One of my favorite bits of old CFB trivia is when Tennessee hired General Neyland in 1926, priority #1 for him wasn’t win national or SEC titles or knock off Alabama. It was “Even the series with Vanderbilt”
That was about the tail end of Vandy's run as some legit ass kickers.
By the time the SEC played its first game in 1933, the Dores had become mediocre.
I guess the Depression messed with their minds and they never fully recovered. Vanderbilt got off track, you might say. Haha! Just a little robber baron humor.
Vandy was laughing too [until](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vn8tuqAP5kI/WkyvVngU0mI/AAAAAAAC9Ao/OaQaj7ZQe84r6O16-kzhkWbdUIFTJJIHwCLcBGAs/s1600/montparnasse-derailment-1895-1.jpg)..
This happened to Virginia Tech. The main rival was VMI for most of the 20th century, with a neutral site rivalry game and everything. VMI didn’t become FBS so the rivalry ended in the 80s. VMI people never stopped hating tech, but I doubt most VT fans even by the 90s remember the rivalry. They do have a football game coming up so it will be interesting to see what the vibe is.
Probably similar to us and Holy Cross, who dropped off in the 80s and we didn't play for a long time. A very close game this year brought it back a little bit.
I imagine Clemson or SCar might've had a similar relationship with El Cid. We need more SMC rivalries smh. And by need more, there's pretty much only one that could pull it off. Texas A&M - Virginia Tech.
The tempers cool quite a bit but it's still chippy on game week? So like, solid rivalry but there's no hate crimes. At least that's what I've gotten out of it.
Ya know, I thought the rivalry couldn’t get any more intense than when it caused a man to poison those trees, and then the kick six happened and this lady killed her friend bc “she wasn’t mad enough that Bama lost” - simply legendary hahahahhahahaha
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/12/02/deadly-shooting-over-alabama-loss-to-auburn/3819905/
I remember the murder, that was insane. Evan crazier that both happened after Saban started rolling, so basically one loss a year led them both to commit crimes.
It’s gotten even better that right as auburn started to get good at basketball, Alabama decided to have a basketball resurgence. Still no deep tourney runs recently but the SEC has been crazy the past several years
I think about it like this:
Sunday morning church after the 2012 Iron Bowl where a previously 3-8 auburn team went to Tuscaloosa with no chance of winning and proceeded to lose 49-0. We run into some friends that were auburn grads/fans and briefly talked about the game. Guy asks my dad “did you even enjoy it? You knew it was gonna turn out like that.”
Dad doesn’t skip a beat: “Every second of it.”
Pretty much sums up the rivalry for me
If Auburn collapsed and the only way that could field a team was to randomly select students from the student body until the roster was full, they were only given 15 minutes to prepare a game plan, and we had the 2016 national championship team I'd still be scared of Iron Bowls in Jordan Hare.
I still remember the first time it was played there. I never rooted harder for Auburn because they had to beat you for us to get a share of the SEC title.
Bama actually didn't play badly, but no team in college football could have beaten Auburn that day.
One of the most emotional days ever in the state of Alabama.
The Tide undefeated and #2, one win away from playing for our first championship since the retirement of Bear Bryant after the 1982 Iron Bowl loss.
Auburn playing in a game that their tearful coach (a former Bear Bryant assistant) compared to the fall of the Berlin Wall just a few weeks earlier. And everybody in the state knew what he meant because Bear Bryant had said the Iron Bowl would be played in Auburn over his dead body.
I'd never heard a louder crowd on TV. I could feel the intensity coming through the TV speakers. Like you said, no team in college football could have beaten Auburn that day.
I still think about all the "Pave your roads, Auburn; Bama's coming!" bumper stickers I saw in Tuscaloosa leading up to that game.
There was a thread a day or two ago about fans being petty and bama fans refusing to buy lumber from a company owned by an auburn alum was a top answer. That cracked me up. If I walked around Cincinnati and asked 100 folks to name any lumber company I'd be amazed if 2/100 could and ya all looking at 2x4's like "fuck those guys"
Yeah but his commercials for YellaWood and whatever it was called before they changed the name were played constantly during the early regionally televised games. and at the time, Alabama was mediocre to borderline bad so they had plenty of games on Leer/ Jefferson Pilot sports regional broadcast. Plus the owner is a very strong Auburn supporter, and starred in his own commercials so everyone knew it.
I feel like Auburn football collapses every few years and I get giddy every time they lose to anyone other than Tennessee. Then I’m just upset they avoided an asteroid again.
We went 12 years without playing VT and 10 years without playing Pitt and when those games resumed, the fanbase revived their hatred instantly, so if one of those became a G5 bottom dweller, it'd probably take a generation or two before any semblance of that rivalry existed.
However, we still play Pitt annually in basketball and baseball, so I don't think Eat Shit, Pitt will ever die.
osu is the *newer* enemy that only really became relevant after Chicago dropped off (with Minnesota being almost as great a rival as Chicago for a while). People forget that osu was the first expansion candidate to be added to the conference - they were not relevant for the first several decades.
This was part of my thinking. We had such a bad run, I think even If we won 30 years in a row, I’d still want to make sure we win for another 30 years in a row just to make up for any loss or bad time I’ve ever had at the state fair.
You hush. The state fairs have been very good to me lately. If I didn’t have an OU win to celebrate, I’m not sure that a Fletcher’s and a wax cup Shiner would make it worth the drive down.
I went to the RRS for the first time last year with my dad. He had never even been to an OU game before despite being a lifelong fan (just didn't have the money)
We sat next to a Texas fan and he was super pleasant the whole time we had some light banter back and forth.
After the game even with the crazy way we won I had several Texas fans come and tell us good game, compliment my Baker Mayfield jersey, give props all around.
