What were some of the rivalries in the Big West involving Cal St. Fullerton, Long Beach State, and Pacific?

I didn’t realize Pacific was playing up to 1995 until I saw them on an old video game.

(11-21-2019 11:00 AM)esayem Wrote:  What were some of the rivalries in the Big West involving Cal St. Fullerton, Long Beach State, and Pacific?

I didn’t realize Pacific was playing up to 1995 until I saw them on an old video game.

I was watching a YouTube documentary on the '95 Nebraska team and had to do a double-take when they showed the Pacific game.

Those 3 teams were almost never good. I think Fullerton was one yr in the early 80s. LBSU was like 6-5 w/ the old Redskins coach that died after the season.

I think CSUF vs LBSU was the end of the yr gm. Fresno v SJSU usually for the Cal Bowl bid. UOP was our geographically closest rival.

(11-21-2019 11:00 AM)esayem Wrote:  What were some of the rivalries in the Big West involving Cal St. Fullerton, Long Beach State, and Pacific?

I didn’t realize Pacific was playing up to 1995 until I saw them on an old video game.

The big west was very different compared to what it is now in 1995, I mean USL (Louisiana) LaTech, NIU and a few California teams. So with that being said I’m gonna say Louisiana and La Tech

It’s a shame that some of these California teams went by the wayside. Imagine if there was still Big West football with:

Sac St
UC Davis
Cal Poly
Long Beach St
Cal St Fullerton
Cal St Northridge
Pacific
NMSU

If we go back in history for schools with football, you had these if you count long time.

Fresno State
San Jose State
CSU-L.A.
UC-Riverside
UC-Santa Barbara

And if D2 level? You had Chico State, San Francisco State, Humboldt State, Sacramento State, Cal. Poly- Pomona and Southern Oregon were all rivals to Big West schools in football.
Big West could be FCS football if all these schools kept football including the D2 schools. UC-San Diego also had a football team at one point.

Cal States don't/didn't have much $$'s unfortunately. They also have a lot of commuter students, and it's next to impossible to get commuters fired up about anything. The UC's are very elitist. About the best description I can give about Calif States and the UC's is look at the Cal States like Houston and the UC's like Georgia Tech & Pittsburgh. Those are two of the elitist schools I can think of in the east.

(11-21-2019 05:02 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  Those 3 teams were almost never good. I think Fullerton was one yr in the early 80s. LBSU was like 6-5 w/ the old Redskins coach that died after the season.

I think CSUF vs LBSU was the end of the yr gm. Fresno v SJSU usually for the Cal Bowl bid. UOP was our geographically closest rival.

Pacific won a few conference titles when Amos Alonzo Stagg coached there for 14 years after he got forced out of Chicago for being too old.

Interesting stuff here.

It seems like the Big West was sort of the west coast MAC, which makes sense considering they played against one another in the Silver Bowl. I remember that as a kid.

Pacific intrigues me the most. A private school, maybe similar to TCU? No primary rival, at least not a reciprocal one. Fullerton vs. LBSU makes sense as a rivalry.

Also, horrible story about the old LBSU coach.

(11-21-2019 09:08 PM)esayem Wrote:  Interesting stuff here.

It seems like the Big West was sort of the west coast MAC, which makes sense considering they played against one another in the Silver Bowl. I remember that as a kid.

Pacific intrigues me the most. A private school, maybe similar to TCU? No primary rival, at least not a reciprocal one. Fullerton vs. LBSU makes sense as a rivalry.

Also, horrible story about the old LBSU coach.

PCC and MAC played each other in a bowl. They very much were parallels.

(11-21-2019 09:08 PM)esayem Wrote:  Interesting stuff here.

It seems like the Big West was sort of the west coast MAC, which makes sense considering they played against one another in the Silver Bowl. I remember that as a kid.

Pacific intrigues me the most. A private school, maybe similar to TCU? No primary rival, at least not a reciprocal one. Fullerton vs. LBSU makes sense as a rivalry.

Also, horrible story about the old LBSU coach.

