opinions on lsu and the rivalry between us

[upsizin 0]

alright fans, before you say something like, "lsu's not auburn's biggest rival or even second biggest" Im just here to ask:

Do fans really think the game is bigger than the game every year? I know you think we're just desperate for a rival, or you guys think that everyone just wants to be your rival, but the truth of the matter is, that the LSU AUBURN game has become the most important game on the schedule for both teams, every year for seemingly the last 6 years or so...?

Im just curious??

I don't know exactly WHY lsu doesnt have an sec rival... I guess cause roy kramer decided that lsu and arkansas needed to be rivals and arkansas isnt exactly competitive on a regular basis... and other than that all we have is mississippi next to us...also not competitive...

and Im beginning to hate you guys less and less... people like proud tiger come to tigerforums all the time and talk with us... I almost always pull for auburn now. LSU and auburn have shifted the power of the sec to the west

[Eagle Eye 7]

Ya'll do have an SEC rival. It's called the Battle for the Golden Boot. Not something I would be proud of, but it's ya'lls rivalry not ours. Maybe you can get La Monroe to join the SEC then maybe you can make them ya'lls rivalry..

I don't consider LSU a rivalry more than just a big game with a lot of implications on the line. Nothing more.

[swensks 0]

The Auburn-LSU game is the most important from a winning-the-SEC West perspective, but it will never overtake the AU-UA rivalry for total importance.

I think it's great that the West was the power of the SEC this year. Next year should be interesting as well.

Best of luck to LSU in the SECCG. And good luck with the bowling as well.

[Eagle Eye 7]

But I'm curious who is ya'lls permanent East game? Maybe you could make them ya'lls rivalry.. Seriously though the first post I guess came out a little harsh, but was not intended to be.. Just a little humor about the Arkansas LSU rivalry that nobody really knows about. But I do stand with my Auburn/ LSU not a rivalry game. And yes the Alabama game, maybe not as far as bowl implications, will always stand in my heart number one game to win.

[wareagle1985 0]

Personally, I only consider other teams rivals if I know people who attend that school. I happen to know a few people at LSU so I consider them rivals.

[upsizin 0]

Personally, I only consider other teams rivals if I know people who attend that school. I happen to know a few people at LSU so I consider them rivals.

202607[/snapback]

that boot sucks.

anyways UF is our eastern conference "rival" and it's cool I guess...?

[MDM4AU 332]

I don't see the AU/LSU rivalry as being on the same level as AU/UAT. Simply judging by the LSU fans I know personally, all but one lead me to believe it is nearly the biggest if not THE biggest game of the year for them. As for the last three years or so, it is the game that decides the West.

I used to like LSU more than I do now. I still don't hate them like I hate UAT. But the more I am around LSU fans the more I dislike LSU. There seems to be an obsession with many of them over Auburn and beating Auburn that I don't know will ever be reciprocated.

You seem like a pretty level headed guy along with some of the LSU regulars on this board. I won't paint you all with a broad brush. I have one friend that is an LSU fan that doesn't grate on my nerves when it comes to football.

I don't understand the continued animosity over cigars and stomping logos, and the perceived attack on the band member. (The band member that purposely bumped Duval is just as guilty for that stupid altercation.) The "Cigar Game" was 1999 and LSU has whipped AU a couple of times since then. One would think they would get over it. (I still don't understand all the hatred over that.) There is also a total hatred by so many LSU fans for Tommy Tuberville that I will never get. I understand the Ole Miss fans that hate him. I somewhat understand the UAT fans that hate him. (2-5 will do that in a rivalry like the one in this state.)

There is a rivalry beginning. In my mind though, it is behind the "unCivil War" with UAT and the gentleman's rivalry with UGA. There is way too much history with those two.

[Guest Tigrinum Major]

Do  fans really think the  game is bigger than the  game every year?

202601[/snapback]

To be blunt, yes. One reason: we have to live with those jacklegs 24/7, 365 and it is unbearable when they are winning and beating Auburn.

LSU and Auburn is developing into a rivalry, but before the division split, we only played y'all about twice every ten years. Not enough history there...yet.

[AUTrey 0]

I think that at the rate we are going, we may be on course to let this develop into a UF-UT sort of thing. In the 90's, there was about a 75% chance one of those teams would win the SEC, with Alabama or somebody from the West popping up occasionally to steal a year. Every year back then, like clockwork, they were in the Top 10. The big rivalry developed, despite their being no natural reason for them to hate each other, just like with AU-LSU.

I think AU-LSU is developing into that same sort of deal...one of us won the SEC 3 of the last 4 years (could be 4 of the last 5 after this week) and there is nothing in the foreseeable future to show that the trend will change. I think UGA may turn into the UA of the 90's, occasionally stealing a crown, and UA could turn into the UGA of the 90's (the third wheel fighting to keep up with the dominant two in the division).

