College Rivalries

[NYC Duke Fan]

In Football these are my choices in order :

1- Michigan - Ohio State

2- Harvard-Yale

3- Army- Navy

4- Texas-Oklahoma

5- Auburn-Alabama

6- South Carolina- Clemson

7- Stanford- Cal

8- Oregon- Oregon State

9- Florida- Georgia

10- USC- UCLA

In Basketball I can only come up Duke-UNC, maybe Kentucky- Louisville, Indiana- Illinois?, Kansas- Missouri ?

[mgtr]

In football, what about USC-Notre Dame? I realize that they are not close geographnically, but over the years there have been some fabulous games between them.
In basketball, I don't think any of the rivalries you list come close to Duke-UNC.

[DukieBoy]

i live in indiana and the iu-purdue rivalry is like no other here. it's either your an iu fan or your a purdue fan. duke doesn't exist in their world :)

[sagegrouse]

In Football these are my choices in order :

1- Michigan - Ohio State

2- Harvard-Yale

3- Army- Navy

4- Texas-Oklahoma

5- Auburn-Alabama

6- South Carolina- Clemson

7- Stanford- Cal

8- Oregon- Oregon State

9- Florida- Georgia

10- USC- UCLA

In Basketball I can only come up Duke-UNC, maybe Kentucky- Louisville, Indiana- Illinois?, Kansas- Missouri ?

Two others that are really intense are:

Texas - Texas A&M

Georgia - Georgia Tech

Basketball doesn't have eight decades of big games like football, plus home-and-home matches often result in a split decision (and conference tourneys and NCAAs, etc).

sagegrouse

[ugadevil]

To Florida fans, I think Florida State is a bigger rivalry than Georgia. Also, Miami/Florida State can be quite nasty. I'd put West Virginia/Pittsburgh as one of the more heated ones in football. It also seems like Texas/Texas A&M is a very unique rivalry. The two teams do their best to beat each other, but they always talk about the immense respect they have for each other.

[sagegrouse]

A few months ago, I visited a company in a small South Carolina town. One of the workers had three plastic bags tacked to the wall above his desk. Inside each was the charred remains of a Clemson cap, which was the resolution of an annual bet with a co-worker (who had burned Gamecock hats near his desk).

With football, one and only one game per year (exc. for conference playoffs) does give the winner bragging rights for 12 months. That seems like an important aspect of a rivalry.

sagegrouse

[ugadevil]

No love for the basketball rivalries in the Big East? Georgetown/Syracuse? UConn/Syracuse?

[Son of Mojo]

My ex-boss was a South Carolina fan but I saw him wear a Clemson hat more often than any other. I had to call him out on it to where he said it was state pride. Now he lives in Charleston but that baffled me. It's like those truly sick people I've seen who will wear both Duke & unc clothing. How can one do that????

[Edouble]

In Football these are my choices in order :

1- Michigan - Ohio State

2- Harvard-Yale

3- Army- Navy

4- Texas-Oklahoma

5- Auburn-Alabama

6- South Carolina- Clemson

7- Stanford- Cal

8- Oregon- Oregon State

9- Florida- Georgia

10- USC- UCLA

In Basketball I can only come up Duke-UNC, maybe Kentucky- Louisville, Indiana- Illinois?, Kansas- Missouri ?

Did you go to Harvard or something? I can't justify putting Harvard-Yale at #2. I think I'd put UF-FSU #2, but it didn't make your list. That's a huge one in Florida, and until lately, always had major national implications.

As far as basketball goes:

Duke-Kentucky
UNC-NCState
Georgetown-Syracuse
Georgetown-Villanova
Michigan-Indiana
Oklahoma-Oklahoma St.

and Kansas-Mizzou needs no question mark!

[Wander]

The way SEC schools have their lovefest with each other during bowl season over their retarded conference pride, I don't think Florida-Georgia should be in the Top 10.

Also, the Big Five in Philadelphia for basketball.

[MHTorringjan]

I don't think I saw anybody mention the Michigan/MSU rivalry in basketball, which is pretty big (although, granted, nowhere near the Duke/UNC). I personally would argue that UCLA/USC rivalry is also very big on the hardwood, even though USC hasn't been able to effectively compete in recent history.

