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Thought I'd help my good friend CatMom out by discussing widely confused acronyms for schools in FCS. CatMom was posting about schedules on BobcatFans.com and called our friends from CCSU (Central Connecticut State University) as CCU - widely known as Coastal Carolina.

In light of this, thought it would be best to help each other by posting widely known acronym issues that could arise, as we try to educate each other. CatMom was her typical 'on the defensive' self, as she typically is when she gets facts wrong. Figured this would be the best platform to help her, since she would probably take it easier from her fellow FCS fans on CS.com.

So, let's go...

CCSU - Central Connecticut State University
CCU - Coastal Carolina
* Note - there is an obviously a 'state' thrown into the one from our friends from Connecticut. Their web site is also listed as 'http://www.ccsubluedevils.com/' and another site featuring their supporters is listed as ccsufans.com/. Sort of like Sam Houston State, who we talk about below, the 'state' is included.

TSU - Texas Southern
TXST - Texas State University - San Marcos
* Note - when Southwest Texas switched to the school now known as Texas State University - San Marcos, they agreed to not be known as TSU as part of an effort to get some people on board to support their efforts.

SHSU - Sam Houston State University
* Note - keep seeing 'SHS'. Not sure where this came from, but SHSU is the preferred choice of those in Huntsville, Texas.

B-CC - Bethune Cookman University
* Note - this is an odd one, but this is how the university calls themselves in stories nowadays. They are not known as 'BC' - which is commonly used for Boston College.

Any others? Does someone want to explain Richmond and Delaware and how they would prefer to be called?

GSU - Georgia Southern University...

Now we have Georgia State University...which I assume will be GStU...

Col Hogan wrote:GSU - Georgia Southern University...

Now we have Georgia State University...which I assume will be GStU...

Doesn't Grambling prefer/tend to go by GSU as well?

Dayton and Delaware both go by UD, while Duquesne and Drake are DU.

San Diego and South Dakota are both USD? South Dakota State and San Diego State both SDSU

Those of us not from the Midwest may not automatically know the difference between NIU (Illinois) and UNI (Iowa).

The Dukes head up the All-Misspelled Conference:

Duquense (Duquesne)
Stoneybrook (Stony Brook)
Cal-Davis (UC-Davis)
Citadel (The Citadel)
GSU (whoever you are, you know either of the other two are wrong)
GSU
GSU

Dishonorable mention, dropped football: Sienna

TexasTerror wrote:

Col Hogan wrote:GSU - Georgia Southern University...

Now we have Georgia State University...which I assume will be GStU...

Doesn't Grambling prefer/tend to go by GSU as well?

Yeah, that's the three headed monster of FCS acronyms. Georgia Southern fans refer to GStU, and Georgia State fans refer to GSoU. Grambling folks think they're both pretenders.

We also have confusion with ISU (Idaho, Illinois and Indiana), and the directional Dakotas are now a problem with USD, and UND in the division. We should be able to keep these guys straight with NDSU and SDSU to contrast. San Diego is a problem though, with USD now having two references.

Most folks distinguish Texas State- San Marcos as TxSt., but Texas Southern and Tennessee State often get confused with the TSU acronym.

Two FUs, Furman and Fordham. I am not sure how confusing it is. I have only seen PL folks refer to Fordham as FU. Most everyone else says Fordham. Also, from Joltin' Joe conversations, the Fordham administration doesn't seem to like the "FU" Acronym so I don't see how it counts

This is FBS, but perhaps someone knows. Why does the University of Kansas go by KU? Is it just because Kentucky beat them to the punch?

Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama: JSU, Jax State
Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, Florida: JU
Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi: JSU, J-State

I thought Georgia State was GSU, as I've always read on the GA. Southern board that their administration does not use the GSU acronym. I've never seen GSU used for GA. Southern in anything...not their logos, not on ESPN, not anywhere. Georgia State on the other hand always uses GSU. It is one of their logos and it's even gonna be on their football helmet.

Does Samford use SU? I always refer to my school as Southern although once someone thought I was talking about Georgia Southern. In the SWAC alone there's two ASU's, most people use AlaSU - Alabama St and AlcSU - Alcorn St.

TexasTerror wrote:Thought I'd help my good friend CatMom out by discussing widely confused acronyms for schools in FCS. CatMom was posting about schedules on BobcatFans.com and called our friends from CCSU (Central Connecticut State University) as CCU - widely known as Coastal Carolina.

In light of this, thought it would be best to help each other by posting widely known acronym issues that could arise, as we try to educate each other. CatMom was her typical 'on the defensive' self, as she typically is when she gets facts wrong. Figured this would be the best platform to help her, since she would probably take it easier from her fellow FCS fans on CS.com.

So, let's go...

CCSU - Central Connecticut State University
CCU - Coastal Carolina
* Note - there is an obviously a 'state' thrown into the one from our friends from Connecticut. Their web site is also listed as 'http://www.ccsubluedevils.com/' and another site featuring their supporters is listed as ccsufans.com/. Sort of like Sam Houston State, who we talk about below, the 'state' is included.

TSU - Texas Southern
TXST - Texas State University - San Marcos
* Note - when Southwest Texas switched to the school now known as Texas State University - San Marcos, they agreed to not be known as TSU as part of an effort to get some people on board to support their efforts.

SHSU - Sam Houston State University
* Note - keep seeing 'SHS'. Not sure where this came from, but SHSU is the preferred choice of those in Huntsville, Texas.

