The Delta of Hate: The Sun Belt’s new three-way rivalry

If you’re reading this, the Sun Belt has added four new member schools. One of them fits so well, with its sports history, departmental connections, geography and culture, it’s already part of a heated three-way rivalry.

They just don’t know it yet.

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Marshall and Old Dominion were not alone in burning down Conference USA as they left; Southern Miss brought the gasoline. The early exit and subsequent legal battle are petty moves, and all of us in the Sun Belt are proud.

The Golden Eagles now join a conference of peers similar to the ones they leave behind… except they might just fit in better. Hattiesburg is the fifth-smallest city in the conference, but it’s twice as large as Troy and little more than a fourth the size of Mobile.

More importantly, the new neighbors are much closer. In the CUSA, Southern Miss had four opponents within 400 miles, and just one within 200 miles. Today, those numbers jump to six within 400 miles and four within 200 miles.

The Eagles have played American Conference teams more often than any other conference, but that’s because of former rivals Memphis and Tulane. Remove those two teams and the CUSA itself, and Southern Miss has only played one conference’s teams more often than the Sun Belt: the SEC.

Southern Miss and South Alabama are separated by fewer than 90 miles, and the Eagles have played Louisiana on the gridiron 51 times.

While I’m sure the Cajuns will build on their own beef with Southern Miss, the clear connection will be made down Highway 98. Coastal Alabama and Coastal Mississippi share a similar culture, with massive seafood industries, historic tourism, strong Mardi Gras traditions, and the Gulf itself.

As for the respective schools, South Alabama and Southern Miss represent two completely different program identities. USM is steeped in history, having more than 70 wins over the SEC and ACC combined, and USA opened its doors 167 days after the Eagles won their second Small College (D-II) Championship in football.

The Eagles have two NFL Hall of Famers: Brett Favre and Ray Guy.
The Jaguars have two NFL draft picks: Gerald Everett and Jalen Tolbert.

That being said, USA and USM were effectively conference opponents the past two years, with a home-and-home series leading into the move. The Jaguars managed to win both games… with fewer head coaching changes in-between.

The problem, as is always the case discussing South Alabama, is the football program’s youth, at least more so than the school’s age.

If we switch to the baseball lens, USM is the current darling, with most of its success happening since 2003. South Alabama on the other hand has a deeper, richer baseball history, producing players like Juan Pierre, David Freese and Luis Gonzalez.

At the very least these two teams are destined to be baseball rivals, if the fans don’t already consider themselves to be.

Finally, both South and Southern represent a geographical foothold in part of a state where SEC teams manage to dominate… despite their distance.

In the same way, USM and Troy share a geographical connection. Hattiesburg and Troy both sit about 100 miles from the Gulf, give or take, and both claim ownership (by way of satellite campus) to cities on the water (Long Beach/Ocean Springs and Fort Walton/Pensacola).

Troy and Southern Miss territories dig not only into the SEC rivalry footprint, but also into neighboring states.

As for athletics, we’ve covered the 85-year history already. Here’s the short version:

• The two schools played in the 40s. Troy won once.
• Southern Miss went straight to Small College/D1A/FBS, while Troy took the longer route.
• They played in 1977, as Troy moved into D-II.
• Both teams won two D-II national titles.
• They met again in 2008, in what ended up being an insane New Orleans Bowl.
• Jeremy McClain left USM to be Troy’s AD and took Brent Jones.
• The two schools set up a home-and-away. The games were just as crazy as the New Orleans Bowl, so they extended the series.
• McClain left to be USM’s AD, and Jones is Troy’s AD.

McClain left Troy to lead the Eagles nearly 55 years after a Troy coach left to be South Alabama’s first Athletic Director, but the connection doesn’t end there. He also played baseball, graduated and got his masters’ at Delta State while a Troy alum and future South Alabama coach led the football team.

Again, that’s the football-centric lens I’m working with. Troy has a baseball culture and history like South and USM, but the Trojans’ development from NAIA to FBS means the program success isn’t at the same level.

The same goes for basketball. While South Alabama was “Rolling the Tide,” Troy State was going to the Elite Eight in Division II. Southern Miss made its first two NCAA tournament appearances in 1990 and 1991– the years Coach Maestri’s squads were setting scoring records.

That doesn’t mean Troy’s athletic culture is somehow weaker. It’s safe to say at this point Troy and Southern Miss hold the same historic and current respect as G5 bluebloods.

Regardless, the one sport that rules the South and the Sun Belt is football, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that hate between the three schools will really evolve on the gridiron.

The recent matchups among the three teams is a massive coincidence too, despite the already-existent, protected Battle for the Belt. It does add to the spice though.

When South beat Southern Miss for the first time ever, USM head coach Jay Hopson resigned. Later that year, Troy decimated the Jags, and South head coach Steve Campbell put in his notice.

Chip Lindsey beat both teams outright in his final season, too, so these players and fanbases all have recent memories to draw from when they take the field.

Knowing full well these three Universities have recent history, departmental connections and even cultural and geographical ties, it stands to reason this should quickly become one of college football’s best rivalries… and one of few that link more than two teams.

This list only includes two matchups from the South, and both have fallen off in recent years (namely, because of the pandemic.) Two of the three active rivalries take place among conference opponents, specifically divisional opponents.

It’s also worth mentioning matchups like the Quadrangle of Hate and the Notre Dame/USC/Stanford connected rivalries. In fact, most Big 12 teams would consider themselves rivals with one another.

Traditions like these are somewhat lacking in the relatively young Sun Belt Conference, but the additions since 2014 have added programs with deep history.

I’m not suggesting a trophy for the three-way matchup, especially since the Belt already exists. It is worth keeping track of wins, though.

Don’t worry, I’ve already started.

The series has had at least two matchups four of the last six seasons, and clearly last year was the first time all three played each other. Here’s the breakdown:

• 2016: Troy beats USM and South
• 2019: USM beats Troy, Troy beats South
• 2020: Troy beats South, South beats USM
• 2021: Troy beats USM and South, South beats USM

You could give the title to Troy for 2016 and 2020, and give USM the 2019 crown. No matter how you slice it, though, Troy came out on top in the first head-to-head season.

Credit to Southern Miss for the 2019 win, though. It was insane.

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So we’ve established the three teams’ links. What’s the best way to explain this connection though? There’s only one answer.

The distinct midpoint of all three schools lies near the Alabama River, in the upper Mobile Delta, which divides the coastline claimed by all three schools. It happens to also be the name of the college that holds ties to McClain and Campbell.

Its namesake shape is synonymous with not only a three-sided shape, representing the three Universities… but it also defines the culture and community around these three Gulf Coast teams.

Southern Miss, South Alabama and Troy form the Delta of Hate.