Nice wins by Georgia State and Georgia Southern this week. I live in the 'Sip and not Georgia. Over here, I am well aware of Georgia Southern and their history, but could not tell you two things about Georgia State. But if someone lives in Georgia and says, "Hey GSU had a nice win today!" Who are they talking about? What is the local rule of thumb?
Who is GSU?

Oh geez... Why did you have to go pull this up?

Answer: Georgia State claims the acronym of GSU. That other school has decided to brand themselves as GS. If you were to walk up to someone in Georgia and say, "Hey GSU had a nice win today!" most people would say "Who?"

(09-11-2023 02:20 PM)Eagle in the gym Wrote:  Nice wins by Georgia State and Georgia Southern this week. I live in the 'Sip and not Georgia. Over here, I am well aware of Georgia Southern and their history, but could not tell you two things about Georgia State. But if someone lives in Georgia and says, "Hey GSU had a nice win today!" Who are they talking about? What is the local rule of thumb?
Who is GSU?

That will mostly depend on who you're talking to. If you are speaking with a Georgia State fan (or maybe someone from the Atlanta area) GSU is Georgia State. If you are speaking to a Georgia Southern fan or someone from almost anywhere else in Georgia you're talking Georgia Southern. Southern's administration decided pretty early on when we joined the Sun Belt we would go by GS and not GSU so most of us here have accepted that and moved on.

Both aforementioned responses are correct. Georgia Southern agreed to use GS when they entered the Sun Belt. I typed “who is GSU” in Google and Georgia State popped up.

Don't hold it against us if we never get this correct. Ha

(09-11-2023 02:38 PM)SouthernMiss3613 Wrote:  Don't hold it against us if we never get this correct. Ha

Just do what one of the other posters do and use GATA for GA Southern.

Most people in Georgia refer to Ga Southern as Southern.


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(09-11-2023 02:20 PM)Eagle in the gym Wrote:  Nice wins by Georgia State and Georgia Southern this week. I live in the 'Sip and not Georgia. Over here, I am well aware of Georgia Southern and their history, but could not tell you two things about Georgia State. But if someone lives in Georgia and says, "Hey GSU had a nice win today!" Who are they talking about? What is the local rule of thumb?
Who is GSU?

You are not going to ask who Louisiana is are you?

The university system would have saved a lot of confusion if the Statesboro school had been designated “University of Georgia Southern” when they upgraded from college status. GSU and UGS. Simple.

(09-11-2023 03:07 PM)SBEagle Wrote:  Most people in Georgia refer to Ga Southern as Southern.


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I thought it was funny at the tournament that both Southern Miss and Georgia Southern had jerseys that said "Southern". USA should change their name to University of Southern Alabama so they can join the club.

(09-11-2023 02:20 PM)Eagle in the gym Wrote:  Nice wins by Georgia State and Georgia Southern this week. I live in the 'Sip and not Georgia. Over here, I am well aware of Georgia Southern and their history, but could not tell you two things about Georgia State. But if someone lives in Georgia and says, "Hey GSU had a nice win today!" Who are they talking about? What is the local rule of thumb?
Who is GSU?

I grew up in metro Atlanta and had no clue Georgia State was in Atlanta. I knew it existed because every state has a _____ State University but I thought it was an HBCU like Alabama State or Tennessee State. I never interacted with any Georgia State alumni until their small group of vocal fans started trolling on GSUfans circa 2012.

That being said, nowadays if you were to say GSU anywhere above Macon, they would think you were talking about State but anywhere below Macon, people will assume you mean Southern. Apart from some pot stirring for the sake of rivalry, most of us prefer “Southern” or “GS” now.

(09-11-2023 04:59 PM)TrueBlueDrew Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 02:20 PM)Eagle in the gym Wrote:  Nice wins by Georgia State and Georgia Southern this week. I live in the 'Sip and not Georgia. Over here, I am well aware of Georgia Southern and their history, but could not tell you two things about Georgia State. But if someone lives in Georgia and says, "Hey GSU had a nice win today!" Who are they talking about? What is the local rule of thumb?
Who is GSU?