B-CC - Bethune Cookman University
* Note - this is an odd one, but this is how the university calls themselves in stories nowadays. They are not known as 'BC' - which is commonly used for Boston College.

Any others? Does someone want to explain Richmond and Delaware and how they would prefer to be called?

actually their website refers to them as BC-U

∞∞∞ wrote:I thought Georgia State was GSU, as I've always read on the GA. Southern board that their administration does not use the GSU acronym. I've never seen GSU used for GA. Southern in anything...not their logos, not on ESPN, not anywhere. Georgia State on the other hand always uses GSU. It is one of their logos and it's even gonna be on their football helmet.

While Georgia Southern uses a GS logo, they frequently refer to themselves as GSU. The article below is typical, with many GSU references. It's from their athletic website.


http://www.georgiasoutherneagles.com/Vi ... M_ID=18700

Then we have CPSUSLO (California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo). Now you know why we prefer to just go by Cal Poly and CP.

ASUMountaineer wrote:This is FBS, but perhaps someone knows. Why does the University of Kansas go by KU? Is it just because Kentucky beat them to the punch?

This question came up on the Laxpower forum about why the University of Denver went by DU. The answer given:
"The reverse initials "DU" are used as the university's shorthand moniker (rather than the more intuitive "UD") as part of a Rocky Mountain and midwestern tradition of initial reversal, similar to the University of Colorado's "CU", the University of Tulsa's "TU", the University of Oklahoma's "OU", the University of Nebraska's "NU", and the University of Kansas' "KU."

Same goes for University of Missouri -- MU.

Didn't see the UNI vs. NIU mentioned.

UNI = Northern Iowa
NIU = Northern Illinois

UAalum72 wrote:

ASUMountaineer wrote:This is FBS, but perhaps someone knows. Why does the University of Kansas go by KU? Is it just because Kentucky beat them to the punch?

This question came up on the Laxpower forum about why the University of Denver went by DU. The answer given:
"The reverse initials "DU" are used as the university's shorthand moniker (rather than the more intuitive "UD") as part of a Rocky Mountain and midwestern tradition of initial reversal, similar to the University of Colorado's "CU", the University of Tulsa's "TU", the University of Oklahoma's "OU", the University of Nebraska's "NU", and the University of Kansas' "KU."

Same goes for University of Missouri -- MU.

Hmm...interesting. Thanks for the info. Always wondered about that. Crazy midwesterners.

PSU is Portland State as long as you are on campus. Anywhere else in the BCS and Pac-10 happy Portland, PSU is Penn State.

I get confused when it comes to Sacramento State, which is why during my prediction threads, you see me spell it out as "Sac State" (I use the acronyms of the other schools and will spell out those non conference opponents, FBS and FCS). I've been told in the past that Sacramento State does not go by "SSU" as that is reserved in California for Sonoma State, and also does not use the "CSUS" as the school rarely goes by the name of Cal State University-Sacramento.

TexasTerror wrote: Any others? Does someone want to explain Richmond and Delaware and how they would prefer to be called?

Richmond is pretty easy. Either just "Richmond" or "UR" for University of Richmond. Or since there is no other team with the same mascot, you can say "Spiders" without fear of confusing people.

Of course in Louisiana, you've got Nichols State University and Northwestern State University. I've seen them both referred to as NSU by their own fans.

And then there's:

MSU - McNeese State University
MSU - Mississippi State University
MSU - Michigan State University
MSU - Montana State University
MSU - Moorhead State University

I probably missed 3 or 4 MSUs.

ASUMountaineer wrote:This is FBS, but perhaps someone knows. Why does the University of Kansas go by KU? Is it just because Kentucky beat them to the punch?

Similarly, University of Colorado has always been known as CU. Why? Not sure. Also, University of Northern Colorado is known as UNC, but posts have cited it as NCU. Maybe it would help if posters could take the trouble to type out full name of the school with the abbr. in parentheses after it on first mention, then use abbr. after that. Same with topic headings, esp. A lot depends on context: No use using full name if its already been established in an earlier post or topic heading. Also, some abbrv's need no explanation: ND (Notre Dame), USC (Univ. of Southern Cal.), etc.

danefan wrote:Didn't see the UNI vs. NIU mentioned.

UNI = Northern Iowa
NIU = Northern Illinois

Similarly, referring to it as "Northern Iowa University" is incorrect (just as saying, for instance, Southern California University).

MSU_77 wrote:Of course in Louisiana, you've got Nichols State University and Northwestern State University. I've seen them both referred to as NSU by their own fans.

And then there's:

MSU - McNeese State University
MSU - Mississippi State University
MSU - Michigan State University
MSU - Montana State University
MSU - Moorhead State University

I probably missed 3 or 4 MSUs.

* Missouri State University
* Metropolitan State University (in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota)
* Midwestern State University
* Minnesota State University, Mankato
* Minnesota State University Moorhead
* Minot State University
* Montclair State University
* Morehead State University
* Morgan State University
* Mountain State University
* Murray State University

JayJ79 wrote:

danefan wrote:Didn't see the UNI vs. NIU mentioned.

UNI = Northern Iowa
NIU = Northern Illinois

Similarly, referring to it as "Northern Iowa University" is incorrect (just as saying, for instance, Southern California University).

Also, they're in Cedar Falls, not Cedar Rapids...

USC can be Southern Cal and South Carolina

I've got one:

Georgia State = GStU or GState
Georgia Southern = GSU