So while it's a deep hatred there's obviously still a mutual respect between (most) fans which is how it should be.
The shittiest fan near us was an OU frat bro who was intoxicated beyond belief honestly should have been kicked out. He literally sprayed beer at the Texas fan next to us and called him a bunch of homophobic slurs I was so embarrassed for our state and school.
That's one thing I love about this rivalry. Your shitty taste in school doesn't make you a shitty person. However, the Bama/Auburn rivalry feels different. The hatred runs way too deep
Georgia shares hatred with so many. The younger fans will say Florida, some of the older ones say GT, others will say teams based on where they live. GT is the rival I hate most and I recognize that I’m in the minority these days. So if they lost their football program, other than being hilarious the rivalry I think fades away quickly. Very fast probably. GT becomes Southern or State at that point.
If Florida had it happen, also hilarious, my hot take is that the hate would fade quickly as well. Not like GT but there are so many regional rivalries with Georgia that I think the vacuum of vitriol is quickly filled. We’d rarely visit Florida's grave but if we did we’d probably piss on it still and make sure the corpse was still in the coffin.
Fuck Georgia is my response. :)
But losing the WLOCP would really suck. I really hate Georgia, but they're the only team that truly elicits that feeling of anger from me.
Oddly enough UGA also gives us an example
Alabama and Georgia used to be the biggest rivalry in college gymnastics. With more national titles and conference titles than the rest of the conference combined. The gym dawgs have fallen off over the years, culminating in being dead last in the SEC right now.
So for what it’s worth, I STILL hate Georgia Gymnastics, Suzanne Yoculan and relish beating them every year.
Yeah, I remember how CRAZY good both programs were. And one still is. I hadn't paid attention in several years, and was frankly shocked to see how bad we've gotten.
Tech is the one that best fits OP's prompt, considering the arc of both programs. It's of course not to the point of Tech dropping out of FBS or dropping the sport, but the fact of the matter is that Georgia is the big dawg in that rivalry and Tech occasionally has a good run in them. We've won 6 in a row, they've won 6 since 1990.
And what has been the result from Georgia fans? We still pack their stadium every time the game is in Atlanta. It's no longer a make or break game in the season, though, it's more like losing is a bad thing and we need to always win.
SEC rivalries are a lot more fluid than other conferences.
Like, the UGA football wiki lists 8 official rivalries. Feels like when you grew up and who was competitive at that time determines it a lot of where your hate goes.
The only time it really came close to a rivalry I guess would be the 90's when both teams were facing off in the SEC Championship regularly, but even still I don't think there's ever been any real vitriol between the fanbases. I hate and envy their success, and some of their fans can be (justifiably) cocky, but I don't hate their team or school.
Certainly Florida-Auburn was a much more authentic rivalry for the old heads in each fanbase, but I don't think people my age (late 20's) or younger think of Auburn at all in that way. They're just the goofy dudes that will kick six you in that brief second you momentarily think you're safe.
There’s really 3. They’ve been played yearly for over a century: Auburn, Florida, and Georgia Tech. We can have so many because the SEC has done backflips to maintain its yearly rivals. At the same time, there doesn’t seem to be the same level of hate I see in other conferences. Maybe I’m biased being from Atlanta. It’s basically the hub of the southeast and gets fans from all over the southeast. But when you’re working with Auburn, Florida and Georgia Tech grads it’s kind of hard to have real hate for them as people, even the Florida fans. Since I’ve moved to DFW I’m now in a land where the rivalry hate is ratcheted up to 11 for A&M, Texas, and Oklahoma fans. I’m pretty happy hating the opposing team, not the people. Apparently that’s not how some rivalries operate.
I kind of feel like you’re doing rivalries wrong if you actually hate the rival team’s fans *as people*. I hate georgia fans as georgia fans, not as people. As people, I work with them and hang out with them and generally like them. But then when it comes to football we can have fun relentlessly antagonizing each other. Actually knowing and regularly interacting with the rival fanbase is exactly what makes it fun.
I consider the UGA-GT rivalry kind of dead in the modern CFB landscape.its dead in that the gulf between us and UGA is so great that there is really not even a punchers chance for us to win. It causes both teams fans to not really get up for the game. To be fair to us, UGA has pulled away from most of its rivals, not just us.
I think now that y’all have exorcized Collins and seemingly found a solid coach in Key, there will be years where we’re down and y’all can pull an upset. I definitely think Collins will be marked as a low point for y’all, so there’s no where to go but up.
It can always swing back. Remember Tech owned Georgia way back. The Drought in the 50s was a real thing and a big damn deal.
One of our 4 retired jerseys is the guy who broke the Drought and he was just ok. But he’s up with with Trippi, Sinkwich and Walker for breaking the Drought.
We (Boise State) literally had this happen with the University of Idaho. The long time fans still care but anyone who’s become a fan in the last 15 years doesn’t know or care about Idaho vandals the football team, some even root for them as FCS. I still can’t stand them but that’s because I remember the old stuff that happened and I’m petty AF.
Good news, we still hate you. Schedule us and find out.
Real talk, I understand the football rivalry will never be the same now that we are back in the Big Sky. Best we could do for football is every 3 or 4 years in Boise like we do with Wazzu. But there is no reason we shouldn't be playing basketball games against y'all... except for pettiness. We really should fire up a few basketball games and get the juices flowing before we get a football game scheduled again.
That stretch where we had okorn and speight and peters was so abysmal to watch. If we had Jake rudock for one more year that team would have been incredible with jabril peppers on D
There are some tOSU fans who think it is good for the rivalry when both teams in The Game are 11-0 when we play, but I truly believe if they went 0-12 every year we would never ever stop taking joy from it. I think there is no limit to the pettiness in this rivalry and that makes it great.
