I don't think this is that unusual.... at all.
I lurk on a number of boards from time to time and G5 schools almost universally hate the P5 schools in their state. ULL/Tulane/LaTech fans hate LSU, Memphis/MTSU fans hate Tennessee, Marshall fans hate WVU, etc. USM fans hating State isn't that odd, especially when you consider that the programs have a long history of playing, though obviously the bulk of that was several decades ago.
mentioned that he has a big USM family and he has never understood the chip on the shoulder towards MSU. Specifically because we have always played them and Ole Miss has not. Seems like they'd see MSU favorably and harbor more hate towards Ole Miss.
There's some of this. While there may be resentment, a lot of USM fans do have some respect for State because you guys will play us in pretty much all of the sports. We've played football in the recent past and of course have the 3 games coming up over the next few years. There was a basketball series that I believe was a 4 or 5 year deal at the Mississippi Coliseum but we backed out of it for some reason. Our new coach is an old school USM guy and has said that he wants to work with Howland and Davis on some kind of series in hoops. And then the baseball home/home these past 2 seasons.
It's even more weird because in general MSU fans are more down to earth. Why do they choose to hate us?
Many USM fans group both fanbases in the same category (generally as a bunch of arrogant, elitist a-holes from Jackson and North Mississippi). They view State (and OM) in the same light that you guys view OM. That's not all USM fans that they think like that. But some.
You’re nuts if you think they aren’t passionate. They are much more loyal than their counterparts in surrounding states.
USM has a very passionate fan base. Like you said, much more passionate/loyal than other G5 schools in other states. There just ain't a bunch of us, especially post-AAC realignment when all of our old rivals left (coupled with the Ellis Johnson disaster and the ensuing rebuild). When Fedora was here, we had some of the highest attendance outside the BCS/P5. Now we're middle of the pack, maybe even in the bottom 1/2, in the G5 support wise with about 12-14k actual people at each home game.
For what it's worth most USM folks I know dislike Ole Miss much more than State.
There's an old/young split. The older fans hate Ole Miss more because they remember the games from the 70s and early 80s. Plus largely Ole Miss-led efforts to hurt USM through the IHL board many, many years ago. For the most part, the younger fans tend to dislike State more. That's because we haven't really played Ole Miss in much of anything recently aside from some midweek baseball games and a basketball series that Eustachy and Kennedy agreed to over a decade ago. There's been a lot more competition between USM/State with football games, couple hoops games, and several battles in baseball over the last 8-9 years. I will say that MSU fans outnumber OM by a decent bit in South Mississippi, so there is more interaction between USM/MSU than there is USM/OM fans.
USM's fanbase skews old, so I bet if you polled, Ole Miss would be the winner here.
Regional in 17 was pretty damn heated. You could tell they legitimately hated us......which of course made it all the more fun that we pretty much stole the regional from them.
[mentions 2017 Hattiesburg Regional]
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