# Most ridiculous "directional schools" in college sports **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 4, 2020, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190 "2020-12-04T09:08:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/61 "2020-12-05T19:11:53Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > The interesting thing about Northwestern University–other than the fact that Illinois hasn’t been considered part of the Northwest since the Civil War–is that it’s one of the few _national directionals_ . The only other ones that I can think of are Northeastern University in Massachusetts and Southern University in Louisiana. University of Texas at El Paso used to be Texas Western, and University of Nevada at Las Vegas used to be Southern Nevada (which is why their mascot is the Runnin’ Rebels). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/62 "2020-12-05T19:24:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > 185 years later not so much. Then again, the USA still has an electoral college and the penny. We’re actually not much good at this “making progress” thing. Geographical names often are subject to anomalies if you take their literal meaning. “Making progress” doesn’t necessarily mean renaming regions just for the sake of geographical precision. The Midwest is the Midwest. There’s no real reason to get annoyed about its name and its relative relationship to “west” in a literal sense. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/63 "2020-12-05T19:29:48Z")
Agreed. It’s a faux peeve carried over from childhood. Childhood being a time when your worldview is highly conditioned by where you happen to live and what year it happens to be. Had I been age 7 in Boston rather than SoCal the idea that Ohio was called the Midwest would have seemed pretty sensible, given how very far west it was from my house. As you say, renaming the Midwest now would be silly. The name is the name because that’s what folks named it. Nothing more to be seen here. Understanding _how_ the name came to be isn’t essential but can be useful. Many of us still “dial” our phones or “hang up” when we’re done talking on them. The fact children learning to phone need to have these quaint terms explained to them is nothing more than that: quaint. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/64 "2020-12-05T19:39:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > It didn’t leave “the West”. The West left it. You got it in one. **LSL** , how did you get so smart? 😏 > [@Railer13](#): > > OK, I’m done with my hijack rant. Carry on. This. For me, the midwest can never start east of the Mississippi. It stops east of the Rockies. And yes, I learned and accept all the historical context of why. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/65 "2020-12-05T19:45:03Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > For me, the midwest can never start east of the Mississippi. It stops east of the Rockies. And yes, I learned and accept all the historical context of why. This. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/66 "2020-12-05T21:47:42Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Not college sports related, but speaking of overly elaborate directional regions, I live in a region often referred to by local broadcasters as “southeastern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina” Do you live in the Sandhills, or the Cape Fear River basin? Because that’s another geographically distinct region of North Carolina. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/67 "2020-12-05T22:09:12Z")
Cape Fear. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/68 "2020-12-06T02:25:00Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > As a native Californian, “the West” pretty well ends at the Colorado river. Most of us will give NV & AZ honorary status as “west”. But only honorary. I was once informed that people from the West are mountain snobs, calling the Appalachian range glorified hills because they lack snow in August. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/69 "2020-12-06T03:27:56Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > I do think the University of South Florida is poorly named, as it was founded in Tampa, which is in west-central Florida. It would have been South of the two major Universities, but isn’t really in South Florida. But when it was founded, as I understand it, there was nothing further south full-fledged-university-wise in the state. So it was a failure of imagination about the chances of any nucleus of higher intellectual achievement developing in what most of us call South Florida. …or maybe it wasn’t… ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/70 "2020-12-06T03:49:08Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I was once informed that people from the West are mountain snobs, calling the Appalachian range glorified hills because they lack snow in August. They’re hills because they’re hills. Satsop Hills in my state of Washington get over 2,000’ in elevation for example, while there are “mountains” in Appalachia less than 500’ tall. It’s less a matter of snobbery and more a matter of perspective. It’s like calling someone from a tropical region a “snob” if they call a summer day in a temperate region cool; to them it is. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/71 "2020-12-06T07:03:00Z")
I assume you mean in the state university system. University of Miami was already there, but is a private college. But with that caveat, you might be right. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/72 "2020-12-06T12:43:34Z")
The University of Western Ontario (“Western”) is in south-western Ontario (Canada). There’s a lot of Ontario territory further west of it - but much further north. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/73 "2020-12-06T20:01:25Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > > [@Akaj](#): > > > > I always thought that was because they dominated the early Rose Bowl games played in Pasadena, but I could be wrong. > > No, Hail to the Victors was written in 1898, before even the first Rose Bowl was played. It refers to Michigan being the champion of the Western Conference, as the Big Ten was known in its early days before it had ten teams. In the Nineteenth Century college football landscape, anything east of the Ivy League was “the west”. Well that’s the 3rd time this thread I’ve had my ignorance exposed and fought, so I’ll just be over her in the corner lurking. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/74 "2020-12-07T02:15:08Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > For me, the midwest can never start east of the Mississippi. It stops east of the Rockies. And yes, I learned and accept all the historical context of why. I can’t parse how these sentences fit together. Do you or do you not accept that the region called the “Midwest” includes Ohio at its eastern extent? ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/75 "2020-12-07T02:34:24Z")
Sure. Thank you for asking. The Midwest starts at the Mississippi River, westward through Iowa and Nebraska to the foothills of the Rockies. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois are the Mideast, as I used to say before that label started to mean a whole different troubled part of the world. So, for me, the Mississippi is the easternmost edge of the Midwest. ---
**Author:** ![stuccosuperstar2020](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@stuccosuperstar2020](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuccosuperstar2020)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/76 "2020-12-07T03:30:34Z")
West Texas A&M used to be West Texas State, famous for producing several famous pro wrestlers from their football program including Tully Blanchard, Dusty Rhodes, Terry Funk, “Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase, Bobby Duncum, Tito Santana, Barry Windham, Bruiser Brody, Dory Funk Jr, Stan Hansen and others. As for the “point” of the OP, there was really none. I was just trying to create conversation. My basketball comment was meant to be facetious. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/77 "2020-12-07T03:31:32Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > The interesting thing about Northwestern University–other than the fact that Illinois hasn’t been considered part of the Northwest since the Civil War–is that it’s one of the few _national directionals_ . The only other ones that I can think of are Northeastern University in Massachusetts and Southern University in Louisiana. I’m not sure how Northeastern made your list and Southern California didn’t. One is a national academic and athletic university and the other isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/78 "2020-12-07T04:13:40Z")
What’s weird is that it’s squarely in the Panhandle, just a few miles south of Amarillo, not out in West Texas like say… Sul Ross State in Alpine, or Angelo State in San Angelo. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/79 "2020-12-07T05:14:27Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > Ohio, Indiana, Illinois are the Mideast, That’s a fine, logical label that virtually no one uses because it’s not accurate. The Great Plains are between the Mississippi and the Rockies. They are almost always included as part of the Midwest, but any definition that excludes Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan is just not useful or descriptive. ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2020, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190/80 "2020-12-07T05:34:32Z")
> [@stuccosuperstar2020](#): > > Then there are are Carolina Three: East Carolina, West Carolina and Top 25 ranked COASTAL Carolina. [Coastal Carolina definitely earned their spot this weekend](https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30457460/coastal-carolina-stops-byu-1-final-play-seal-upset) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-ridiculous-directional-schools-in-college-sports/927190.md?page=5)