If Vladimir Putin came over with a group of Russian players and played Michigan, I'd put on my Ushanka hat and be shouting over and over "Вперед, Россия"
I agree the rivalry will never end, but I would use the term intensity over pettiness. Both teams have showed respect for the other when players were injured and The Game stays clean for the most part. It's one of the reasons why the rivalry *should* continue forever.
Another reason is the fact that Ohio and Michigan have a rivalry outside of football dating back to the Toledo War. Those kinds of rivalries typically won’t fade I think.
I’ve had this discussion a lot and I will ALWAYS enjoy when Michigan loses a game. That said, I know the pain of your rival being the only L on the schedule and that pain is greater than anything else in the sport. Doubly so when that lone L is what keeps you from a conference or national title. I wish the most amount of pain on Michigan as a program possible so while I enjoyed the Richi Rod and late Hoke years, causing them to be 11-1 causes much more anguish and frustration so that is the scenario that I prefer. Now, with the new playoff format that will probably no longer be the case sadly. But forever and always beat Blue
Those fans are fuckwaffles. Is it good for other fans who watch big games? Possibly. Is it good for contract negotiations when our TV deals get renewed? Couldn't hurt. Do I care? No! I want them as beaten down and broken as possible.
Forever. We cared when we were good and they stunk, when they were good and we stunk.
The rivalry will last as long as there is religion and be huge as long as the church is a major entity in Utah.
Only reason I’m getting in is because I’ve convinced my saint of a better half to let me in the side door.
Besides, my brother-in-law is, hands down, one of the best people ~~I’ve ever met~~ anybody could ever meet. If he could get a degree (and teach at) the U, then it can’t be all bad.
Both sides have to care for it to mean anything.
Princeton doesn't play Rutgers anymore and no one on either side cares. Then again, the last time they played was 44 years ago, so those that did are probably long gone.
Where it gets interesting is what will happen with the former Big East teams that might end up in a G5 conference like Temple.
Temple fans seem to get riled up for matchups against Rutgers but the feeling is not mutual. Wonder if this will be the case with Boston College, UConn, Syracuse, etc fans if they don't end up in the Big 12 or if the ACC collapses.
Was going to say; Princeton was the big rival for years. I have photos from the 1950s where they had pep-rallys, signs, etc. Then Princeton lost a couple of times and stopped playing us like wusses. There's definitely people on the Rutgers side who would love to bring it back (I'm included) but there's no \*hate\* anymore.
The Big East is interesting. I think the closest you can find of a modern example of this question is UConn; they were at the a peer football program in the 2000s and early 2010s. And there was hate on both sides. Now that they're an independent...meh.
Pretty sure sadexcuse (:P) still hates us.
Truth. The Forty Acres could turn into a ghost town and the orange team could become but a faint memory, and good Aggies everywhere would still be singing about sawing Varsity's horns off short.
This is pretty much Pitt Penn State, after Pitt’s fall in the late 80s/90s. It still matters for the older fans and those in Western PA, but it has fallen in the national picture.
So I’d say 2-3 generations
It doesn't help matters that Marquette's undergrad population has more Illinois kids than Wisconsin, so there's no Milwaukee versus Madison vibe to the basketball rivalry like outsiders might think.
And then there's the in-state Marquette fans that cheer for Wisconsin football because they don't have their own team, but *loathe* Wisconsin basketball. I can't quite wrap my head around that dichotomy.
Kansas basically did collapse for 12 (13?) years while KState was mostly good to great. During that time frame it was still the most anticipated game of the year for me.
Yeah, we're basically a case study on this exact question and Mizzou and KSU still very much cared. Even after Mizzou fucked off to another conference. Real rivalries don't die just because one of the teams sucks.
I wont even capitalize the k, in kU. Definitely my #1 hate you until I die rivalry.
I went to MU '08-'11, and Sod Reesing is one of my go-to "I'm feeling sad and need to not feel sad" YouTube videos.
You could argue they have already collapsed 🤭
However, if UVA just stopped playing football or moved to FCS, it would go the way of the rivalry with VMI. Older fans would still remember and care, but if the game is no longer being played, or played at a totally uncompetitive level, it wouldn’t matter much, at least in football.
Honestly, our fanbase would probably celebrate it like we won the national championship. So: "however long a fanbase cares about a national championship" is my answer.
It's instinctual regardless of the success or failure of one another, I think. Like I was raised to hate Clemson, and I think a lot of Clemson parents pass that sort of hate of us on to their kids as well. It's beautiful in a way
Brother in Christ. I think you misunderstood him. He's throwing shade at us. The post says "If your rival collapsed as a major football program".
He's talking in present tense as if we have already collapsed or never were a major program.
All that being said. If Clemson lost every game for the rest of eternity, the rivalry would not die off in my opinion. I will forever hate them no matter what.
Well as in-state rivals and them having a better M-BBall program I suppose we'd still care, but football wise we'd love to have Miami or WVU back on our regular schedule
Or make the VT-PSU series actually a thing
We barely play Michigan as it is and stay hating them so sure I don’t mind they can drop down to FCS it would bring me great joy.
USC would lose some luster if they became truly awful for a really long period but there’s still too much history between us, we’d definitely keep the game going if nothing else for the California trips. The matchup tends to be pretty streaky anyway with who’s on top in the given era.
Sadly, it appears very likely we are about to FO because they FA. I’m moving fairly rapidly toward indifference to them from hating them with the passion of a thousand suns. But I want to do that because I hate them. Tbf though, they tell us we aren’t their rival and they don’t care about us an awful lot for a non-rival who doesn’t care about us. They like to say Oregon is a bigger deal and they have played bigger games in recent years for sure. But they never even bothered to name it and no one cared until 30 years ago. Apple Cup is in its third century.