Anyway, that's about all that comes to mind, since I know very little about college football. Other than I'm looking forward to a football season for the first time since Roof's first year as head coach. :-\

M.H.

[Ggallagher]

I think how you answer this depends on your perspective. Since graduating from Duke (37 years ago) I've spent much of my career living in Texas, Alabama and Ohio.
So I've experienced the way that Texas and Texas A&M, and Michigan-Ohio State games consume the activities of the states' residents. And while these games are certainly intense, at least when viewed from INSIDE the state, there is really nothing that compares to the Alabama-Auburn rivalry. There's no place else that I've lived where people can use the phrase "the game", and there's absolutely no doubt as to what "the game" is - it means the Alabama-Auburn football game and it does not matter what time of the year it is when the phrase is used. "The game" is THE GAME.
I'd argue that the degree to which "the game" just totally infiltrates everything that goes on in the state, it's really a more intense and widely experienced rivarly than a Duke-UNC basketball game.

Glen

[rockymtn devil]

I think how you answer this depends on your perspective. Since graduating from Duke (37 years ago) I've spent much of my career living in Texas, Alabama and Ohio.
So I've experienced the way that Texas and Texas A&M, and Michigan-Ohio State games consume the activities of the states' residents. And while these games are certainly intense, at least when viewed from INSIDE the state, there is really nothing that compares to the Alabama-Auburn rivalry. There's no place else that I've lived where people can use the phrase "the game", and there's absolutely no doubt as to what "the game" is - it means the Alabama-Auburn football game and it does not matter what time of the year it is when the phrase is used. "The game" is THE GAME.
I'd argue that the degree to which "the game" just totally infiltrates everything that goes on in the state, it's really a more intense and widely experienced rivarly than a Duke-UNC basketball game.

Glen

I grew up in Columbus going to Buckeye games every weekend (parents are still season ticket holders and I make it to one game a year) but I also have a significant chunk of my family in Alabama who are Auburn fans. I've been to OSU-UM games in both stadiums and to the Iron Bowl at Auburn.

I don't disagree with your assessment at all. The Iron Bowl is an in-state rivalry. OSU-UM isn't, and so the fans are not around each other all the time. That does make a difference. But, historically speaking (and even to this day) the stakes are higher when the Buckeyes and Wolverines play and I think this tips the scales. At the turn of the century when ESPN did their SportsCentury feature, I believe OSU-Michigan was their top rivalry because its outcome shapes the national college football landscape more often than any other rivalry. When you add in the history of Woody and Bo (quick trivia question: how many national titles did Bo win?--feel free to include the ones he won at Ohio State), it makes for a great story. HBO did a wonderful documentary about the rivalry last fall, and I recommend it to anyone who's a fan of college football.

[ugadevil]

I think how you answer this depends on your perspective. Since graduating from Duke (37 years ago) I've spent much of my career living in Texas, Alabama and Ohio.
So I've experienced the way that Texas and Texas A&M, and Michigan-Ohio State games consume the activities of the states' residents. And while these games are certainly intense, at least when viewed from INSIDE the state, there is really nothing that compares to the Alabama-Auburn rivalry. There's no place else that I've lived where people can use the phrase "the game", and there's absolutely no doubt as to what "the game" is - it means the Alabama-Auburn football game and it does not matter what time of the year it is when the phrase is used. "The game" is THE GAME.
I'd argue that the degree to which "the game" just totally infiltrates everything that goes on in the state, it's really a more intense and widely experienced rivarly than a Duke-UNC basketball game.

Glen

The Alabama/Auburn rivalry is THE rivalry of the SEC. There are many other good ones, but that stands apart. The fact that there is no pro team in the state probably makes it even stronger. I've never seen fans with such dislike for each other.

Ole Miss/Mississippi State is another good rivalry. That one seems to go pretty deep at some self-perception issues those two schools have of each other.

[Edouble]

I think how you answer this depends on your perspective. Since graduating from Duke (37 years ago) I've spent much of my career living in Texas, Alabama and Ohio.
So I've experienced the way that Texas and Texas A&M, and Michigan-Ohio State games consume the activities of the states' residents. And while these games are certainly intense, at least when viewed from INSIDE the state, there is really nothing that compares to the Alabama-Auburn rivalry. There's no place else that I've lived where people can use the phrase "the game", and there's absolutely no doubt as to what "the game" is - it means the Alabama-Auburn football game and it does not matter what time of the year it is when the phrase is used. "The game" is THE GAME.
I'd argue that the degree to which "the game" just totally infiltrates everything that goes on in the state, it's really a more intense and widely experienced rivarly than a Duke-UNC basketball game.