I also think that in the next five years, AU may get a slight upper hand on LSU, whereas LSU had the tiny lead over the last five.

[moe 0]

Obviously our numero uno rival is UAT. Our numero dos rival is UGA.

Numero tres? It's up for grabs - going back in the past it could be G.Tech, UT, UF, or LSU.

I would say in 2005 our number three is LSU. It's not that I push you guys down on the list, but rather that's just where you guys fall. I do enjoy the semi-rivalry though!

[ATLauburnfan 0]

Its obvious where some of you are coming with the talk about UA being the biggest game. Sure its our in state rival but we have possibly 3 other rivals.

~LSU: continues to be the biggest game of the year in the west as far as the SEC goes

~UGA: called "the south oldest rivalry"

~GT:for a while when we played them its was huge, "wrek tech" and the pajama parade both for this rivalry (if we keep losing to them its gonna be a huge rivalry, if we play some more)

And of course

just my opinion

ATLauburnfan

[DCWarEagle 0]

I think the UT-UF analogy is a good one.

As far as Auburn fans go, it would take a lot for LSU to jump over UGA as our second biggest rival, and be near impossible to overtake UAT as our main rival, but that does not mean that AU-LSU is not a great game and a fun rivalry. I usually find the AU-LSU game to be among my favorite each season b/c they are often close, both teams are often ranked and their have been some truly crazy games over the last fifteen years.

I will also say that if both teams continue to have success, then on a national scale this rivalry will gain importance. People in the South love football and care about the history and tradition between schools. Non-Southerners only care about SEC football when teams are doing well, so if AU and LSU become (continue to be?) the dominant teams in the SEC, then people all over the country will start paying more attention to the game and it will get more publicity.

Just my thoughts.

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

I think LSU is well on its way to making a rival with the media.

[CircleDrill 178]

No one that is not an Auburn fan can truly understand how much we hate Alabama. It would not matter if the game was absolutely meaningless in the SEC, NC race, or anything else in the history of football. We still hate them and we still start getting those butterflies in our stomachs on Wednesday before the IB.

I never think about LSU unless I'm at the county fair.

[McWeagle 4]

I consider LSU a big rival, but in terms of actual years that I've been an Auburn football fan, I'm relatively new to the scene.

The Bama game needs no mention. There's not even a close second.

UGA - I'm proud that my team is one half of the Oldest Rivalry in the South. I thought that the AU/UGA rivalry was summed up in '04, when Junior laid that lick on Reggie Brown. It was as hard of a hit as you will ever see in football - college, pro or otherwise. Just brutal. And when it looked like Reggie might not get up, you saw players from both teams huddled in prayer together in the middle of the field, and then the crowd started chanting "Reggie, Reggie, Reggie"... not just UGA fans, but AU fans too. And I have no doubt that, had the roles been reversed, the UGA fans in Athens would have been chanting for Ben, or Devin, or Courtney, etc..

With LSU, it's not like that. Not at all. BUT... like many pointed out, we are battling for the West every year these days. And in the short history of the series, look at all the crazy stuff that's happened. At the very least, you expect the game to come down to the last play. And you expect the winner to be in Atlanta.

Also, LSU comes much earlier in the season, so you're usuall AU's measuring stick. "We'll know how good we are after the LSU game." That's a big deal to me.

Thought I'd post some dictionary defs of the word rivalry, just to be a nerd:

ri·val·ry

The act of competing or emulating.

The state or condition of being a rival.

ri·val·ry

The state or condition of competition or antagonism.

rivalry

n : the act of competing as for profit or a prize; "the teams were in fierce contention for first place" [syn: competition, contention] [ant: cooperation]

[Friedchickenman 0]

I think LSU is well on its way to making a rival with the media. 

202685[/snapback]

I think in some respects we both are.

[Wishbone 0]

LSU is a huge rival. The SEC was changed forever by expansion. UT and Florida are gone and LSU has replaced them both. I care more about the LSU than any other game.

[DKW 86 7,426]

I have done a ton of thinking about this season. is just about to replace as our second rival. We have to face it. The road to the SECCG, for the forseeable future, runs through Baton Rouge and Auburn. Alabama is our hardest rival, bar none. UGA is a deep traditional game. BUT....If we want to get to the next level WE MUST REALIZE that is barometer for our team for now. & is THE MOST IMPORTANT game in the for now. We wanted to get to this level, we now have to beat the best to get any closer to a SEC Title or another MNC.

[WAR EAGLE!!! 0]

The LSU/Auburn game is one of the most important games, if not THE most important game on the schedule...with that being said, if Auburn is to go 10 or 11 and 1 for the next 50 years, and only loses to LSU and beats Alabama every year, I would be the happiest man alive!

