Georgia State University Taking the Next Step!! (Atlanta, Kennesaw: 2013, houses)

[BackInATL2011]

Excited to hear the recent news, I didn't think it would be this fast!


Georgia State has accepted an invitation to join Sun Belt | Georgia State Sports


Good thing a good football record wasn't one of the requirements for this to happen. If this does happen, I think it'd only be 5 or so years before GSU fans are bigger than Ga Tech's, but of course 2nd to UGA's fans. Maybe now they will sell more seats at the GA Dome and help them decide what to do with the Falcon's if their income increases from Panther Football.

[gtcorndog]

Whoa whoa whoa there buddy.

GSU was 3-8 in FCS and not that long ago lost to an NAIA school. They had a listed average attendance in 2011 of 14,000 but there were times when there were far less than 5,000 fans in the Dome. Do you really think anyone in the area is going to care about those big Sun Belt games versus powerhouses North Texas and Louisiana-Monroe? Georgia State's big move is to become one of those teams like FIU or FAU that the real FBS schools pay to come take a beating. Now instead of getting whomped by one big school a year for a payday, they can probably get 3 or 4. Georgia State making big moves.

[Nanosolar]

Lol, GSU is 2 years old, Tech has a 100+ year tradition. You can't really compare the two... If anything this will hurt Uga's program in the long run considering most GSU students were probably UGA fans. Also the two schools academic requirements are similar, eg they will be recruiting the same players. In fact, all of the rising programs: Kennesaw, Ga Southern, and Mercer balkanize UGA's fan base much than damaging Tech in any way. Over the next 20 years be prepared to see a major shift away from UGA as the primary sports program that has essentially had a monoploy on the state for the past 2 decades.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by Nanosolar

Lol, GSU is 2 years old, Tech has a 100+ year tradition. You can't really compare the two... If anything this will hurt Uga's program in the long run considering most GSU students were probably UGA fans. Also the two schools academic requirements are similar, eg they will be recruiting the same players. In fact, all of the rising programs: Kennesaw, Ga Southern, and Mercer balkanize UGA's fan base much than damaging Tech in any way. Over the next 20 years be prepared to see a major shift away from UGA as the primary sports program that has essentially had a monoploy on the state for the past 2 decades.

Not even close. If you go down to UCF and USF, the schools that GSU is trying to emulate, you'll still find as many Gator or Nole fans on campus as you will fans of their own school. No amount of Sun Belt football is going to tilt anything in this state. UGA has had a near monopoly on the 'sidewalk fans' in the state for a long time and I don't anticipate that changing. This will have little impact on GT as most GT fans have some affiliation with the school. It is easy to be a UGA fan, but its a little more difficult to be a GT fan with the academic restrictions the school places on its athletic program.

[moneill]

From what I have seen and heard -- quite a few Georgia State students are Tech fans. Most of the State students party with the Tech kids...and I know many freshman that were more exited about Tech football than State. It is going to take a long time to build up any kind of loyalty.

[arjay57]

I would say this is a good move by Georgia State. If I had to guess college sports will sort of level out in the years to come instead of being dominated by a relative handful of elite schools. Give more kids a chance to play, etc.

[MathmanMathman]

This is definitely a gamble on GSU's part. Lack of a real campus and real tailgating is a problem. I think GSU will have to average at least 15k attendance or be sent back down. But GSU did see a surge in donations and alumni association membership so maybe FBS status will take it up a further notch.

What GSU does have going for it is the Atlanta market. Georgia Southern would have been clearly the better choice in terms of its fan base and a history of competitive teams. But Georgia Southern doesn't have a great market and can't deliver Atlanta. So depending on how conference realignments shake out, Georgia State might find itself sitting pretty in a few years.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

They can come talk to us when they get 4 National Titles or have the 4th longest active bowl game streak like we currently do. Until then, they should keep playing their powerhouse schedule of Campbell, Clark Atlanta (who knew they even played football?) and Shorter. However, I advise they keep Lambuth off the schedule. That non-scholarship NAIA school is an absolute force to be reckoned with.

No problem with Lambuth as that school went bankrupt and became a branch campus of the University of Memphis.

[cqholt]

For once I will agree with gtcorndog. UGA is a joke of a school, couldn't win more than 1 title with Hershel, how many titles does Athens have? The campus sucks and the fans are rednecks. At least GT has academics and a can play basketball. UGA can't keep football players outta jail. Athens-Clark County will need to build a jail just for UGA athletes.

[MathmanMathman]

It's official. GSU will play in the Sun Belt in 2013. I have a feeling that the CAA teams will be merciless when playing GSU this year. Pretty amazing that GSU will be moving to FBS before it plays its first official FCS season.