Glen

Excellent points here.

I'd add that every state has at least one big rivalry that everyone cares about on a local level. In college, at Duke, I spent a weekend visiting my cousin at UVA and got into several heated arguments with a few different groups of students over which was the bigger rivalry: Duke vs. UNC or UVA vs. Virginia Tech. Keep in mind this was ten years ago when Virginia Tech was in the Atlantic 10. Everyone on UVA's campus that I spoke with was passionate about telling me how UVA/VATech was the bigger, more important rivalry, even in basketball.

I think that you'll find a heated rivalry in every state. As a native Atlantan, I can tell you that Ga Tech/UGA is a clear #1 in the state of Georgia. To me, the great rivalries become great when they are taken from the larger pool of local rivalries and they become important on the national level, like Michigan/Ohio State or Duke/UNC. I'm sure that UMass/B.C. or Washington/Washington St. are very important to their respective local communities, but because these teams do not compete for National Championships year in and year out, these rivalries can not compete with the big boys.

[Ggallagher]

I grew up in Columbus going to Buckeye games every weekend (parents are still season ticket holders and I make it to one game a year) but I also have a significant chunk of my family in Alabama who are Auburn fans. I've been to OSU-UM games in both stadiums and to the Iron Bowl at Auburn.

I don't disagree with your assessment at all. The Iron Bowl is an in-state rivalry. OSU-UM isn't, and so the fans are not around each other all the time. That does make a difference. .

I agree completely - from the historical, big-picture perspective, something like OSU-UM likely outweighs Auburn-Alabama for overall importance. I just wanted to pitch in the slightly different viewpoint of how the rivalries appear from within their respective states.

Having spent quite a few years in Texas, Ohio, Alabama - and North Carolina - it was a real eye opener for me when I finally got educated on "the game" in Alabama. I lived in North Carolina from 1960 until 1971, and kind of thought I knew what a rivalry was. About eight years later after spending time in both Ohio and Texas, I finally made it to Alabama, and was really in kind of disbelief for awhile until I appreciated how deeply felt the Alabama Auburn thing was.

So yep, when you speak from the national viewpoint, you'll get a different answer to this question, but when you measure the feelings just inside the respective states, I believe the picture's a little different.

Glen

[NYC Duke Fan]

I think how you answer this depends on your perspective. Since graduating from Duke (37 years ago) I've spent much of my career living in Texas, Alabama and Ohio.
So I've experienced the way that Texas and Texas A&M, and Michigan-Ohio State games consume the activities of the states' residents. And while these games are certainly intense, at least when viewed from INSIDE the state, there is really nothing that compares to the Alabama-Auburn rivalry. There's no place else that I've lived where people can use the phrase "the game", and there's absolutely no doubt as to what "the game" is - it means the Alabama-Auburn football game and it does not matter what time of the year it is when the phrase is used. "The game" is THE GAME.
I'd argue that the degree to which "the game" just totally infiltrates everything that goes on in the state, it's really a more intense and widely experienced rivarly than a Duke-UNC basketball game.

Glen

"The Game" actually refers to Stanford-Cal and possibly Harvard-Yale

[NYC Duke Fan]

Did you go to Harvard or something? I can't justify putting Harvard-Yale at #2. I think I'd put UF-FSU #2, but it didn't make your list. That's a huge one in Florida, and until lately, always had major national implications.

As far as basketball goes:

Duke-Kentucky
UNC-NCState
Georgetown-Syracuse
Georgetown-Villanova
Michigan-Indiana
Oklahoma-Oklahoma St.

and Kansas-Mizzou needs no question mark!

Actually am a Yale graduate. The reason that I put Harvard-Yale and Army-Navy so far up the list is that if Yale was 0-9 but beat Harvard the season would be considered a success. Same story with Army- Navy.

I doubt very much if Alabama was 0-10 but beat Auburn the fans would consider the season as a success.