IF both LSU and Auburn both sucked, and nothing was on the line every year, would I still think the LSU game is important...nope.

That , to me, is the definition of a rivalry. When it doesn't matter if both teams are winless going into the game, you still want to beat the ever living crap out of that team and yell...RAMMER JAMMER YELLOW HAMMER, GO TO HELL ALABAMA until every Alabama fan in the stadium hates you!!!! That is what it's like to play Alabama and to be a true rivalry!!!!!!

[JB33 1]

Someone up there beat me to the UF-UT analogy; it is spot on, and a complement to both programs. That rivalry became huge in the mid-to-late 90's because of the strength of the two programs and their perennial dominance in the SEC; I see the Auburn - LSU "rivalry" moving along a similar path. With all the turmoil at UT and uncertainty at UF, the door's wide open for LSU and Auburn (along with UGA, maybe) to separate themselves from the rest of the league.

Auburn - UGA is bigger because of the history and because of the interrelatedness (?) between the two programs and schools - it seems like every other coach at each school has coached at the other at some point; a substantial number of Auburn players come from Georgia; and there's a major Auburn alumni base in Atlanta (and elsewhere in Georgia).

As for Auburn - uat, Upsizin, I'm curious about where you live. Take it from someone who moved to Alabama in his teens (and had never even heard of the "Iron Bowl" before then): If you live (or have lived) in Alabama, there can be no question - NONE - that uat is not only Auburn's biggest rivalry, but that Auburn - uat is the definitive "rivalry", i.e., the one that all others are measured against. The game is huge enough, but the rivalry transcends the game. Among the fans, historically it's been not so much simple hatred as a battle for respect - the (so they say) "elite" vs. the land grant, "cow college." uat fans, disillusioned as they are, believed (and I say that many still believe) that Auburn folks (not just the football program) are simply beneath them. The tide football team wouldn't even come to Auburn to play until 1989 (and then VERY unwillingly - with good reason, as it turned out ). I hate to be cliche, but it's appropriate in this case: If you don't live here, you just can't (notice I didn't say DON'T, I said CAN'T) really understand it.

[AUHansel 0]

I'd say that it's becoming a rivalry game. It's had some crazy stuff happen and some great games (especially the last two). It also determines the SEC West every year. But there is no way it will ever be bigger than UGA or Bama. I HATE Bama and there is this excitement in the air every year when we play. Also, The UGA game is huge! I mean, the point differential is really close in the all-time series. And there is a huge Auburn fan base in Atlanta now. Plus, for me, I grew up in Atlanta so I half the people in my high school go to UGA.

[Friedchickenman 0]

I wouldn't place this as our 2nd biggest rival just yet, give Miles a few more years and see what he does with his own talent and then we'll see if LSU will be as good as it was under Saban, I have a hard time judging coaches in their first year, some examples of good first year coaches but later bummers- Ty Willingham, Terry Bowden. I'm sure there are more but those are those that come to mind, and by no means do I think Wes Miles is as bad as Terry Bowden, but its hard for me to see if he'll be of the same caliber of Nick Saban.

[Proud Tiger 4,261]

In my book, LSU will never come close to being a crimson Darth Vader. LSU's natural and historical bitter rival is Ole Miss. Since Ole Miss hasn't been very good over the last few years, this rivalry has cooled. But let Ole Miss beat LSU a couple of years in a row and you will see the corndog's fangs showing.

[oldautiger 1]

When I was growing up, the LSU Ole Miss game was always a huge rivalry. Normally played on Halloween football fans were given games like the famous Billy Cannon punt retuirn through the entire Ole Miss team, the the famous "turn your clock back 3 seconds" game. After Archie graduated, the game cooled somewhat since. I believe AU has taken OM place. We are LSU's rival, maybe the biggest rival, and they don't understand why they aren't our biggest rival.

LSU's problem understanding the Bama rivalry being our biggest is they (LSU) don't have an in-state rival. Tulane might have been 60 to 70 years ago, but no longer.

Other posters have mentioned AU-GA being the oldest rivalry in the deep south, AU recruits GA, and only have begun to recruit LA much.

AU-LSU is no doubt a BDG (Big Damn Game) for both of us, and I believe it's a rivalry, close to being rated with AU-GA, but won't replace the rivalry with GA. Just don't have the background with LSU yet.

[Nay4AU 2]

I don't think the LSU game will ever make past #3 on the list of rivals. I think the vs. game was a good analogy. When ever two teams establish themselves as the top two teams over a period of time a rivalry is naturally established. Some examples would be Dallas Cowboys vs. Pittsburgh Steelers in the 70's, UConn vs. Tennessess womans bball, and New York Mets vs. Atlanta Braves in the late 90's and early 2000's. I think there's just to much history involved for them to ever overtake the vs. game. As for the vs. game I think no explanation is needed there.