Georgia Southern–Georgia State rivalry
College sports rivalry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Georgia Southern–Georgia State rivalry, also known as the Georgia Grown Bowl and Modern Day Hate, is a college athletics rivalry between the Georgia Southern Eagles and Georgia State Panthers.[1][2] Both schools are members of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC).
Georgia Southern 69, Georgia State 31
Georgia Southern 41, Georgia State 24
Atlanta
| |||
| Football Rivalry | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First meeting | October 25, 2014 Georgia Southern 69, Georgia State 31 | ||
| Latest meeting | October 18, 2025 Georgia Southern 41, Georgia State 24 | ||
| Next meeting | November 14, 2026 Atlanta | ||
| Total meetings | 12 | ||
All-time series | Tie, 6–6 | ||
Largest victory | Georgia Southern, 69–31 (2014) | ||
Longest win streak | Georgia State, 3
(2015–2017, 2020–2022) Georgia Southern, 3 (2023–present) | ||
Current win streak | Georgia Southern, 3 (2023–present) | ||
| Men's Basketball Rivalry | |||
| First meeting | February 19, 1972 Georgia Southern 103, Georgia State 55 | ||
| Latest meeting | February 19, 2026 Georgia State 66, Georgia Southern 64 | ||
| Total meetings | 73 | ||
All-time series | Georgia Southern leads 42–31 | ||
Largest victory | Georgia Southern, 103–55 (1972) Georgia Southern, 109–61 (1985) | ||
Longest win streak | Georgia Southern, 7 (3×) | ||
Current win streak | Georgia State, 1 (2026–present) | ||
For the 2021–22 school year, the men's soccer rivalry temporarily moved to the Mid-American Conference, with both schools joining that league for men's soccer after the SBC disbanded its men's soccer league.[3] However, SBC expansion in 2022 and the addition of three "Power Five" programs led to the reinstatement of SBC men's soccer effective in 2022–23.[4] While the teams have only met nine times in football (due to Georgia State beginning their program in 2010),[5] the rivalry dates back to the 1970s in basketball and other sports.[6]
History
Georgia Southern and Georgia State have only competed against each other in football since 2014. They played annually in basketball from the 1971–72 to 1980–81 seasons, 1995–96 and 1996–97, and 2009–10 to 2013–14 out-of-conference and as conference mates from the 1985–86 to 1991–92 seasons in the Trans America Athletic Conference (which is now the Atlantic Sun Conference) and since the 2014–15 season in the Sun Belt Conference.[6][7] Starting in December 2009, the two teams went nearly 10 years without losing a home game to their rival. The streak was snapped on March 9, 2019 when Georgia State won in Statesboro by a score of 90–85. Georgia Southern has a 42–31 lead in the all-time basketball series.[8]
Because both schools can be abbreviated GSU, a point of conflict between the two is the claim by either fan base that their university is, in fact, "the real GSU." Georgia State lays claim to the initials as it became a university (and therefore GSU) in 1969 while Georgia Southern did not achieve university status until 1990.[9] Both schools are referred to as GSU colloquially in their region of the state, though Georgia State is the only one of the two that officially brands itself "GSU." In 2014, when Georgia Southern joined the Sun Belt Conference (the conference Georgia State joined the year prior), Georgia Southern updated its branding and media guidelines to explicitly state the school should be referred to as "Georgia Southern" or "GS" to avoid confusion in the media. But fixtures on their campus such as the "GSU" hedge and traditions like the marching band's "GSU Scramble" remain.