I grew up in metro Atlanta and had no clue Georgia State was in Atlanta. I knew it existed because every state has a _____ State University but I thought it was an HBCU like Alabama State or Tennessee State. I never interacted with any Georgia State alumni until their small group of vocal fans started trolling on GSUfans circa 2012.

That being said, nowadays if you were to say GSU anywhere above Macon, they would think you were talking about State but anywhere below Macon, people will assume you mean Southern.

You got that backwards. I think you meant Southern fans trolling on PantherTalk lol! I didn’t know State existed until my junior year of high school when a bunch of my older friends started going there. It’s definitely an odd place. It’s a huge research university, but nobody seems to know anything about it. Athletics and any kind of public relations were largely ignored for the vast majority of our schools history. We’re like the red headed step child of the state. Very strange. But I had a great time there.

(09-11-2023 02:38 PM)SouthernMiss3613 Wrote:  Don't hold it against us if we never get this correct. Ha

Seems to be a rarity these days for anyone to really get offended over it. I hope some students at both schools are still able to get some fun out of the whole "real GSU" debate, but at the end of the day we're both GSU. We were GSU first, but they were widely known on the gridiron that way before us, so it left a lot of room for argument about a decade ago. I'm glad that Eagles fans seem to largely be okay with the GS designation, as it is nice to distinguish quickly.

We'll never agree about who the true trolls were ca. 2010 though...

(09-11-2023 02:38 PM)SouthernMiss3613 Wrote:  Don't hold it against us if we never get this correct. Ha

It's ok SMU

(09-11-2023 04:27 PM)GSU-Blue Wrote:  The university system would have saved a lot of confusion if the Statesboro school had been designated “University of Georgia Southern” when they upgraded from college status. GSU and UGS. Simple.

But who’d want to go to a school named “Ugs?”

(09-11-2023 07:23 PM)eaglewraith Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 02:38 PM)SouthernMiss3613 Wrote:  Don't hold it against us if we never get this correct. Ha

It's ok SMU

(09-11-2023 03:07 PM)SBEagle Wrote:  Most people in Georgia refer to Ga Southern as Southern.


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Wait, I thought South Alabama was South (darn near said Southern Alabama)

South vs Southern is just as confusing as GS vs GSU

(09-11-2023 04:59 PM)TrueBlueDrew Wrote:  I grew up in metro Atlanta and had no clue Georgia State was in Atlanta. I knew it existed because every state has a _____ State University but I thought it was an HBCU like Alabama State or Tennessee State. I never interacted with any Georgia State alumni until their small group of vocal fans started trolling on GSUfans circa 2012.

Hey Texas State and Arkansas State fans, how do you feel about us being lumped together with HBCUs?

I understand though. Until sophomore year of college, I thought Georgia Southern was just another school like West Georgia or Middle Georgia. We both can forgive our past ignorances.

(09-11-2023 08:06 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  

(09-11-2023 04:27 PM)GSU-Blue Wrote:  The university system would have saved a lot of confusion if the Statesboro school had been designated “University of Georgia Southern” when they upgraded from college status. GSU and UGS. Simple.

But who’d want to go to a school named “Ugs?”

I hear there's a school called UGA in Athens

(09-11-2023 02:20 PM)Eagle in the gym Wrote:  Nice wins by Georgia State and Georgia Southern this week. I live in the 'Sip and not Georgia. Over here, I am well aware of Georgia Southern and their history, but could not tell you two things about Georgia State. But if someone lives in Georgia and says, "Hey GSU had a nice win today!" Who are they talking about? What is the local rule of thumb?
Who is GSU?

I just realized I didn't answer the OP's question.

If you're in Atlanta, people absolutely say GSU in reference to Georgia State. For example, if you introduce yourself as a professor at GSU, they know you mean Georgia State right away.