From: johndoe@squid.inmet (johndoe)
Subject: Re: Biggest Rivalry in the Country?
Organization: Intermetrics, Inc.
	<1992Oct7.183013.5733@news2.cis.umn.edu>
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 23:57:44 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.183013.5733@news2.cis.umn.edu> milius@proton.med.umn.edu (Bob Milius (BMEC)) writes:
>What are the biggest, oldest, most intense rivalrys in the country and are
>they as intense to both teams?

being a semi-impartial observer ...

first of all, their are many schools for which the "biggest" rival will be
the bully of the conference.  for most of the wac, byu is probably
considered the biggest rivalry, though byu probably doesn't have a single
rival the same way.

in many other states, there are big rivalries between the state schools
(ore-ore st, ariz-ariz st, ole miss-miss st).  again, in many cases, this
may be more one-sided because one school is bigger or has more of a national
reputation, and is therefore the target of the other school (i would say
that colo-colo st, iowa-iowa st, wash-wash st, okla-okla st would all fall
into this category, with the st schools being the also rans in each case.)

narrowing down the biggest rivalries in the country to those having
implications for both schools in the national rankings leaves us with a lot
fewer to consider.

i would guess that many rivalries depend on which side the rivalry comes
from.  you spoke of the Tenn-Ala rivalry, but i would guess that Ala fans
feel that they have a bigger rivalry with Auburn than Tenn.  and i would
guess that many rivalries exist this way.  (colo would consider neb their
biggest rival, but neb would consider okla their biggest rival, while okla
probably can't decide whether neb or tex is their biggest rival;  tex may
consider either okla or tex a&m as their biggest rival, while tex a&m has no
other rival to compare to tex; wash may consider usc to be their biggest
rival, tho usc probably considers notre dame or ucla as their biggest rival;
same is probably true between mia-fla st, fla st-fla, ga-fla)

for mutual consideration and national exposure, i would say the following
are the biggest rivalries in the country in college football (in
alphabetical order):

ala-auburn (the biggest of the state school rivalries)
cal-stanford (the game; history of the zaniest endings)
fla st-mia (always seems to have nat'l champ implications recently)
harvard-yale (okay, this is THE GAME; battle of egghead schools)
mich-oh st (*the* classic border war; battle of big10 titans)
neb-okla (perennial contenders, twice since 70 have met twice to decide things)
notre dame-so.cal (classic end of the season contrast in styles)

honorable mention

fla-ga	(border war played on neutral turf; recently, fla has probably been
	 giving more attention to their rivalry with fla st.)
mich-notre dame (always a big game early in the season, and each of these
		 two has a big late season rivalry)
okla-tex (another classic border war on neutral turf; history of upsets;
	 recent slumps for both schools take shine off of this bruhaha)

local rivalries that gain national attention

army-navy (less talent but perhaps more enthusiasm than any other rivalry)
kan-kan st (until recently, often a battle of near winless schools)
penn st-pitt (pitt's program recently has clouded the scale of this rivalry)
so.cal-ucla (so.cal's rivalry w/ notre dame overshadows this intense rivarly)
tex-tex a&m (always a big tilt; now only swc game of import with ark gone)

one-way rivalries of note:

colo->neb (always a nemesis; lately a stepping stone to nat'l prominence)
iowa->mich (beating mich usually means rose bowl for the hawkeyes)
af->army & af->navy (still big rivalries the other way, but af consistently
		    better and still doesn't get attention of army-navy game)
af->notre dame, army->notre dame & navy->notre dame (storied rivalries, esp.
	army; a notre dame loss is nat'l news, and makes the acad's season)
pac10->usc (usc still gets automatic recognition, good or bad, while other
	   pac10 schools have to fight hard for it)
wac->byu (same story; byu hasn't won wac as often recently, but is still
	 considered premier wac school elsewhere by default)

>-bob
>-- 
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Bob Milius                                        milius@lenti.med.umn.edu

-johndoe