(06-22-2020 10:35 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The MAC and MWC have some of the best in-conference G5 rivalries because they’ve been together a long time.

The SBC, C-USA, and AAC schools don’t have quite as long together for the vitriol to fester.

Yes. Pretty hard to include the latter 3 conferences. Only a few have been together long-ULM-ULL, can't really think of any others.

(06-22-2020 12:10 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(06-22-2020 10:35 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The MAC and MWC have some of the best in-conference G5 rivalries because they’ve been together a long time.

The SBC, C-USA, and AAC schools don’t have quite as long together for the vitriol to fester.

The Ga. Southern vs. App State rivalry doesn't go back decades upon decades (annual since 1993), but it does have a rich history during the time it has existed. Perhaps most memorable was 1999 when App State upset eventual D 1-AA champion and No. 1 Southern, thus tying them for the conference title. App fans tore down both goalposts, threw one of them into Duck Pond, and threw the other through the Ga. Southern team bus. I can't count how many times the conference title has come down to the winner of that game. Also, Ga. Southern was responsible for App's only loss last year... There is plenty of vitriol that has festered.

Additionally, ULM and Louisiana haven't been in the Sun Belt together for 20 years yet, but they have played 54 times. Arkansas State and Louisiana have played 46 times.

Having something on the line certainly helps to build a rivalry. For App St and GA Southern it was usually a SoCon title and a playoff berth; now it’s a SBC title.

This differs from say FAU and FIU because neither has been good at the same time

If you want to get into a talk about rivalry intensity, here are the biggest Game Threads I could find on CSN:
1. 2018 GS-App game (1,192 posts)
2. 2019 GS-App game (1,033 posts)
3. 2015 Southern Miss-WKU CUSA CCG (823 posts)
4. 2015 Memphis-Cincinnati thread (792 posts)
5. 2013 Houston-UCF (679 posts)
6. 2018 Memphis-UCF AAC CCG (678 posts)
7. 2016 Memphis- Houston (638 posts)

Joe continues to impress with their knowledge

[quote='DFW HOYA' pid='16871959' dateline='1592794449']
SMU-Houston, kind of
SMU-Rice, used to.
[/quote

SMU really doesn't have any rivals in the G5 or AAC. Rice would be the closest, but TCU is the tops. We also used to love to play (beat) Texas but they didn't feel the same way I don't think. And the same with Baylor.

People seem very familiar w/ the Western/Central rivalry whenever I'm out of MAC country. If you ever go to a MAC game, I'd recommend a Western/Central game.

Army/Navy

Ohio/Marshall

(06-22-2020 02:13 PM)SMUstang Wrote:  [quote='DFW HOYA' pid='16871959' dateline='1592794449']
SMU-Houston, kind of
SMU-Rice, used to.
[/quote

SMU really doesn't have any rivals in the G5 or AAC. Rice would be the closest, but TCU is the tops. We also used to love to play (beat) Texas but they didn't feel the same way I don't think. And the same with Baylor.

If SMU and Houston are still playing in the same conference 10 years from now, I think we'll see a rivalry take shape.

(06-22-2020 04:04 PM)WhoseHouse? Wrote:  

(06-22-2020 02:13 PM)SMUstang Wrote:  [quote='DFW HOYA' pid='16871959' dateline='1592794449']
SMU-Houston, kind of
SMU-Rice, used to.
[/quote

SMU really doesn't have any rivals in the G5 or AAC. Rice would be the closest, but TCU is the tops. We also used to love to play (beat) Texas but they didn't feel the same way I don't think. And the same with Baylor.

If SMU and Houston are still playing in the same conference 10 years from now, I think we'll see a rivalry take shape.

I think SMU likes to dislike Houston anyway because of the 95-21 drubbing you gave us the first year we returned from the death penalty. No excuse, even Notre Dame and Texas didn't do that.

(06-21-2020 09:37 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  Miami-Oh vs Ohio:. Battle for the Bricks

Battle of the Bricks ... the two oldest Universities in Ohio, I guess with all of the red brick buildings in each. I would pretend that I cared whether my Alma Mater beat the Bobcats back when my older brother was still alive, but I was far more a Bengals fan in college than a Red(Hawks) fan.

I do recall a year since the turn of the century when a Basketball edition of the rivalry had unusually low shooting percentages on both sides, and some clever wag titled their write up "The Battle of the Bricks, Indeed".

Quote: Akron vs Kent: Battle for the Wagon Wheel

I lived in Portage County for about eight years and I always heard it called just the Wagon Wheel game. The series is 35-25-2 to Akron, but Wagon Wheel games are 24-24-1.

The Wagon Wheel Challenge is over 16 sports, 1 point per sport. Akron holds it since on the rules you need 8.5 points to take it. Kent hasn't won the overall challenge for something like five years ... Akron keeps taking it by a point or so.

There're people who ignore the men's golf and the women's volleyball and all and just look at the FB game and H/H conference Basketball series.

(06-21-2020 09:27 PM)RutgersGuy Wrote:  Cincy/Memphis

Does Army/Navy count?

The front range school of CSU/Wyoming/Air Force

The funny thing about UC/Memphis is there has never been much of a rivalry in football. Big issue is the geographic and cultural distance between the two schools and the fact that neither school has been good at the same time. Last year was probably the first time both schools were good at the same time, and I could see the potential there.

This year’s game should be a barn-burner.

(06-22-2020 02:13 PM)SMUstang Wrote:  SMU really doesn't have any rivals in the G5 or AAC. Rice would be the closest, but TCU is the tops. We also used to love to play (beat) Texas but they didn't feel the same way I don't think. And the same with Baylor.

