Quantifying Little Brother
“If thy brother wrongs thee, remember not so much his wrong-doing, but more than ever that he is thy brother.” - Epictetus
“I so desperately wanted to be Mr. Somebody. Instead, I was the little brother.” - Charlie Sheen
Instate rivalries are part of what makes college football great. They pit neighbor against neighbor. Coworker against coworker. Bragging rights are on the line. Family dinners get heated.
There are 22 states with at least two Power Five teams. In terms of the football, one of the instate brothers has the better head-to-head record, bigger stadium, more trophies. But rivalries are about more than just football. Institutions, as wholes, have different missions, cultures, prestige. These things matter, too, and shape the way the fanbases view and feel about one another. One school may be the football powerhouse, one the academic star. One may clearly be both, in which case arises a pronounced big brother-little brother dynamic.
I’ve created a Little Brother Index (LBI) for the biggest two programs in each of these 22 states that simply sums (a) the all-time head-to-head win differential and (b) difference in 2022-23 U.S. News College Rankings. This crude measure captures both the straightforward football subjugation suffered by one instate brother but also the more intangible academic inferiority that is a key part of being a little brother program.
In some cases, there is balance in the rivalry. Vanderbilt does not hate Tennessee because Tennessee has 45 more wins than losses against them. Vanderbilt sleeps well at night knowing it is the far superior academic institution, comfortably 112 spots ahead of Tennessee in the U.S. News rankings. In other cases there is not balance. And over time and generations this imbalance may pervert the minds of the fans of the lesser school, creating an unhealthy obsession with their foe. A true little brother mindset.
Table 1. Little Brother Index
*Notes: “Δ Academy” is the difference between little and big brothers in 2022-23 U.S. News College Rankings. “Δ Football” is the all-time win-loss differential. A positive value implies the big brother has a higher U.S. News ranking and more wins. A negative value implies the little brother is ahead in that area. “LBI” is simply the sum of the first two metrics. In states with more than two Power Five teams, only the two with the most all-time football wins are included.
October 18th, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
LOL Cougars!
I find it interesting that every [State name] school is ahead of every [State name] State school.
October 18th, 2022 at 3:32 PM ^
Washington State: the biggest little brother
October 18th, 2022 at 5:26 PM ^
I think this is even more true because of the geography. These two schools share a state but UW is in the heart of Seattle, one of the country's largest, most cosmopolitan cities, very Left Coast and one of the major tech-hubs. Pullman, meanwhile, in SE Washington near Idaho is separated from Seattle by the Cascade range, and then 180 miles of wheat. I don't really know if there are a pair of schools with a mutual primary rivalry that are quite as different as UW and Wazzu.
October 19th, 2022 at 2:51 AM ^
Don't forget the potatoes! (On I-90, between Spokane and Seattle, you can see a sign welcoming you to Grant County, "The Nation's Leading Potato Producing County.")
The other thing about Washington State is that Seattle is full of Cougars, because unless you're going to work on the farm, where else are you going? It's as if every job in the state of Michigan were in Ann Arbor.
There was an old Sports Illustrated article -- maybe around the '98 Rose Bowl? -- that referred to Pullman as "suburban Idaho" and, well, mic drop.
October 21st, 2022 at 12:11 PM ^
I was just in Seattle and can confirm I saw many women walking around who resembled this woman:
October 18th, 2022 at 3:46 PM ^
Not historically unsurprising. In most states, University of _____ is older than _____ State, where both exist. Additionally, _____ State universities were very often Morrill Act land grant colleges that were originally geared more toward being professional schools, while the University of _____ schools had the more purely academic/research focus.
OSU vs. OU is sort of the exception that proves the rule (OU is older but obviously little brother in both sports and academics), but I think that is more to do with OU being located in the boonies while OSU is in the state capital.
October 18th, 2022 at 11:21 PM ^
Your analysis seems eminently right.
October 23rd, 2022 at 7:08 PM ^
Universities Of (State) were generally created out of a desire to support higher learning. (State) State universities were created generally because they had to be because Lincoln commanded States to set aside property for universities as land grant universities.
Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota, Auburn, Wisconsin do not fall into this pattern amongst other. But a lot of them.