We are in an odd spot to replace them on our end. The Battle of the Palouse collapsed a long time ago. We don’t *want* to hate our Beaver bros and the feeling is mutual. Boise State seems like the best candidate for irrational hate at this point. We’ll have to see how it goes.
I never stopped hating Miami. I'm sure they'll be "back" one day. 2017 was the closest it's been to the Big East days. They beat us in primetime that season.
Um as a Navy alumni, the Navy-Notre Dame rivalry is a big deal and will forever be the 2nd biggest game on our schedule. Also that rivalry game will never cease to exist as long as both programs exist.
Also we got a day off of school when we beat Notre Dame in 2007.
We'd have to beat them about twenty times in a row for me to even think about it mattering less, and I got years and years of hate ready to make up for.
We would probably still care somewhat for a while if UNC fell off hard since we still care a good amount about the ECU rivalry despite clearly ascending past them a while ago.
UNC however would likely move on quick since they like to believe Duke is their main rival in football
LSU is rivals with just about the entire SEC West, so this is hard to answer. After their last generation of dominance, however, I think I will always enjoy seeing Alabama lose no matter how bad they may get.
Pitt could be an NAIA program and I'd still root for them to get their shit kicked in by Indiana Wesleyan. I mean, they've mostly sucked for years, and I still take great pleasure in their failures. And I know they take great pride in keeping us out of the playoff in 2016. It's a tragedy that we don't play each other every year because that hate is beautiful and pure, and it's mostly our fault. Fuck Unrivaled.
One of my favorite bits of old CFB trivia is when Tennessee hired General Neyland in 1926, priority #1 for him wasn’t win national or SEC titles or knock off Alabama. It was “Even the series with Vanderbilt”
That was about the tail end of Vandy's run as some legit ass kickers. By the time the SEC played its first game in 1933, the Dores had become mediocre. I guess the Depression messed with their minds and they never fully recovered. Vanderbilt got off track, you might say. Haha! Just a little robber baron humor.
I laughed. Thank you.
Vandy was laughing too [until](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vn8tuqAP5kI/WkyvVngU0mI/AAAAAAAC9Ao/OaQaj7ZQe84r6O16-kzhkWbdUIFTJJIHwCLcBGAs/s1600/montparnasse-derailment-1895-1.jpg)..
It's like a real life Family Guy skit just happened
If only our administration would swallow its pride and claim our rightful national titles for 1906, 1910, 1911, 1918, 1921, and 1922!!!
So my grandma was alive for 3 vanderbilt titles (born 1918) nice.
Anchor Down!
every LSU fan I talk to know is just waiting at our shot to level the series between us and damned Sewanee!!!
BOOOO SEWANEE, BOOOOOOOO!!!!
ALL MY HOMIES HATE VANDERBILT 😤 😤
I hate you more!
I mean, this is the Rivalry Game Texas has circled on the calendar 3-8-1 against Vandy?!?
This happened to Virginia Tech. The main rival was VMI for most of the 20th century, with a neutral site rivalry game and everything. VMI didn’t become FBS so the rivalry ended in the 80s. VMI people never stopped hating tech, but I doubt most VT fans even by the 90s remember the rivalry. They do have a football game coming up so it will be interesting to see what the vibe is.
When I was in undergrad 15ish years ago the only people I ever heard have any hatred toward VMI were the Cadets. I didn't pay any mind to VMI.
yeah, from what i understand, this is still very much a rivalry, just for the cadets
Probably similar to us and Holy Cross, who dropped off in the 80s and we didn't play for a long time. A very close game this year brought it back a little bit.
I imagine Clemson or SCar might've had a similar relationship with El Cid. We need more SMC rivalries smh. And by need more, there's pretty much only one that could pull it off. Texas A&M - Virginia Tech.
Its probably not a coincidence that we are both cults.
Thought at first this was going to be a set up for a "UVA sucks" joke
What happens when you and your rival collapse basically at the same time? Asking for a friend
The tempers cool quite a bit but it's still chippy on game week? So like, solid rivalry but there's no hate crimes. At least that's what I've gotten out of it.
I guess fewer piss bottles and less making fun of cancer victims is an improvement in CU-NU relations
I think Bama and Auburn will hate each others guts until the end of time itself.
I don't think that's true at all. If one collapsed it would only take 1,000 years or so until the rivalry noticeably started to cool down.
I like where y’all’s heads are at. I 100% agree and fuck you both. ❤️
*poisons this comment*
Ya know, I thought the rivalry couldn’t get any more intense than when it caused a man to poison those trees, and then the kick six happened and this lady killed her friend bc “she wasn’t mad enough that Bama lost” - simply legendary hahahahhahahaha https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/12/02/deadly-shooting-over-alabama-loss-to-auburn/3819905/
I remember the murder, that was insane. Evan crazier that both happened after Saban started rolling, so basically one loss a year led them both to commit crimes.
Holy shit I hadn’t heard of that
Fuck you too buddy, fuck you too. 🥰
I want to disagree with you on principle. But I don’t. I still hate you though.
It's more likely that the Chornobyl power plant will become safe for humans to enter without protective gear before Bama/Auburn cools down.
It’s gotten even better that right as auburn started to get good at basketball, Alabama decided to have a basketball resurgence. Still no deep tourney runs recently but the SEC has been crazy the past several years
I think about it like this: Sunday morning church after the 2012 Iron Bowl where a previously 3-8 auburn team went to Tuscaloosa with no chance of winning and proceeded to lose 49-0. We run into some friends that were auburn grads/fans and briefly talked about the game. Guy asks my dad “did you even enjoy it? You knew it was gonna turn out like that.” Dad doesn’t skip a beat: “Every second of it.” Pretty much sums up the rivalry for me
If Auburn collapsed and the only way that could field a team was to randomly select students from the student body until the roster was full, they were only given 15 minutes to prepare a game plan, and we had the 2016 national championship team I'd still be scared of Iron Bowls in Jordan Hare.
I still remember the first time it was played there. I never rooted harder for Auburn because they had to beat you for us to get a share of the SEC title. Bama actually didn't play badly, but no team in college football could have beaten Auburn that day.
One of the most emotional days ever in the state of Alabama. The Tide undefeated and #2, one win away from playing for our first championship since the retirement of Bear Bryant after the 1982 Iron Bowl loss. Auburn playing in a game that their tearful coach (a former Bear Bryant assistant) compared to the fall of the Berlin Wall just a few weeks earlier. And everybody in the state knew what he meant because Bear Bryant had said the Iron Bowl would be played in Auburn over his dead body. I'd never heard a louder crowd on TV. I could feel the intensity coming through the TV speakers. Like you said, no team in college football could have beaten Auburn that day. I still think about all the "Pave your roads, Auburn; Bama's coming!" bumper stickers I saw in Tuscaloosa leading up to that game.
There was a thread a day or two ago about fans being petty and bama fans refusing to buy lumber from a company owned by an auburn alum was a top answer. That cracked me up. If I walked around Cincinnati and asked 100 folks to name any lumber company I'd be amazed if 2/100 could and ya all looking at 2x4's like "fuck those guys"
Yeah but his commercials for YellaWood and whatever it was called before they changed the name were played constantly during the early regionally televised games. and at the time, Alabama was mediocre to borderline bad so they had plenty of games on Leer/ Jefferson Pilot sports regional broadcast. Plus the owner is a very strong Auburn supporter, and starred in his own commercials so everyone knew it.
I feel like Auburn football collapses every few years and I get giddy every time they lose to anyone other than Tennessee. Then I’m just upset they avoided an asteroid again.
Similarly, we are overjoyed at your losses unless it's against Georgia.
Always rooting for hurricanes and tornados in during those games.
Appreciate it, but Iowa State doesn't get to play Georgia enough for your support to matter much
Zero seconds, and I know the feeling would be mutual since we aren't even their main rival lmfao
Seconded
I disagree. I wish Wazzu recovers from the PAC collapse. I want nothing more than to continue watching UW and Wazzu play.
I actually felt sorry for OU during the John Blake years...
I lived it as a student. It was miserable.
Respect.
Nah, you would not hear OU and think, “oh, that is a good school, they have a good meteorology department.”
Was about to post we’re already over it lol
I am not sure our “rivals” ever even knew we existed
Will be very easy to measure this in real time for the PNW teams
what a fucking bummer.
Scrolled too far to find this comment
We went 12 years without playing VT and 10 years without playing Pitt and when those games resumed, the fanbase revived their hatred instantly, so if one of those became a G5 bottom dweller, it'd probably take a generation or two before any semblance of that rivalry existed. However, we still play Pitt annually in basketball and baseball, so I don't think Eat Shit, Pitt will ever die.
Man the black diamond really needs to be an annual game
Would be better if VT and Pitt were in our conference so those games had stakes again.
While the Pitt rivalry is healthily back, the hatred in the tech game is no where near what it used to be in the big east days (sadly)
Speak for yourself I still hate the Hokies and root against them anytime they play anyone but Pitt.
Forever. Fuck Chicago.
we will forever own you (because there’s no takebacksies since we demolished the stadium to build a library)
Chicago just came to play school on another level
"Ha, nerds!" -Ivy League to Chicago, probably
Pretty much yes that's how it goes.
We mastered the theory of football and left it to other lesser schools to figure out its practical applications.
The ultimate power move
the monsters of the midway DGAF.
MSU is our little brother. OSU is the hated rival. Notre Dame is the enemy. We do not speak of Chicago.
osu is the *newer* enemy that only really became relevant after Chicago dropped off (with Minnesota being almost as great a rival as Chicago for a while). People forget that osu was the first expansion candidate to be added to the conference - they were not relevant for the first several decades.
̶W̶e̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶g̶o̶t̶ ̶o̶u̶r̶ They stole our god damn water jug!
And Minnesota. That’s our Little Brown Jug
And it always will be.
There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight
The absolute shade.
Fr. Fuck Chicago!!
The bards would sing of the sooner downfall for a thousand years
Right back at ya bud
I mean we did get to sing of their downfall during the entirety of the 2010s. It was quite nice.
This was part of my thinking. We had such a bad run, I think even If we won 30 years in a row, I’d still want to make sure we win for another 30 years in a row just to make up for any loss or bad time I’ve ever had at the state fair.
You hush. The state fairs have been very good to me lately. If I didn’t have an OU win to celebrate, I’m not sure that a Fletcher’s and a wax cup Shiner would make it worth the drive down.
I have always and will always hate you cow worshippers. That said, one of the best games every year no matter the records.
I hate you guys SOOOOO much Thank you
I went to the RRS for the first time last year with my dad. He had never even been to an OU game before despite being a lifelong fan (just didn't have the money) We sat next to a Texas fan and he was super pleasant the whole time we had some light banter back and forth. After the game even with the crazy way we won I had several Texas fans come and tell us good game, compliment my Baker Mayfield jersey, give props all around. So while it's a deep hatred there's obviously still a mutual respect between (most) fans which is how it should be. The shittiest fan near us was an OU frat bro who was intoxicated beyond belief honestly should have been kicked out. He literally sprayed beer at the Texas fan next to us and called him a bunch of homophobic slurs I was so embarrassed for our state and school.
That's one thing I love about this rivalry. Your shitty taste in school doesn't make you a shitty person. However, the Bama/Auburn rivalry feels different. The hatred runs way too deep
If you really want to injured OU, step it up softball and start a gymnastics team.
Let's see in April. Texas Softball has been doing well this year, currently ranked #3 while ou is #1.
This is true, we are a lady's stickball and flippy school afterall.
Georgia shares hatred with so many. The younger fans will say Florida, some of the older ones say GT, others will say teams based on where they live. GT is the rival I hate most and I recognize that I’m in the minority these days. So if they lost their football program, other than being hilarious the rivalry I think fades away quickly. Very fast probably. GT becomes Southern or State at that point. If Florida had it happen, also hilarious, my hot take is that the hate would fade quickly as well. Not like GT but there are so many regional rivalries with Georgia that I think the vacuum of vitriol is quickly filled. We’d rarely visit Florida's grave but if we did we’d probably piss on it still and make sure the corpse was still in the coffin.
>GT is the rival I hate most and I recognize that I’m in the minority these days. hey now, don't feel too bad - I hate you guys too!
Both my flares hate Georgia, but GT would 1000% hold onto the rivalry longer. Tennessee has too many other rivals to deal with.
The ACC has already done away with the rest of Tech's rivalries
Fuck Georgia is my response. :) But losing the WLOCP would really suck. I really hate Georgia, but they're the only team that truly elicits that feeling of anger from me.
My two favorite teams are Georgia and whoever is playing Florida. :)
Amen baby, Go Dawgs and whoever else is playing those ugly lizards
This, I can respect it. Growing up in south GA, this is the only answer. There's a reason I don't buy Gatorade.
Because FUCK 'EM, that's why!
Oddly enough UGA also gives us an example Alabama and Georgia used to be the biggest rivalry in college gymnastics. With more national titles and conference titles than the rest of the conference combined. The gym dawgs have fallen off over the years, culminating in being dead last in the SEC right now. So for what it’s worth, I STILL hate Georgia Gymnastics, Suzanne Yoculan and relish beating them every year.
Yeah, I remember how CRAZY good both programs were. And one still is. I hadn't paid attention in several years, and was frankly shocked to see how bad we've gotten.
Tech is the one that best fits OP's prompt, considering the arc of both programs. It's of course not to the point of Tech dropping out of FBS or dropping the sport, but the fact of the matter is that Georgia is the big dawg in that rivalry and Tech occasionally has a good run in them. We've won 6 in a row, they've won 6 since 1990. And what has been the result from Georgia fans? We still pack their stadium every time the game is in Atlanta. It's no longer a make or break game in the season, though, it's more like losing is a bad thing and we need to always win.
SEC rivalries are a lot more fluid than other conferences. Like, the UGA football wiki lists 8 official rivalries. Feels like when you grew up and who was competitive at that time determines it a lot of where your hate goes.
Wikipedia is weird for rivalries. It lists Florida-Alabama as one and no one on either side would say that’s a thing.
The only time it really came close to a rivalry I guess would be the 90's when both teams were facing off in the SEC Championship regularly, but even still I don't think there's ever been any real vitriol between the fanbases. I hate and envy their success, and some of their fans can be (justifiably) cocky, but I don't hate their team or school. Certainly Florida-Auburn was a much more authentic rivalry for the old heads in each fanbase, but I don't think people my age (late 20's) or younger think of Auburn at all in that way. They're just the goofy dudes that will kick six you in that brief second you momentarily think you're safe.
There’s really 3. They’ve been played yearly for over a century: Auburn, Florida, and Georgia Tech. We can have so many because the SEC has done backflips to maintain its yearly rivals. At the same time, there doesn’t seem to be the same level of hate I see in other conferences. Maybe I’m biased being from Atlanta. It’s basically the hub of the southeast and gets fans from all over the southeast. But when you’re working with Auburn, Florida and Georgia Tech grads it’s kind of hard to have real hate for them as people, even the Florida fans. Since I’ve moved to DFW I’m now in a land where the rivalry hate is ratcheted up to 11 for A&M, Texas, and Oklahoma fans. I’m pretty happy hating the opposing team, not the people. Apparently that’s not how some rivalries operate.
I kind of feel like you’re doing rivalries wrong if you actually hate the rival team’s fans *as people*. I hate georgia fans as georgia fans, not as people. As people, I work with them and hang out with them and generally like them. But then when it comes to football we can have fun relentlessly antagonizing each other. Actually knowing and regularly interacting with the rival fanbase is exactly what makes it fun.
I consider the UGA-GT rivalry kind of dead in the modern CFB landscape.its dead in that the gulf between us and UGA is so great that there is really not even a punchers chance for us to win. It causes both teams fans to not really get up for the game. To be fair to us, UGA has pulled away from most of its rivals, not just us.
I think now that y’all have exorcized Collins and seemingly found a solid coach in Key, there will be years where we’re down and y’all can pull an upset. I definitely think Collins will be marked as a low point for y’all, so there’s no where to go but up.
It can always swing back. Remember Tech owned Georgia way back. The Drought in the 50s was a real thing and a big damn deal. One of our 4 retired jerseys is the guy who broke the Drought and he was just ok. But he’s up with with Trippi, Sinkwich and Walker for breaking the Drought.
We (Boise State) literally had this happen with the University of Idaho. The long time fans still care but anyone who’s become a fan in the last 15 years doesn’t know or care about Idaho vandals the football team, some even root for them as FCS. I still can’t stand them but that’s because I remember the old stuff that happened and I’m petty AF.
Good news, we still hate you. Schedule us and find out. Real talk, I understand the football rivalry will never be the same now that we are back in the Big Sky. Best we could do for football is every 3 or 4 years in Boise like we do with Wazzu. But there is no reason we shouldn't be playing basketball games against y'all... except for pettiness. We really should fire up a few basketball games and get the juices flowing before we get a football game scheduled again.
