Ah, that BCS talk got me into the football kind of mood. I’ve been absent from the forum for awhile so I’m gonna start back with sports talk rather than apologetics. Big jump eh? So what teams play the “greatest rivalry”? Well I’m partial to two. I currently attend Florida State University, so I’d have to say Florida State/Florida is pretty big. Of late, with exception to this year, it’s a game that has a HUGE effect on the outcome of the national champions. My poor Noles just couldn’t quite do it this year. So, when it comes to championship implications, FSU/UF is one of the biggest. But despite me attending FSU, I still firmly believe that the GREATEST rivalry is, of course, Auburn vs. Alabama. Yes I’m from the state of Alabama, yes I’m an Auburn fan…I’m a little bias, eh? But I’ve got a one up on all other rivalries. The Iron Bowl is the ONLY game in college football that is required by law to be played. I apologize if this isn’t considered a ‘great debate’…moderator feel free to place it elsewhere if you think necessary, but football has a place in intellectual debate, I think.
This probably goes into IMHO. Still, it’s fun to talk about. Auburn vs. Bama is certainly way up there, I agree.
Other rivalries to consider:
Michigan vs. Ohio State – the litmus test for all OSU coaches. If they can beat Michigan, they can do no wrong.
Texas vs. Oklahoma – Played every year in the Cotton Bowl. Has been very big nationally in recent years after a lull during the 90s. Both teams have tons of history.
I second Phil’s nomination for the Iron Bowl as the greatest rivalry. Like you, I may be biased as I am an Auburn alum, but I can think of no other game that polarizes a state as much as this one does. Businesses close because of this game. Though Florida and Florida State is big, it is not uncommon for the Iron Bowl to have championship ramifications as well (Alabama has just been in a slump the past couple of years). Also, this game always has SEC championship ramifications. Which, if you are a true southerner, is all you care about anyway. The ACC? Don’t talk to me about the damn ACC. Georgia Tech can’t even sell out its mesley 41,000 seat stadium. Pro? Who? The freakin’ Falcons? Please.
Nope, the SEC is the only game in town for this region of the country, and the Iron Bowl is its most heated rivalry. There may be some rivalries in the Big 12 that come close to the cocnsistent quality of play, but I can’t think of a single game anywhere that is same state, same conference, and is usually played by two top 25 ranked teams.
-Beeblebrox, who dearly wishes he could forget last Saturday.
Michigan vs. Michigan State is HUGE here. I go to MSU, and I’ve never been on another campus where bumper stickers and shirts like “Have you kicked a Wolverine today?” or “Osama bin Laden is from Ann Arbor” are seen.
Go Spartans!
I attend Ohio State University, so I think our rivalry with… you know, that “School” Up North is the biggest in college football.
I’d put Texas-Texas A&M as my #2 choice. Even when the game doesn’t really have title implications, which isn’t very often, it’s still heated as all hell.
Quix
Quix, I’d probably agree with you if it weren’t for the fact that your rivalry insn’t in the same state. I mean, in general folks who live in Michigan will favor UM and folks in Ohio will favor OSU. In Alabama we are forced to decide on our Iron Bowl affiliation very early. I was wearing Tiger apparel and spitting on Tide fans by the time I was 2. Families are split (my brother and his wife are Auburn alum…my sister and her husband attended U of A) and for 364 days you either live in misery around your rival peers or literally give them hell. I get total misery for awhile. And thanks for beating the Wolverines. I’m not a big Michigan fan myself (my roommate is) and I at least got to laugh in someone’s face. Oh, and to add on to the law that requires Alabama and Auburn to play, there is also a law that requires representitives from both schools (SGA presidents and what not) to meet and discuss good sportsmanship and means to avoid the typical rowdy events that occur with the coming of the game.
Army-Navy gets my vote.
In the non-competitive category, how about Harvard-Yale?
And being from the Northeast, I was astonished to see how seriously people take football in the mid-west. I was in Columbus for and OSU-Michigan game and, my god, the people there are completely nuts.
The big game. Cal vs. Stanford it’s a great rivalry. Played every year since 1892 except for a few years in WWII and some around 1915 for goofy legal resons. It has great plays like the Stanford band coming out on the field early at the end of the game allowing Cal to score and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. All of the other rivalries mentioned only have importance in national standings and traditional football powerhouse schools involved.
Cal-Stanford prefers “Big Game” with no “the” in front of it. At least that’s how it was when I was at Berkeley. It’s quite nasty. Those people really dislike each other. Much more so than the USC-UCLA rivalry.
I don’t think anybody on the West Coast can match rivalries like they have in the South or in Texas. We’re just not as passionate out here.