October 18th, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
I think this passes the eye test with 2 glaring exceptions. No way does Tennessee or Penn State ever see themselves as little brothers or less than Vandy or Pitt. Academics mean a lot, but not enough to overcome the feelings of superiority a winning football team can instill in a fanbase.
October 18th, 2022 at 2:22 PM ^
True, but having attended one of the two institutions with the higher academic standing here, I assure you that they have zero inferiority complex regarding the school with the better football program.
Little bro is a MINDSET.
October 18th, 2022 at 3:09 PM ^
Vandy law grad here. Can confirm that there is no inferiority complex regarding Tennessee.
October 18th, 2022 at 3:49 PM ^
The academic delta makes a big difference there. PSU and Pitt are pretty close on the chart above academically. Tennessee and Vanderbilt - not so much.
October 19th, 2022 at 10:19 AM ^
Academically, Vandy (#13 in UWNWR) is one of the nation's elites. Tennessee (#115) is an mid-tier (top half, at least) SEC school. A very good school academically, but it's no Vandy.
October 19th, 2022 at 12:56 PM ^
I do not see Ohio St vs Ohio U.
October 19th, 2022 at 5:22 PM ^
Goddam Bucknuts and LSU the only Power Five teams in crazy talent-rich states
October 19th, 2022 at 9:27 PM ^
Big 10 could add Tulane and fix that. :)
Should be a measure of LSU-Tulane in the lil bro index above. (The ole wheelbarrow rivalry)
October 18th, 2022 at 1:16 PM ^
Thanks, Magnum. I did something like this many years ago:
October 18th, 2022 at 5:53 PM ^
US News rankings are trash. You expect me to believe that BYU, which literally has a history department devoted to validating the historicity of the Book of Mormon. BYU doesn't even have a medical school which means they're lacking an enormous biomedical research facet. Of course, for those of us old enough to remember, both of those schools foolishly said they had achieved "cold" fusion in a test-tube in 1989 and became laughing stocks internationally.
October 19th, 2022 at 11:15 AM ^
Fuck BYU. Go Utes
October 20th, 2022 at 1:04 AM ^
Seconded
October 19th, 2022 at 12:43 PM ^
US News rankings are really ranking undergraduate schools. The Times rankings are more about prestige/reputation, which is driven by graduate programs. Neither quite captures the differences between schools as seen in the states in which the schools and most of their alumni are located.
October 18th, 2022 at 1:16 PM ^
Pitt is ranked #62, Penn State is #77; I think your list may actually reflect the reverse.
October 18th, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
Which makes Penn State the little brother. LOL!!!
October 18th, 2022 at 1:34 PM ^
Great catch! Fixed
October 18th, 2022 at 1:47 PM ^
Spartys have used the fact that they've won more often than not against Michigan over the past 15 years as proof that they are no longer "Little Brother."
In addition to the fact that football was invented more than 15 years ago, you have the fact that, as far as I'm concerned, "Little Brother" is just as much about a certain mentality of inferiority and defensiveness as it is about wins and losses on the football field.
When you point out that the primary reason they want to MSU (and became an MSU fan) instead of Michigan was that they were admitted to MSU and not to Michigan...it makes them very angry.
October 18th, 2022 at 1:52 PM ^
In a vacuum, why wouldn't any Michigander choose to be a fan of the school that is superior in academics and athletics?
Because, like you said, it's not a choice for most Sparties.
Sparty fandom is quite tragic for that reason. Try to have some sympathy...
October 18th, 2022 at 3:07 PM ^
It's difficult to have any sympathy when they've been yapping their traps over the past 15 years.
Not to mention still bringing up the punt at every opportunity.
And also yucking it up over Harbaugh up until last year.
And all they focus on now is the fact that Tucker is 2-0 against Harbaugh. Never mind that, by any objective measure, Michigan has been the more successful program in Harbaugh's eight years as HC.
October 18th, 2022 at 6:12 PM ^
Try to have some sympathy
I used to.
Until the unhinged assholery on their part of the past few years. Now... fuck 'em. Fuck Staee.
October 19th, 2022 at 1:12 PM ^
Yeah Fuck em. No sympathy here.
October 18th, 2022 at 6:16 PM ^
What I find crazy is while Staee has won 10 out of the last 15, the overall record is a laughable (against them) 71–38–5.
Like, okay, RR, Hoke, and JH are your bitch. But way to make a dent in that .348 winning percentage sparty!
October 18th, 2022 at 3:33 PM ^
Enjoying PSU and Bama being categorized as little bros.
October 18th, 2022 at 4:01 PM ^
One change I might make is to use IU rather than ND when making the little/big brother comparison for the state of Indiana. Because the hell with Notre Dame.
Otherwise +1 (Informative)
October 19th, 2022 at 10:25 AM ^
Agree on IU vs PU. That's the real comparison.
PU and IU have played 123 times for the Old Oaken Bucket.
PU and ND have played 87 times.
Even PU and Illinois have played more times (97) than PU and ND.
October 18th, 2022 at 4:42 PM ^
Interesting that there seems to be a correlation between academic and football success.
October 22nd, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
Not really. In many cases the longer-established school will have a longer-term established reputation, as well as more, wealthier alumni to draw support from, help with recruiting, etc.
I'd suspect that many of the Little Brother schools didn't really upgrade till WW2 or after.
October 18th, 2022 at 5:30 PM ^
Surprised that Georgia and gt are only 5 spots different academically
October 18th, 2022 at 6:10 PM ^
Delta academy and delta football are fine data points to be sure. But I think the algorithm is missing an asshole quotient.
That would shoot Staee to the top of being the littlest of the lil bros for sure.
October 18th, 2022 at 6:45 PM ^
Looking at a couple of the comments regarding US News being garbage and how far back this should look, out of curiosity I did a few of these based on last 50 years and % difference of entering SAT scores (as an easy, while debatable, proxy for undergrad student body).
BB LB. Game SAT Total
Wash - WSU. 20 19 39
Mich - MSU 14 19 33
UNC - NCSU. 4 4 8
Bama - Aub 8 -4 4
UVa - VT -19 11 -8
Top two here pretty consistent with the above. UNC, NC State pretty close in football over last few decades. Virginia has struggled to beat Tech in football, and thank you for Oluwatimi.
October 18th, 2022 at 7:41 PM ^
The little brother thing never made sense to me as an insult. Brothers grow up and then you're all adults, calling someone your little brother sounds to me like almost an almost a direct statement that you won't be better than them forever.
October 22nd, 2022 at 1:02 PM ^
You must either be the youngest, or you've got some awesome brothers. I have seven brothers. The youngest has the worst inferiority complex, even in his forties and with two college degrees. The second youngest was a senior design engineer at Intel for a few decades before retiring, owns a few patents and authored a book and STILL is defensive when he's around his older brothers. Adulthood is no guarantee of parity.
October 18th, 2022 at 8:25 PM ^
I'd be willing to bet that anybody connected with Alabama would laugh their asses off at the notion that they're "Little Brother" to Auburn. Alabama has dominated the series since Bear Bryant came to Tuscaloosa in 1958, and Saban has gone 10-5 against Auburn during his tenure. Alabama has won 20 national championships, while Auburn has won just one. I don't think that the difference in their academic standing is nearly enough to erase the football results.
Not to mention that Alabama is the older institution, having been started in 1820, while Auburn was started in 1856.
October 18th, 2022 at 9:32 PM ^
I would say (in my expert scientific opinion) that a LBI of less than 50 is negligible, and the teams are on fairly equal terms.
October 20th, 2022 at 9:21 PM ^
Would be curious to see how Berkeley and Stanford shake out.
Would presume Stanford the big bro, but by what differential?
October 21st, 2022 at 9:00 AM ^
Stanford's ahead of Cal 17 spots in the U.S. News rankings and has 10 more wins in the football head-to-head (LBI = 27)
October 21st, 2022 at 3:57 PM ^
Georgia Tech only being ranked 5 spots higher academically than UGA seems...not correct
October 24th, 2022 at 5:43 AM ^
It took two community colleges and three universities for me to get my BA but I did get my JD from UM Law (98) and I can confirm college rankings are just for fun. I had great professors at KVCC and Western Michigan and crappy ones at UM Law. And vice versa. I am convinced all schools are good schools unless it is in Ypsilanti - you can get a great education anywhere it has to come from within though.
Comments