[gvtucker]

Excellent points here.

I'd add that every state has at least one big rivalry that everyone cares about on a local level. In college, at Duke, I spent a weekend visiting my cousin at UVA and got into several heated arguments with a few different groups of students over which was the bigger rivalry: Duke vs. UNC or UVA vs. Virginia Tech. Keep in mind this was ten years ago when Virginia Tech was in the Atlantic 10. Everyone on UVA's campus that I spoke with was passionate about telling me how UVA/VATech was the bigger, more important rivalry, even in basketball.

I think that you'll find a heated rivalry in every state. As a native Atlantan, I can tell you that Ga Tech/UGA is a clear #1 in the state of Georgia. To me, the great rivalries become great when they are taken from the larger pool of local rivalries and they become important on the national level, like Michigan/Ohio State or Duke/UNC. I'm sure that UMass/B.C. or Washington/Washington St. are very important to their respective local communities, but because these teams do not compete for National Championships year in and year out, these rivalries can not compete with the big boys.

Actually, UMass/BC isn't even a rivalry in the state of Massachusetts. But yeah, the overall point is valid, and one that hasn't been mentioned yet is Oregon/Oregon St, aka The Civil War.

One very big in-state rivalry that also hasn't been mentioned is Kentucky/Louisville.

Since there's no in-state rival for West Virginia (no, Marshall doesn't count, at least for WVU folks), Pitt is a big rival.

[Edouble]

One very big in-state rivalry that also hasn't been mentioned is Kentucky/Louisville.

UK/Louisville was part of the original post.

[DukieBoy]

I just thought of another classic basketball rivalry: IU/Kentucky. It's not very big throughout the rest of the world, but in IU and Kentucky, it's a huge game. In fact, indiana's high school boys and girl's all star teams take on Kentucky's girls and boys teams every year (with indiana normally winning :))

[dpslaw]

How about Penn and Princeton in basketball? They even play on a differenct night--Tuesday--than other ivy league games, which are played on Fridays and Saturdays.

[Turk]

Since there's no in-state rival for West Virginia (no, Marshall doesn't count, at least for WVU folks), Pitt is a big rival.

The folks in West By God Virginia might think Pitt is a big rival, but I don't think it's reciprocated. Pitt-Penn State was a good football rivalry for a long time until Joe Pa chickened out and cancelled the series. I guess he'd rather play Akron or Bowling Green or Temple instead of Pitt....

And Lehigh - Lafayette is surprisingly nasty... They claim it's the longest running rivalry, so they count each one, e.g. "The 143rd Game"

[Uncle Drew]

1. St Mary's College for the Blind vs. Jesuit College of Lysdexia.

2. Fuquay Varina Technical Penal College vs. Altimahaw-Ossippee Opposum Culinary Institute.

3. Nifong Institute for the Chronic Liars vs. Duke University

[calltheobvious]

I doubt very much if Alabama was 0-10 but beat Auburn the fans would consider the season as a success.

Well, let me remove the doubt for you: after losing 6 in a row to Auburn, better than 90% of Bama fans, given a secret ballot, would vote for 1-11 with a win vs. Auburn over 11-1 and a loss to the Tigers. If this seems unbelievable, it shouldn't. Given that it comes on the final week of the reg. season, it would be roughly equivalent to Carolina beating Duke in a regional final, i.e. two wins short of the NC game.

[RelativeWays]

I'd love to see Memphis/Tennessee take it up a notch. The game last year was great. Kansas has strong conference rivalries with Texas and Oklahoma, and theres IU and Purdue

[blazindw]

My personal rivalries...

Football:
1. Michigan-Ohio Snake
2. Michigan-Ohio Snake
3. Michigan-Ohio Snake
4. Michigan-Michigan Snake
5. Texas-OU
6. Miami-FSU
7. Alabama-Auburn
8. Texas-Texas A&M
9.-1,000,000. Repeat numbers 1-3

Basketball:
1.-1,000,000. Duke-UNC
1,000,001. Michigan-Michigan Snake
1,000,002. Texas-Kansas

[weezie]

How about Penn and Princeton in basketball? They even play on a differenct night--Tuesday--than other ivy league games, which are played on Fridays and Saturdays.


Boy, that IS pretty "out there"!!!!:eek: