(02-01-2023 09:09 PM)cc22 Wrote: These are the games I think need to be protected going forward:
All in-Texas games
All former Big 8 opponents
WVU-UC-UCF
Conference doesn't have a ton of rivalries, they can at least keep the games with history
For the record I'm speaking primarily about football in this case:
Quite frankly, I figured that if there were ever a time for WVU and Cincinnati to be rivals, it would have been after 2008 and 2009 when the Bearcats contended with the Mountaineers for a Big East title. I don't think either school dislikes or has a passionate dislike for each other in order for it to be a rivalry. Perhaps that could change in the Big 12, but the two teams haven't had nearly as much time to become dead hard rivals. WVU and Cincinnati played each other infrequently before Big East 2.0 (2005-2012). Cincinnati's first victory over WVU was in 2003, an upset victory that I remember people being very unhappy about 20 years ago.
I want to say that UCF could offer potential for a rivalry in this conference, but it ultimately depends. I would have considered USF a rival for WVU with how often they knocked us off, and I remember fans of USF referring to us as such in the mid-2000's. Many WVU fans didn't see it or even agree. Traditionally, WVU does not fare well against Florida teams and their football record in the state of Florida is even worse. If UCF and WVU have very competitive games year in and year out, I could see it being close to how USF was for the Mountaineer program: A perennial thorn in WVU's side. However, I don't know if either Cincinnati or even UCF can replace the likes of Pitt, Maryland, Syracuse, or Virginia Tech.
WVU played those teams annually for so many years that it's ingrained in the faithful that those teams are forever going to be our "arch rivals." I don't see Cincinnati or even UCF making those impressions on West Virginia. I could be wrong, but the fanbases share no animosity toward each other. Pitt/WVU often has passion behind it, Syracuse has history, and Maryland and Virginia Tech were regularly competing with the program for recruits. All except for Syracuse were next door neighbors. Oddly enough, WVU has yet to find a program in Ohio that would be deemed a rival, as I feel they should have more teams to fill that hole than Kentucky would.
By the way...does anybody remember when fans of WVU first tried to establish a rivalry with Iowa State since they were the closest school to Morgantown? It was dubbed the "Riot Bowl" in the early days. It didn't go anywhere, and it still doesn't feel like a rivalry despite how the series has evened out.
