Rivalries make the best matchups in college sports.
In college football, no atmosphere competes with Auburn and Alabama’s Iron Bowl, and the Battle for Tobacco Road between Duke and North Carolina is the pinnacle of college basketball.
The two teams hate each other, and fans in attendance want to prove cheering for their team was the right decision. Sunday’s NCAA Tournament game between Kansas and Wichita State is proof.
The Shockers are probably considered second or third-class basketball players in their state when compared to Kansas and Kansas State. They play in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Kansas takes the Big 12 championship every year.
When the two met this weekend, the teams competed to be the “Kings of Kansas” on a national stage, which elevated the level of play and the mood of the entire game. Two teams were playing to prove a point, and their fans wanted to prove it just as bad.
It was a thrilling game as the Shockers won the first matchup between the two schools since 1993.
Similarly, LSU is the top dog in Louisiana.
In baseball, the Tigers play almost every team around the state that’s willing to face them in a midweek game.
LSU faces Nicholls State, Southeastern, Grambling, McNeese State, Southern, UL-Lafayette and Northwestern State once and Tulane and UNO twice in midweek action. If there’s anything interesting going on in these games, it’s the rivalry between each fanbase.
My first memory of LSU athletics was Brad Cresse’s walk-off single in the 2000 College World Series to cap off Skip Bertman’s decade of dominance in college baseball. As a kid, any team that measured up with the Tigers was my mortal enemy.
In 2001, I found my regional rival in Tulane. LSU faced the Green Wave in the Super Regional at Zephyr Field in Metairie, Louisiana, just a short drive away from my house. I had never seen the Tigers play in person, so watching them in the Super Regional heightened my excitement.
But Tulane won the series and left for Omaha, not LSU. As any 7-year-old would be, I was crushed. I never wanted to see the Green Wave win another game in any sport.
Now, I realize that’s ridiculous, but that series gave me someone to hate. Any time LSU played Tulane for almost a decade, I wanted a Tiger victory more than anything. But somewhere in Louisiana, another fan didn’t care.
He probably cares if LSU beats ULL, but it doesn’t matter to me.
Your rival is the school located three miles from your house. The school your annoying neighbor went to and has to brag about every time it wins a SWAC weekend series. The one your boss graduated from and won’t stop talking about.
You know LSU is better than its teams, but in a one-game format, anything can happen. The baseball team plays in-state teams, but not on weekends.
The last time LSU faced off against an in-state opponent for a full three-game series was 2009’s opening weekend against Centenary. The drought isn’t as long as the 22-year hiatus in the Kansas-Wichita State basketball series, but it’s still too long to go without a legitimate series against a Louisiana team.
Florida and Miami (FL), Texas and Rice, Georgia and Georgia Southern and California and UC-Irvine have all played in-state weekend series this season. LSU can easily do the same with Tulane or ULL.
The fun and excitement surrounding an in-state opponent would bring a better crowd to the Box on a weekend than it does during the week. Fans that don’t travel to a Tuesday game from other parts of the state would travel for a weekend.
If LSU faced in-state teams then, instead of during the week, attendance, fan interest and excitement would be better. That’s a win-win for everyone.
Brian Pellerin is a 21-year-old mass communication junior from Kenner, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter @Pellerin_TDR.