This game has meant a lot to me over the years, the first time I ever saw Southern Miss on tv was 1996 Lee Roberts came in and completed his first 16 passes in a roll for a Southern Miss 28-7 Victory, 1998 the first time I ever saw the Pirates in person, I met a lot of great fans and they had nothing but good things to say about Southern Miss despite a Southern Miss 41-7 victory after that I always cheered for East Carolina so in 1999 when they beat the Miami Hurricanes at NcState I was jumping and equally pumped up for them as many of their fans probably were! Later that year two ranked teams would play and Southern Miss would take a hard fought win 39-22 win, the next year we played in the mud bowl game, me and my dad might of been the only southern miss fans there "kidding" and Southern Miss lost that game 14-9 but what a fun game to watch, Fast forward to 2005 I met a guy who would become my best friend Bleeds Purple and between us the rivalry grew into something even more special, having talked to Bleeds aka Kyle I have learned so much more about the East Carolina program and how much East Carolina and Southern Miss have in common. The last few years have saw East Carolina dominate the series, but this series has and will always have a special place in my Heart, I hope that our schools can do something to ensure that it'll be played again oneday, but until then I hope that Southern Miss can come into Saturday's game with a little chip on its shoulder and end this series with a win, but I can guarantee after this game is over I'll be back to cheering for that team in Greenville!

Yeah, tough to swallow, I can't remember a year we haven't played you guys. Its always a tough game and weird thing is we have more wins at your place than we do here in the series.

I hate to see this one end and I am a younger fan. USM is a class act and has always given us a tough fight. I hope we can continue our games ooc.

This shallacing will be a shame to end the series.

Reading that makes me hope we put you guys on the schedule again.

Doesn't feel like the way a great series should end.

Damn, I can't believe this is the last season I get to pick at the Pirates! Come back, "Shane!" It's not too late to change your minds...Why do you want to go to a conference whose acronym reads like the sound a dog makes when it's trying to clear its' throat?! All the "Big East Cowards" took their balls and moved to go play in their own private sandbox, they simply didn't want to share the wealth and power with the new kids on the block. "The Cartel" will phase the "AACk!" out of their network, making them pretty much "C-USA 2.0"

#StayInC-USA! Stay where you are "loved!" ;-)

We have played every year since 1983, well prior to us joining C-USA. Hard to believe this is going to be the end of a great series.

We are rumored to be trying to add Marshall to our OOC schedule. No offense to Marshall, as we have ties and view them as a rival, but Southern Miss is/has been our main C-USA rival and I hope we add the Golden Eagles to the OOC first.

Looking at future schedules, looks like we could set up a future series, starting as early as next year if we wanted to, but it would throw off the 2 home/2 away balance. So realistically, it would be 2017 before we can resume the series.

ECU 2014:
at Virginia Tech
at South Carolina
North Carolina
TBA

USM 2014:
at Mississippi State
at BYU
TBA
TBA

2015 - Southern Miss OOC is full (vs. Mississippi State, vs. BYU, at Nebraska, at Texas State)

2016 - ECU OOC is full (vs. UNC, vs. NC State, vs. West Virginia, at Virginia Tech)

ECU 2017:
BYU
Virginia Tech
at West Virginia
TBA

USM 2017:
at Tennessee
TBA
TBA
TBA

2018 - ECU OOC is full (vs. West Virginia, vs. North Carolina, at BYU, at Virginia Tech)

Classy Post. It is tough to end what great and few rivalry games we have. Southern Miss. was the benchmark to measure your team by for a long time in C-USA. I hope your get back on track soon. If we can't schedule OOC, I hope we meet you in future bowl games.

Prediction -

ECU - a lot
USM - a little

Sadly, this used to be one of the marquis match ups EVERY year in CUSA for a LONG time. IT was almost whomever won would win the East.

It is crazy to think that this series has been played every year since before I was born and it won't be played next year.

Does anyone know why it started if there was a specific reason? Or did it just happen? ECU/USM has seemed completely normal to me my entire time as a fan of the Pirates. It is a cornerstone of the schedule. If you look at it though it is kind of crazy that two independents located more than 800 miles apart played every year for 14 years before we were ever conference mates.

