opinion. I guess for many GSU fans it is easier, but for me I really can't decide which is the more heated rival, ASU or Furman.

[EagleCrusade]

No wrath from me EC, sorry if it reads that way. I have only been to Statesboro once and it was the App game last year... definetly no big hatred displayed at that massacre! :)

Yeah I took all the posts with a grain of salt. Didn't hurt my feelings any. Just didn't know your position on the matter. So, with your last post I invite you to come to "Gnatsboro" (great name...sometimes I refer to Paulson as "The Gnat" but I've been told that is pure blasphemy) to witness the spectacle that is GS vs. FU and then make a brief limited decision on the two games you have witnessed. I realize its hard to get from....wherever you're at to Statesboro (just remember getting to Cullowhee is harder) but I think its worth the trip.

[EagleCrusade]

As a Furman fan, I agree that GSU is our biggest rival, and it seems to be a mutual feeling from those in gnatsboro.

The funniest thing in this whole thread is Coulson trying to tell GSU fans that I-AA fans from around the nation know more about their biggest rival than they themselves do. That doesn't make sense.


Yeah that pretty much sums it all up. I wonder when they will let you know who your biggest rival is. Rumor has it you'll be paired up with IUPUI.

[GreatAppSt]

IMHO the SoCon is blessed with a three way rivalry. It's just that a THREE WAY rivalry. Every year all three do there best to stick it in the both of the others eye.

[SoCon48]

As one App fan, I don't really consider GSU a true rival, it's just year in-year out, you have to get thru GSU to get to the SoCon title.

[OL FU]

It's my position that only Harvard and Yale or Lafayette and Lehigh can claim to have the greatest rivalry in I-AA. Accepting that premise...what I-AA rivalry comes in third? (That ought to get a response... ;) )

123 responses so far.

[89Hen]

I don't know what criteria we are using to determine "biggest" in terms of these rivals, but if you look at attendance, money earned, and NATIONAL TV contracts, then, hands down, it is the Bayou Classic (GSU vs. SU).
While I may vote for GSU/SU, it wouldn't be because of those things. A rivalry transcends all monetary and publicity benefits. A true rivalry could be played on a sandlot with only the team's true fans in attendance with no TV coverage or sponsors.

[Eagle_77]

I will soon be speaking for all GSU fans because Im taking this issue to our board. Being the common factor between the two I believe it is up to our fans to make that decision.

While taking nothing away from ASU or its fans but Furman is more of a hate and heated relationship than ASU. Yes the ASU/GSU game is more competitive historically but both teams have learned to overcome that game and the championship is usually decided with the game in November.

I may be only 27 years old but I have been going to the games since 1986. I attended this school and played football for this school. I am a regular poster and a follower of all I-AA football just not my program or conference. While I do not have the experience and time put in as Mr. C I think I have earned the right and respect that I am not just speaking out of my butt here. There is a great three way rivalry between these schools but in the end it GSU/Furman just means a little bit more to most that attend these schools than the ASU game.

[Eagle_77]

Ok someone beat me to it and posted a poll on our website. Right now 91% of GSU fans feel that Furman is the bigger rivalry. There has not been a TON of votes but as they come in more I will give updates.

[89Hen]

If that's the case, then GSU/SU would still be the biggest rivalry, because they would still draw 50,000 at that game on the sandlot.
That's more than a bit overstated. All of the classics draw more because of the great marketing of the entire weekend package. I wish the PWC's could do it.

[89Hen]

SS, you're using another classic to make your point? I have no doubt that a GSU/SU game would be well attended, but I'm not sure it would be in the order of 50k. What were the GSU/SU games like before the Bayou?

From the Bayou website....
The State Farm Bayou Classic is more than just a football game; with its colorful and glorified history, the State Farm Bayou Classic is a unique family fellowship that exists within a football game...

Each year, the State Farm Bayou Classic attracts more than 200,000 revelers to the City of New Orleans for the nationally televised State Farm Bayou Classic Football Game, the Battle of the Bands & Greek Show, the Super Job Fair and many other events surrounding the State Farm Bayou Classic weekend

[813Jag]

SU/GSU has always been big dating back to A.W. Mumford and Eddie Robinson. Being that the great coach of Grambling got many kids from our area only added to that fact. I'm a youngster but I know from talking to alot of older alums and I found out that it has always been circled on our calendar. Bayou Classic or not I want to beat Grambling.
I'm not gonna argue that SU/GSU is better than anyone else, but any sport we play Grambling in it is gonna be hotly contested. I would love to road trip (or fly) to see some of these games there's nothing better than a good rivalry game.

[RadMann]

I think the classics are a great thing and I give the schools credit for sponsoring them. That being said, I also agree that comparing classic attendence to week-to-week football game only attendence is somewhat of a stretch....

[wkuhillhound]

Question: Is naming the rivalry game marketing also? I know that WKU/EKU is called the Battle of the Bluegrass. Other for example, are the Battle of the Wild, Battle of the Piney Woods, The Old Mountain Jug, The Dakota Marker and others. To me marketing would be a key ingredient in getting people to the game to make it more attractive to the not so informed football fan. Maybe I am wrong and I don't know what I am talking about. Just a question.

[TxState_GO_CATS!]

A rivalry that has the potential to grow into a very good rivalry is the Texas State-SELA (Southeastern Louisiana) rivalry. Last year's game, a 31-28 Texas State double overtime win, should have been the game of the year (I think SELA fans would agree). Very intense game. Although our defense absolutely killed Hankins (SELA QB) for most of the game, he was a real competitor and I'm sad to see him leave SELA for Valdosta St.

And plus, the fans and players simply don't like each other.

[OL FU]

Shellshock,

You make a great argument and whether it is a football game or an event those numbers are impressive. And that brings us back to the original question which is "Which rivalry is the greatest?" Unfortunately without criteria defining greatest, it is a disagreement that won't be resolved. Harvard/Yale is the oldest. Grambling/Southern the best attended. Georgia Southern/ Furman - national impact (obviously we don't have consensus on that one). Depends on how you define greatest.

I like the impact argument, but then I am biased.

[kats89]

Sam Houston VS. Stephen F. Austin is one of the biggest rivalries in Texas for obvious reasons. :)

BATTLE OF THE PINEY WOODS

http://eteamz.active.com/bearkatsportsforum/images/samandsteve.jpg

Two universities named after Texas history heroes, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin State renew their “Battle of the Piney Woods” rivalry for the 78th time Saturday in Nacogdoches. The series is the second oldest NCAA I-AA rivalry in Texas. Only the SH rivalry with Texas State-San Marcos (82 games) is older.

Sam Houston State holds a 42-33-2 record in the series which started in 1923. The Bearkats are 19-15-1 in Nacogdoches.


Ex, I would have to say that this rivalry has really gotten very intense over the years. I would venture to guess that the conference will be really watching this game this coming year after what happened last year.

[TexasTerror]

Ex, I would have to say that this rivalry has really gotten very intense over the years. I would venture to guess that the conference will be really watching this game this coming year after what happened last year.

This rivalry has hit all new levels across the board. You have the SGAs, Presidents, athletic admins and football coaches and players all in a hissy fit over this whole thing. Everyone is upset at someone, whether it be their own, the other side or both. Should be interesting this year with the game back in Huntsville where things typically have not been as bad as they have been in Nacogdoches (for basketball too).

And even better, SFA gets baseball now...