But unlike the MAC, their teams kept getting poached or opting to cancel their programs:

San Diego St in the late 70’s
Fresno St, San Jose St, and UNLV in the early/mid 90’s
Pacific, LBSU, and Cal St Fullerton shutter their programs in the 90’s
Nevada and Boise St bail in 2000 and 2001
NMSU and UNT put the final nail in the coffin when they start SBC football
in 2001

Interestingly, 7 of the 12 MWC schools once played Big West football while an 8th, NMSU, floats out in Indy world while a 9th alumnus, Idaho, went back to FCS Big Sky. In a way, Big West football is alive and well under new management.

The MAC on the other hand has enjoyed great stability over the years and retained all its core members.

(11-21-2019 05:50 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  It’s a shame that some of these California teams went by the wayside. Imagine if there was still Big West football with:

Sac St
UC Davis
Cal Poly
Long Beach St
Cal St Fullerton
Cal St Northridge
Pacific
NMSU

Idaho and Utah State would likely be a part of that. Certainly Idaho.

(11-21-2019 07:26 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  Cal States don't/didn't have much $$'s unfortunately. They also have a lot of commuter students, and it's next to impossible to get commuters fired up about anything. The UC's are very elitist. About the best description I can give about Calif States and the UC's is look at the Cal States like Houston and the UC's like Georgia Tech & Pittsburgh. Those are two of the elitist schools I can think of in the east.

Not true. They just had administrations/Presidents that didn't have the balls to do what was needed to keep a program afloat...and that was pass along the costs to students to balance the T9 issues out. If Sac State was able to keep a program alive (via a student fee), then any of the CSU's and UC's could have done the same. (A modern day example of poor leadership as it relates to FB is what just happened to Humboldt State's program.)

Fast forward 25ish years and those non-FB CSU's and UC's have large enrollments (not sure what their sizes were back in the 90's) that could easily foot the bill for FB. Just look at the CA FCS schools that are still afloat.

Poor leadership at those schools did their FB programs in.

You almost sense a pattern out there in the west with D1A football. As in it couldn’t sustain two non-major conferences due to poaching.

(11-21-2019 05:50 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  It’s a shame that some of these California teams went by the wayside. Imagine if there was still Big West football with:

Sac St
UC Davis
Cal Poly
Long Beach St
Cal St Fullerton
Cal St Northridge
Pacific
NMSU

It's been talked about many times before here, but the region from the Rockies to the West could use a 3rd FBS league. It's only the Pac-12 and MWC right now.

There were a few years in the late 1990s-early 2000s where there were FOUR Western FBS leagues. Admittedly, to get to four leagues, we needed (1) a 6-team league, and (2) some of these leagues including nowhere near the Rockies schools like UNT, TCU, SMU, Rice, Arkansas State and Tulsa.

The only rivalry was San Jose State vs Fresno State ... not surprisingly they were the only programs to survive.

I forgot East Bay State. Them, Northridge State, Long Beach State and Fullerton State were looking to restart football. I think all these California schools should look at restarting or adding football.

(11-21-2019 09:02 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(11-21-2019 05:02 PM)Fresno St. Alum Wrote:  Those 3 teams were almost never good. I think Fullerton was one yr in the early 80s. LBSU was like 6-5 w/ the old Redskins coach that died after the season.

I think CSUF vs LBSU was the end of the yr gm. Fresno v SJSU usually for the Cal Bowl bid. UOP was our geographically closest rival.

Pacific won a few conference titles when Amos Alonzo Stagg coached there for 14 years after he got forced out of Chicago for being too old.

Alonzo Stagg was forced out of Chicago at age 70 after 40 years. He posted a 7-2 record at Pacific at age 81 before retiring at age 84. He died at age 102 and was born in the heart of the Civil War.

Most fascinating guy in CFB ever? There needs to be a documentary on him. And both his programs are dead.

There are people alive today who remember Alonzo Stagg coaching. And Stagg started coaching in...1892.

Pacific beat South Carolina once, in 1981. Way before my time, but that one still stings the older fans.

(11-21-2019 11:00 AM)esayem Wrote:  What were some of the rivalries in the Big West involving Cal St. Fullerton, Long Beach State, and Pacific?

I didn’t realize Pacific was playing up to 1995 until I saw them on an old video game.

Great post, esayem! Learning some new things about a conference I'm not real familiar with and some interesting information from other posters in the thread.