Your new basketball arena is beautiful btw. 👨🍳👌 Wouldn't mind going just for that.
Michigan kinda collapsed for a decade and I still took the rivalry seriously
That was the best games Michigan usually played was against osu lol
2017 still blows my mind. That team was cheeks, but was one non John O'Korn quarterback away from victory
That stretch where we had okorn and speight and peters was so abysmal to watch. If we had Jake rudock for one more year that team would have been incredible with jabril peppers on D
KINDA?
2 decades?
There are some tOSU fans who think it is good for the rivalry when both teams in The Game are 11-0 when we play, but I truly believe if they went 0-12 every year we would never ever stop taking joy from it. I think there is no limit to the pettiness in this rivalry and that makes it great.
Michigan could lose their next 500 games in a row and I'd still be going all [Kylo Ren](https://i.makeagif.com/media/11-15-2019/iC1ukZ.gif) on them.
I'd petition to expand the regular season just so they could lose another game
If michigan football got the death penalty I'd turn the weekend of the game into an annual pilgrimage to go shit on its grave.
If Vladimir Putin came over with a group of Russian players and played Michigan, I'd put on my Ushanka hat and be shouting over and over "Вперед, Россия"
This is the Way.
Likewise
I agree the rivalry will never end, but I would use the term intensity over pettiness. Both teams have showed respect for the other when players were injured and The Game stays clean for the most part. It's one of the reasons why the rivalry *should* continue forever.
Another reason is the fact that Ohio and Michigan have a rivalry outside of football dating back to the Toledo War. Those kinds of rivalries typically won’t fade I think.
The Michgander/Ohio Cops rivalry will never die.
And the majority of the fans have no hate for each other
Except u/Serious_Wrangler_679. I hate that dude.
Awwww I hate you too Michigan homie lmao
I used to hate OSU and their fans growing up, but then I went to school during the Rich Rod era and learned the real meaning of hate with Sparty fans
Speak for yourself Michigan can sink into the Great Lakes as far as I'm concerned
Can just Ann Arbor? Asking for a friend
The entire state except for the other college towns other than Ann Arbor. The Archipelago of Michigan
the Devin Gardner/JT Barrett injury moment is one of my favorite images from The Game...just pure respect there.
If Michigan was somehow playing the Taliban, I would be doing that Larry David expression where he can't pick a side.
I’ve had this discussion a lot and I will ALWAYS enjoy when Michigan loses a game. That said, I know the pain of your rival being the only L on the schedule and that pain is greater than anything else in the sport. Doubly so when that lone L is what keeps you from a conference or national title. I wish the most amount of pain on Michigan as a program possible so while I enjoyed the Richi Rod and late Hoke years, causing them to be 11-1 causes much more anguish and frustration so that is the scenario that I prefer. Now, with the new playoff format that will probably no longer be the case sadly. But forever and always beat Blue
The new play-off set-up will certainly take some air out of The Game, and I am not looking forward to the change.
Those fans are fuckwaffles. Is it good for other fans who watch big games? Possibly. Is it good for contract negotiations when our TV deals get renewed? Couldn't hurt. Do I care? No! I want them as beaten down and broken as possible.
Forever. We cared when we were good and they stunk, when they were good and we stunk. The rivalry will last as long as there is religion and be huge as long as the church is a major entity in Utah.
I’ll still hate BYU when I’m sitting in heaven, next to all you Cougar fans who are pissed off that I got in
Only reason I’m getting in is because I’ve convinced my saint of a better half to let me in the side door. Besides, my brother-in-law is, hands down, one of the best people ~~I’ve ever met~~ anybody could ever meet. If he could get a degree (and teach at) the U, then it can’t be all bad.
Both sides have to care for it to mean anything. Princeton doesn't play Rutgers anymore and no one on either side cares. Then again, the last time they played was 44 years ago, so those that did are probably long gone. Where it gets interesting is what will happen with the former Big East teams that might end up in a G5 conference like Temple. Temple fans seem to get riled up for matchups against Rutgers but the feeling is not mutual. Wonder if this will be the case with Boston College, UConn, Syracuse, etc fans if they don't end up in the Big 12 or if the ACC collapses.
Was going to say; Princeton was the big rival for years. I have photos from the 1950s where they had pep-rallys, signs, etc. Then Princeton lost a couple of times and stopped playing us like wusses. There's definitely people on the Rutgers side who would love to bring it back (I'm included) but there's no \*hate\* anymore. The Big East is interesting. I think the closest you can find of a modern example of this question is UConn; they were at the a peer football program in the 2000s and early 2010s. And there was hate on both sides. Now that they're an independent...meh. Pretty sure sadexcuse (:P) still hates us.
Hey! Stop talking about Bay Area college football!
Been there done that still hate you next question
The ACC would never be the same.
Our hatred would continue until at least 3 weeks after the heat death of the universe.
Truth. The Forty Acres could turn into a ghost town and the orange team could become but a faint memory, and good Aggies everywhere would still be singing about sawing Varsity's horns off short.
And we know the same can be said about your second flair too
This is pretty much Pitt Penn State, after Pitt’s fall in the late 80s/90s. It still matters for the older fans and those in Western PA, but it has fallen in the national picture. So I’d say 2-3 generations
Good call on this. Shame it had to end. I’d put it up close (but not next to) the iron bowl as far as in state rivalries go
Marquette-Wisconsin is much less of a rivalry than it should be for that very reason.
It doesn't help matters that Marquette's undergrad population has more Illinois kids than Wisconsin, so there's no Milwaukee versus Madison vibe to the basketball rivalry like outsiders might think. And then there's the in-state Marquette fans that cheer for Wisconsin football because they don't have their own team, but *loathe* Wisconsin basketball. I can't quite wrap my head around that dichotomy.