I don't know how USM fans view the series but to me, and every Pirate fan I know personally, it is very much a rivalry. As such it has to be one of the more unique rivalries out there. We aren't that close geographically. There are other rivalries like Notre Dame and USC like that. At the risk of bashing USM and ECU we aren't exactly Notre Dame and USC on a national scale.

While I have never been to Hattiesburg and honestly don't know a ton about the place it seems to me like Hattiesburgians and Greenvillians would get along famously if we were located closer together. Seems like there is a lot of similarities between the places we live and the things our schools and athletics programs have had to face.

It seems like a match made in heaven and it's a sad statement on the current status of college football that this series is being broken up (yes I am aware that is ECU's fault). I have come across threads on ECU message boards asking whether we should attempt to continue the series, and in every one I have stated that it would be a mistake to let this series end. It is already sad that there will be a break in the series but I sincerely hope that the people in charge at ECU and USM value this series as much as I, and many other ECU fans, do and will find a way to continue it.

To me college football is nothing without history and tradition, and while I know the ECU administration made a decision that they thought was necessary to advance our athletics, I think it would be a shame to let this series become a thing of the past. Sure either team could schedule some more marquee opponents but none with more history (at least for ECU and probably few and far between for USM).






I won't even pretend like ECU's move puts them on a higher level than USM (or any other C-USA team for that matter). We did what we felt we had to do and it is done. For any misguided ECU fans or higher ups that feel we are suddenly too good to play USM and have nothing to prove, I have one thing to say....

11-27


We have PLENTY left to prove. Here's to hoping this series is continued in the future and that ECU evens it up a bit!

(10-16-2013 08:08 PM)PirateNation Wrote:  Looking at future schedules, looks like we could set up a future series, starting as early as next year if we wanted to, but it would throw off the 2 home/2 away balance. So realistically, it would be 2017 before we can resume the series.

ECU 2014:
at Virginia Tech
at South Carolina
North Carolina
TBA

USM 2014:
at Mississippi State
at BYU
TBA
TBA

2015 - Southern Miss OOC is full (vs. Mississippi State, vs. BYU, at Nebraska, at Texas State)

2016 - ECU OOC is full (vs. UNC, vs. NC State, vs. West Virginia, at Virginia Tech)

ECU 2017:
BYU
Virginia Tech
at West Virginia
TBA

USM 2017:
at Tennessee
TBA
TBA
TBA

2018 - ECU OOC is full (vs. West Virginia, vs. North Carolina, at BYU, at Virginia Tech)

Im hearing the byu series wont happen.

(10-16-2013 09:23 PM)TheEastisPurple Wrote:  It is crazy to think that this series has been played every year since before I was born and it won't be played next year.

Does anyone know why it started if there was a specific reason? Or did it just happen? ECU/USM has seemed completely normal to me my entire time as a fan of the Pirates. It is a cornerstone of the schedule. If you look at it though it is kind of crazy that two independents located more than 800 miles apart played every year for 14 years before we were ever conference mates.

I don't know how USM fans view the series but to me, and every Pirate fan I know personally, it is very much a rivalry. As such it has to be one of the more unique rivalries out there. We aren't that close geographically. There are other rivalries like Notre Dame and USC like that. At the risk of bashing USM and ECU we aren't exactly Notre Dame and USC on a national scale.

While I have never been to Hattiesburg and honestly don't know a ton about the place it seems to me like Hattiesburgians and Greenvillians would get along famously if we were located closer together. Seems like there is a lot of similarities between the places we live and the things our schools and athletics programs have had to face.

It seems like a match made in heaven and it's a sad statement on the current status of college football that this series is being broken up (yes I am aware that is ECU's fault). I have come across threads on ECU message boards asking whether we should attempt to continue the series, and in every one I have stated that it would be a mistake to let this series end. It is already sad that there will be a break in the series but I sincerely hope that the people in charge at ECU and USM value this series as much as I, and many other ECU fans, do and will find a way to continue it.

To me college football is nothing without history and tradition, and while I know the ECU administration made a decision that they thought was necessary to advance our athletics, I think it would be a shame to let this series become a thing of the past. Sure either team could schedule some more marquee opponents but none with more history (at least for ECU and probably few and far between for USM).






I won't even pretend like ECU's move puts them on a higher level than USM (or any other C-USA team for that matter). We did what we felt we had to do and it is done. For any misguided ECU fans or higher ups that feel we are suddenly too good to play USM and have nothing to prove, I have one thing to say....

