Post by Whup Em All on Jul 25, 2022 11:41:47 GMT -6
Since the Battle for the Ol' School Bell took a leave of absence when troy state moved up to FBS, JSU has been bereft of rivalries with names.
UNA is the Battle for the Butter Churn. A bit less known than the Ol' School Bell, but it does have a name. (This was an edit. Man, I've gotten forgetful in my old age.)
UTC was big, but we didn't play regularly enough for a name.
KSU was too young to earn a name. (I've heard several suggestions, but until they get a bid to join us in CUSA, it's probably not worth wasting any time trying to name this one.)
Our most consistent rivalry since 2000 has been EKU, and while distance played a role in keeping that one down, the big issue there was, when you have a game between Colonels and Gamecocks, all the obvious names are plays on KFC, and that never ends well for the chicken.
So this morning, I'm browsing sports twitter, which is the only twitter worth anything at all -- and then only half the time -- and I saw a name thrown out for the JSU-SHSU rivalry.
Now, this rivalry is interesting. Because it truly exists. We played a bit (to little or no fanfare) in the Southland, but then JSU moved to the OVC, and we never saw each other again until the FCS playoffs.
Yet those few games stick in the craw of both schools:
2014: The Bearkats ended the Gamecocks' season with a come-from-behind victory in the rain at Burgess-Snow. Final score: 37-26.
2015: In front of a raucous crowd of 23,692, JSU embarrassed Sam, 62-10, as the Gamecocks played their way into the FCS Championship Game.
2021: Playing in the regular season as conference mates in the AQ7, the Bearkats erased an early 7-0 JSU lead and went on to crush the Gamecocks, 42-7. This is the game where we first realized they never forgot what we'd done to them six years earlier.
Now, beginning in 2023, the two of us will be moving together into CUSA. We're not remotely close to each other -- 11-12 hours and 700+ miles -- but we know these guys, and they know us, and thanks to the high stakes games we've played, there's some good ol' fashioned hate brewing between the schools.
With that in mind, a Bearkat alum who runs a podcast called "Pass the Gravy" has been pushing this as a rivalry game to replace (as best it can) the Battle of the Piney Woods, the annual hatefest between SHSU and SFA.
And some other Sam fans, who were paying attention, said, "We could call it ... the Gravy Bowl!"
And at first, I hated it. What the crap does the game between Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State have to do with gravy?!
But then I thought about it, and I have to admit... I like it. Despite the distance between the schools, and the fact that they're Texan and we're Deep South, there's some common culture between Texas and Alabama... and one of those commonalities is biscuits and gravy.
Somehow, it works. And the marketing opportunities are endless!
So what do you think, guys? Should the annual game between the Bearkats and the Gamecocks be called The Gravy Bowl?
What about our other unnamed rivalries (and soon to be rivalries)? Should UAB have a name? MTSU? Anyone else?
UNA is the Battle for the Butter Churn. A bit less known than the Ol' School Bell, but it does have a name. (This was an edit. Man, I've gotten forgetful in my old age.)
UTC was big, but we didn't play regularly enough for a name.
KSU was too young to earn a name. (I've heard several suggestions, but until they get a bid to join us in CUSA, it's probably not worth wasting any time trying to name this one.)
Our most consistent rivalry since 2000 has been EKU, and while distance played a role in keeping that one down, the big issue there was, when you have a game between Colonels and Gamecocks, all the obvious names are plays on KFC, and that never ends well for the chicken.
So this morning, I'm browsing sports twitter, which is the only twitter worth anything at all -- and then only half the time -- and I saw a name thrown out for the JSU-SHSU rivalry.
Now, this rivalry is interesting. Because it truly exists. We played a bit (to little or no fanfare) in the Southland, but then JSU moved to the OVC, and we never saw each other again until the FCS playoffs.
Yet those few games stick in the craw of both schools:
2014: The Bearkats ended the Gamecocks' season with a come-from-behind victory in the rain at Burgess-Snow. Final score: 37-26.
2015: In front of a raucous crowd of 23,692, JSU embarrassed Sam, 62-10, as the Gamecocks played their way into the FCS Championship Game.
2021: Playing in the regular season as conference mates in the AQ7, the Bearkats erased an early 7-0 JSU lead and went on to crush the Gamecocks, 42-7. This is the game where we first realized they never forgot what we'd done to them six years earlier.
Now, beginning in 2023, the two of us will be moving together into CUSA. We're not remotely close to each other -- 11-12 hours and 700+ miles -- but we know these guys, and they know us, and thanks to the high stakes games we've played, there's some good ol' fashioned hate brewing between the schools.
With that in mind, a Bearkat alum who runs a podcast called "Pass the Gravy" has been pushing this as a rivalry game to replace (as best it can) the Battle of the Piney Woods, the annual hatefest between SHSU and SFA.
And some other Sam fans, who were paying attention, said, "We could call it ... the Gravy Bowl!"
And at first, I hated it. What the crap does the game between Sam Houston State and Jacksonville State have to do with gravy?!
But then I thought about it, and I have to admit... I like it. Despite the distance between the schools, and the fact that they're Texan and we're Deep South, there's some common culture between Texas and Alabama... and one of those commonalities is biscuits and gravy.
Somehow, it works. And the marketing opportunities are endless!
So what do you think, guys? Should the annual game between the Bearkats and the Gamecocks be called The Gravy Bowl?
What about our other unnamed rivalries (and soon to be rivalries)? Should UAB have a name? MTSU? Anyone else?