The rivalry intensified after the hire of former Appalachian State (longtime rival of Georgia Southern) athletic director Charlie Cobb to the same position at Georgia State University. During Georgia State's press release introducing Cobb, he revealed that Georgia Southern's athletic director Tom Kleinlein told him "welcome, now the war is on."[10] The two teams first met on the gridiron during the 2014 football season. During the run up to the game, fans from both teams expressed their dislike for the other over social media outlets such as Twitter. Students at the time used the hashtags "SouthernNotState" and "StateNotSouthern" in their tweets to differentiate which GSU they attended. Both schools adopted the phrases as a slogan that defined their side of the rivalry.[11] During the period before the game, a beat writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution dubbed the matchup as "Modern Day Hate," a play on the rivalry between Georgia and Georgia Tech: Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.[2][dead link] Georgia Southern beat Georgia State by a final score of 69–31 in the Georgia Dome in front of 28,427 fans.[12] After the game, Georgia Southern fans unrolled a banner saying "Paulson Stadium North" claiming the stadium as their own and cementing the rivalry. The following season, Georgia State handed Georgia Southern their worst home defeat in school history with a final score of 34–7.[13][14] The football series is currently tied 6–6.
In 2024, the schools announced the intent to stop calling the football game "Modern Day Hate" alongside a partnership with the Georgia Department of Agriculture to rename the rivalry the Georgia Grown Bowl, named after the department's "Georgia Grown" marketing campaign.[15] The two schools will begin competing for the Commissioner's Cup trophy.
Football game results
| Georgia Southern victories | Georgia State victories |
| No. | Date | Location | Winner | Score | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 25, 2014 | Atlanta, GA | Georgia Southern | 69–31 | ||||
| 2 | December 5, 2015 | Statesboro, GA | Georgia State | 34–7 | ||||
| 3 | November 19, 2016 | Atlanta, GA | Georgia State | 30–24 | ||||
| 4 | November 4, 2017 | Statesboro, GA | Georgia State | 21–17 | ||||
| 5 | November 24, 2018 | Atlanta, GA | Georgia Southern | 35–14 | ||||
| 6 | November 30, 2019 | Statesboro, GA | Georgia Southern | 38–10 | ||||
| 7 | November 28, 2020 | Atlanta, GA | Georgia State | 30–24 | ||||
| 8 | October 30, 2021 | Statesboro, GA | Georgia State | 21–14 | ||||
| 9 | October 8, 2022 | Atlanta, GA | Georgia State | 41–33 | ||||
| 10 | October 26, 2023 | Statesboro, GA | Georgia Southern | 44–27 | ||||
| 11 | September 28, 2024 | Atlanta, GA | Georgia Southern | 38–21 | ||||
| 12 | October 18, 2025 | Statesboro, GA | Georgia Southern | 41–24 | ||||
| Series: Tied 6–6 | ||||||||
Men's basketball game results
Table shows results since both teams officially entered NCAA basketball competition with one another.[8]
| Georgia Southern victories | Georgia State victories |
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Men's soccer results
Georgia State leads Georgia Southern 32–12–8 in men's soccer competitions.
| Georgia Southern victories | Georgia State victories | Tie games |
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Rivalry series
On October 1, 2015, both schools' athletic directors at the time announced the beginning of an annual "rivalry series" in which the winner takes home the Rivalry Series trophy and bragging rights at the following year's football game. The trophy was awarded to the school that defeats the other in a points-based system that encompasses all sports. Most wins counted as 1 point with football counting as 2 points. 2 points total were awarded to community service projects, and 1 to the school with the highest departmental GPA. [18][19]
| Georgia Southern victories | Georgia State victories |
| No. | Date | Winner | Score | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2015–16 | Georgia State | 14–7 | |||||
| 2 | 2016–17 | Georgia State | 18–4 | |||||
| 3 | 2017–18 | Georgia State | 16.5–5.5 | |||||
| 4 | 2018–19 | Georgia State | 13–9 | |||||
| Series: Georgia State leads 4–0 | ||||||||
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sun Belt Conference announced that all remaining spring sporting events after March 16 of that year would be suspended. Those sports included Men's and Women's Tennis, Men's and Women's Golf, Baseball, Softball, and Women's Outdoor Track and Field. Georgia Southern was leading 9–6 in the 2019–2020 rivalry series at that time.[20]
On September 12, 2020, new Georgia Southern athletic director, Jared Benko, made a public statement that the all-sport rivalry series would be discontinued.