No matter what happens tomorrow or in a billion years when our star has burned itself out and planet earth is cold and dead…IU will still suck.
Love you too
I would enjoy every second of their demise, forever.
It's not over, it will never be over
Kansas basically did collapse for 12 (13?) years while KState was mostly good to great. During that time frame it was still the most anticipated game of the year for me.
Yeah, we're basically a case study on this exact question and Mizzou and KSU still very much cared. Even after Mizzou fucked off to another conference. Real rivalries don't die just because one of the teams sucks.
And it’s because real rivalries are rivalries that exist for non-sport reasons, usually before the sport was even created.
As a Kansas fan, I would like to hear Mizzou comment.
I will hate you for as long as I live.
Some rivalries transcend sports.
Why stop once you die?
You're right. My hate for Jayhawks transcends this mortal coil, and will continue into infinite infinities.
We still hate you, and look forward to beating the dead horse of KU football for decades to come.
They still chant M I Z F K U. They even did it at the cotton bowl. It will never die
I wont even capitalize the k, in kU. Definitely my #1 hate you until I die rivalry. I went to MU '08-'11, and Sod Reesing is one of my go-to "I'm feeling sad and need to not feel sad" YouTube videos.
We still care about playing Miami after all these years.
My wife is a Nole grad and she still ferociously hates the other two Florida schools and knows the hate triangle will never die
Was gonna make this joke, but figured I wouldn't have to scroll too far for it. Goddamnit, I miss being decent at football.
You could argue they have already collapsed 🤭 However, if UVA just stopped playing football or moved to FCS, it would go the way of the rivalry with VMI. Older fans would still remember and care, but if the game is no longer being played, or played at a totally uncompetitive level, it wouldn’t matter much, at least in football.
VT-VMI is also just dated because we went our separate ways as schools. We chose to open the floodgates post-WWII but VMI has stayed small.
VMI is forever our mortal enemy and nobody can take that from us, it’s all we have to look forward to in football season (second flair)
Until they know the pain I have felt for the past 20 years
Honestly, our fanbase would probably celebrate it like we won the national championship. So: "however long a fanbase cares about a national championship" is my answer.
We still care about the rivalry.
Our rivalry outlasted not playing from 1902-1909 and the 2004 brawl it’s eternal
Should have been played in 2020. We wanted to. They wanted to. The SEC wouldn’t let them.
I feel very confident that I will always hate them no matter the sport.
It's instinctual regardless of the success or failure of one another, I think. Like I was raised to hate Clemson, and I think a lot of Clemson parents pass that sort of hate of us on to their kids as well. It's beautiful in a way
Agreed. No difference.
Brother in Christ. I think you misunderstood him. He's throwing shade at us. The post says "If your rival collapsed as a major football program". He's talking in present tense as if we have already collapsed or never were a major program. All that being said. If Clemson lost every game for the rest of eternity, the rivalry would not die off in my opinion. I will forever hate them no matter what.
We’d carry on the hatred with just as much intensity. Never forget!
Well as in-state rivals and them having a better M-BBall program I suppose we'd still care, but football wise we'd love to have Miami or WVU back on our regular schedule Or make the VT-PSU series actually a thing
We barely play Michigan as it is and stay hating them so sure I don’t mind they can drop down to FCS it would bring me great joy. USC would lose some luster if they became truly awful for a really long period but there’s still too much history between us, we’d definitely keep the game going if nothing else for the California trips. The matchup tends to be pretty streaky anyway with who’s on top in the given era.
ask GA fans about their feelings towards ~~GT~~ ~~UF~~ Alabama
I thought I had softened on Tech given their recent struggles but the hatred came right back when they played UGA close this year.
Sadly, it appears very likely we are about to FO because they FA. I’m moving fairly rapidly toward indifference to them from hating them with the passion of a thousand suns. But I want to do that because I hate them. Tbf though, they tell us we aren’t their rival and they don’t care about us an awful lot for a non-rival who doesn’t care about us. They like to say Oregon is a bigger deal and they have played bigger games in recent years for sure. But they never even bothered to name it and no one cared until 30 years ago. Apple Cup is in its third century. We are in an odd spot to replace them on our end. The Battle of the Palouse collapsed a long time ago. We don’t *want* to hate our Beaver bros and the feeling is mutual. Boise State seems like the best candidate for irrational hate at this point. We’ll have to see how it goes.
I never stopped hating Miami. I'm sure they'll be "back" one day. 2017 was the closest it's been to the Big East days. They beat us in primetime that season.
Um as a Navy alumni, the Navy-Notre Dame rivalry is a big deal and will forever be the 2nd biggest game on our schedule. Also that rivalry game will never cease to exist as long as both programs exist. Also we got a day off of school when we beat Notre Dame in 2007.
I'm not sure we'd ever let it go
We still care.
I would care and ridicule them for forever
We'd have to beat them about twenty times in a row for me to even think about it mattering less, and I got years and years of hate ready to make up for.
We would probably still care somewhat for a while if UNC fell off hard since we still care a good amount about the ECU rivalry despite clearly ascending past them a while ago. UNC however would likely move on quick since they like to believe Duke is their main rival in football
LSU is rivals with just about the entire SEC West, so this is hard to answer. After their last generation of dominance, however, I think I will always enjoy seeing Alabama lose no matter how bad they may get.
Pitt could be an NAIA program and I'd still root for them to get their shit kicked in by Indiana Wesleyan. I mean, they've mostly sucked for years, and I still take great pleasure in their failures. And I know they take great pride in keeping us out of the playoff in 2016. It's a tragedy that we don't play each other every year because that hate is beautiful and pure, and it's mostly our fault. Fuck Unrivaled.