Every body has their own most-important-game-in-history football game with an inappropriate level of undergraduate enthusiasm and minor vandalism. Out here in the sticks the internecine war between Wartburg College and Luther College for the Redemption by Grace Cup is a big deal.
On the national level, as a pure exercise in real amateur, not a couple farm teams for the NFL, scholastic athletics you can’t beat Army-Navy.
I would say it is Army/Navy hands down. However, since both programs have been down lately, I’ll mention a few others.
Auburn vs. Alabama is fierce as hell. I would say its the best instate rivalry over Florida vs. Florida St, Oregon vs. Oregon St, and Texas vs. Texas A&M.
Texas vs. Oklahoma may be the most unique game. Each team travels 3 hours to play at the state fair of Texas. The stadium is divided in half. These teams absolutely hate each other. Darrel Royal was an assistant under Bud Wilkerson and later had to face off against him. Then Royal facing Barry Switzer and all the spying and cheating Oklahoma did. Now both programs are back on top and it looks to be a match up of top 5 programs.
BTW ESPN is conducting a poll of this right now and it is Army/Navy vs. Texas/Texas A&M in the finals.
TexasSpur
Thanks for the Iron Bowl support. That ESPN poll was a great idea, I do cry foul play though. Would you believe that they had Alabama/Auburn pitted against Oklahoma/Nebraska on the very week that OU and Nebraska played. That’s not very fair. I’ll make a comment about those California rivalries that gazpacho mentioned. The difference with CA teams is that you have so many to choose from. I could be a UCLA, USC, Cal, or Stanford fan. The general view of the public has to be split four ways. In other states it boils down to only two real football powers. South Carolina and Clemson, Georgia and GT, Virginia and VT, Ole Miss and Miss State, Michigan and Michigan State, Texas and A&M (this not as much as the others). With only two major teams in your state to choose from, the actual state becomes all that more active when those two match up. I do agree that we’ll all think that each of our favorite rivalries will be the ‘greatest’…but hey, it is fun to talk about.
Yea, the timing of the ESPN Poll kind of sucked. Any poll where Texas/Texas A&M gets farther than Texas/OU is bullshit. Texas vs. its trailer trash cousin is a much bigger game than Texas vs. its weird little brother.
As a student at OU, I agree that Oklahoma v. Texas is way up there. But…
I think next year, the game against Oklahoma State (the other OSU) will be mighty heated. Norman is still in shock over their miraculous defeat of us over the Thanksgiving weekend. Next year will be payback. Bigtime.
Not that I really care.
GO HOGS!
Oreo
Hogs? Arkansas? Say it ain’t so. I can’t have a razorback posting here. Kidding, of course…but I haven’t been too happy with the Razorbacks since, you know, they beat Auburn. Who is their biggest rival (assuming that you are an Arky fan and I’m not confusing you with some other Hog)?
Sooooooieeeeee Pig!
Yep, Arkansas is my team. My parents both went to UA, so I was pretty much doomed from birth. Hog hats are fun, though!
While I’m from Utah, where BYU-Utah gets really intense some years, I’d have to say without a doubt it’s Army-Navy, if just for the long-standing tradition of it.
Ms State-Ole Miss
Talk about statewide polarization. It was decades before people grew up enough to be able to play the games on campus and behave rather than “neutral” Jackson.
Of course, I am biased.
This year’s Florida-Florida State game wasn’t all that good. But the post-game has been great. UF Coach Steve “would you like some cheese with that whine” Spurrier accusing Good Ole Boy (FSU Coach for life) Bobby Bowden of encouraging his players to play dirty. Bobby “oh shucks” Bowden claiming its just boys playin’ football. The Athletic Director at FSU saying Spurrier should be ‘spanked and sent to bed, then maybe he’ll wake up all grown up’ (paraphrase).
I tell ya’ its been good this year.
More evidence of a “good” rivalry here - both schools have distinctive arm gestures that are really impressive when done simultaneously by thousands of fans: the UF ‘gator chomp’ (arms stiff, open and close like a gator mouth), and the FSU’s (politically incorrect) ‘tomahawk chop.’
Me, I just want to see a good football game - which UF / Tennessee should be this Saturday night - BCS championship implications.
Cal-Stanford? Are you kidding me? Cal fans get ferocious, but that’s cause they can’t stand losing to Smug-Stanford™ every year by a mile. It’s never a good game, and it seems that Stanford students don’t give a fuck about it since they know they’ll win every time. It’s just another excuse to get drunk.
A lot of friends at Texas, Texas/OU gets my vote.
Pretty much all of my family is from Arkansas, so Arkansas/Texas gets my second vote.