11-27


We have PLENTY left to prove. Here's to hoping this series is continued in the future and that ECU evens it up a bit!

Your right, we are a lot alike. Our fans mirror one another in many ways. Id like to think we would be alike academically if we didn't have to put up with om and ms folks on the college board. About fifteen years ago the VA tried to GIVE us their hospital on the coast to turn it into a "teaching hospital". One msu graduate on the college board who happened to be from that region stopped it. Just because he didn't want us to have it.
I was in school in the early 80's when we started to play regular. I only knew of ecu because a old gf of my brothers went to vet school there.
I think we first played when Bobby Collins was here and you guys had Pat dye. I got to be friends with Steve Hale who was your qb and later an assistant here. Loved picking at him about ecu driving late trying to tie and our sprinklers coming on.
It became an instant rivalry with the infamous forward lateral game about 86 I think. 2 years later at dowdy, Brett favre threw a pass his receiver said "he heard coming"
We have witnessed each others best and worst. Despite having a bell and a game named the black and blue game. Southern Miss fans considered ECU the biggest conf game on the schedule year in and year out. It is the only series it hurts us to lose.

I hate to see conference realignment do this to rivalries.

Memphis and Mississippi Southern (yep, I'm old enough) have played 63 games going back to the 1930s. I think USM is right up there with Ole Mrs as our longest running rivalry.

I always liked USM since the 50s/early 60s when my dad who traveled all over the south, said the big schools like Alabama/Ole Miss/LSU were scared to play them.

Good luck to USM. Hope you whip ECU and I suspect that the future holds a whole lot more positives than you realize at the moment.

I wish we could give the series a proper eulogy on Saturday....but it will get ugly. I suppose ECU fans view it as being proper vengeance: A long-awaited beatdown in Greenville.

I remember that 1996 game: Lee Roberts' first start. I think we were just glad to see someone other than Heath Graham. It was on ESPN 2: The Deuce....back when ESPN 2 was a revolutionary concept. I also remember the 1999 game being fun to watch. I miss the "good old days"--at least for me in my late 20's--watching USM-ECU or USM-Louisville on Fox Sports Net.

I'm happy for ECU but this is kind of depressing. We've now lost all of our old rivals.

It's just a shame....gonna miss this one

37 games since '66....have watched or been to the majority of them

(10-16-2013 06:11 PM)MadEagle Wrote:  This game has meant a lot to me over the years, the first time I ever saw Southern Miss on tv was 1996 Lee Roberts came in and completed his first 16 passes in a roll for a Southern Miss 28-7 Victory, 1998 the first time I ever saw the Pirates in person, I met a lot of great fans and they had nothing but good things to say about Southern Miss despite a Southern Miss 41-7 victory after that I always cheered for East Carolina so in 1999 when they beat the Miami Hurricanes at NcState I was jumping and equally pumped up for them as many of their fans probably were! Later that year two ranked teams would play and Southern Miss would take a hard fought win 39-22 win, the next year we played in the mud bowl game, me and my dad might of been the only southern miss fans there "kidding" and Southern Miss lost that game 14-9 but what a fun game to watch, Fast forward to 2005 I met a guy who would become my best friend Bleeds Purple and between us the rivalry grew into something even more special, having talked to Bleeds aka Kyle I have learned so much more about the East Carolina program and how much East Carolina and Southern Miss have in common. The last few years have saw East Carolina dominate the series, but this series has and will always have a special place in my Heart, I hope that our schools can do something to ensure that it'll be played again oneday, but until then I hope that Southern Miss can come into Saturday's game with a little chip on its shoulder and end this series with a win, but I can guarantee after this game is over I'll be back to cheering for that team in Greenville!

Great post! Myself and many other Pirate fans have always viewed USM with respect, and I have always pulled for you guys against anyone other then ECU. I hope USM can get the ship righted and become a winning team again. Maybe you guys will join us as conference mates again in the future so this rivalry can continue.

Here are some comments from ECU Head Coach Ruffin McNeill on the rivalry with USM....


“Having played Southern Miss as a player and a coach, it is always a big-boy pad day. It is not a place for the faint of heart. Of all the teams that I played against, none were more physical.”

“[Both of our programs’] players and coaches have had to do it the hard way continually. I have the utmost respect for them.”