There’s a trophy for SMU-Rice, correct?

How were the SMU-Arkansas and SMU-TAMU games?

(06-22-2020 10:35 AM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  The MAC and MWC have some of the best in-conference G5 rivalries because they’ve been together a long time.

The SBC, C-USA, and AAC schools don’t have quite as long together for the vitriol to fester.

That's an interesting perspective. I've always considered the Sun Belt's built-in rivalries to be one of the main selling points of our conference. App-GS, GS-GAST, Troy-USA, Ark St-ULL, ULL-ULM

I remember on an old football game, Rice and Tulsa played for the Williams Trophy. I can’t find any real history about it.

Some annual games that jump out at me:

Air Force-Army-Navy
Air Force-CSU-Wyoming
App St.-GaSouthern (transcended to FBS)
BGSU-Toledo
Cincinnati-Miami (OH)
Houston-Rice (annual?)
LaTech-S. Miss
Nevada-UNLV
New Mexico-NMSU-UTEP (although UNM-UTEP isn’t annual anymore)
SMU-TCU (annual?)
UConn-UMass (I guess not technically G5, but I believe this will be annual)

I think Texas St.-UTSA should be played every season. As should Louisiana-USM/UL-LaTech. I think Georgia St.-UAB would be a good one as well. Rice should be in the AAC with Houston, SMU, Tulane, and Tulsa.

(06-23-2020 07:54 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(06-22-2020 02:13 PM)SMUstang Wrote:  SMU really doesn't have any rivals in the G5 or AAC. Rice would be the closest, but TCU is the tops. We also used to love to play (beat) Texas but they didn't feel the same way I don't think. And the same with Baylor.

There’s a trophy for SMU-Rice, correct?

How were the SMU-Arkansas and SMU-TAMU games?

Look it up on Wikipedia. The Mayors cup. We had a lot of great games with both Arkansas and A&M. But Texas considered those two their rivals.

(06-21-2020 08:59 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  Use whatever criteria you think are important to name the premier Group of 5 football rivalries. I'm limiting this to rivalries that are still ongoing and not those broken up by realignment that aren't played anymore.

1. War on I-4 (UCF and USF, 11 games). People will disagree with me, but I consider the two schools peers in every respect except recent success, and as with a lot of rivalries in college football it'll only take the right (or wrong) coaching hires for the tide to turn in the series. Not a very old rivalry for sure, but one that's sure to become big IMO.

This rivalry has some genuineness to it, the competition is not fake, it's real. And the overall record, 6-5 for USF, looks competitive too.

Problem is, the teams have been out of synch competitively, so its really been a lopsided thing. In the 2000s, USF was pretty good and UCF wasn't, so USF won four in a row. The last few years, UCF has been good and USF hasn't been, so UCF has won three in a row.

IIRC, of the 11 meetings, there has only been one time when both of us were very good, 2017, when UCF went undefeated and we were 10-2, and that produced a great game. Maybe also 2007, but at that time USF was in an AQ conference and UCF wasn't. But most games have been lopsided and between teams in different competitive places.

(06-23-2020 08:17 AM)SMUstang Wrote:  

(06-23-2020 07:54 AM)esayem Wrote:  

(06-22-2020 02:13 PM)SMUstang Wrote:  SMU really doesn't have any rivals in the G5 or AAC. Rice would be the closest, but TCU is the tops. We also used to love to play (beat) Texas but they didn't feel the same way I don't think. And the same with Baylor.

There’s a trophy for SMU-Rice, correct?

How were the SMU-Arkansas and SMU-TAMU games?

Look it up on Wikipedia. The Mayors cup. We had a lot of great games with both Arkansas and A&M. But Texas considered those two their rivals.

This has never felt like much of a rivalry. When I was a student at Rice, SMU was winning 10 times in a row before getting the death penalty. Rice won the first 8 games played post-death penalty. We haven’t played since 2012 (Rice won and has possession of the Mayor’s Cup), and are not scheduled to play in the future. I’d be surprised if this game did reappear on a future football schedule, because both schools have other priorities with the non-conference scheduling.

I can’t remember any buzz around SMU like the t-shirts I still have for the Houston, UT and A&M games.

(06-22-2020 12:48 AM)Cattidude Wrote:  

(06-21-2020 09:53 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  I didn't if I could include these two or not, since they are G5-P5 clashes, but they actually meet the requirements, so I will list them:

SMU vs TCU: Battle for the Iron Skillet
Navy vs Notre Dame

If you're throwing in G5 vs P5 then you have to have UC vs Louisville - Keg of Nails

You don't really have to have it, because it's no longer played.

(06-23-2020 09:20 AM)TuckerGnat Wrote:  

(06-22-2020 12:48 AM)Cattidude Wrote:  

(06-21-2020 09:53 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  I didn't if I could include these two or not, since they are G5-P5 clashes, but they actually meet the requirements, so I will list them:

SMU vs TCU: Battle for the Iron Skillet
Navy vs Notre Dame

If you're throwing in G5 vs P5 then you have to have UC vs Louisville - Keg of Nails

You don't really have to have it, because it's no longer played.

Correct. It was a casualty of Louisville to the ACC. It was great for the 52 meetings it had though.

Some have mentioned UC-Miami-- I consider that a series not a rivalry. It hasn't been a rivalry in over a decade. UC has won 15 straight, mostly by large margins. The fan interest and school funding of the two programs is so far apart it is comical. The series is only still around because UC no longer plays another close rival (ie. Louisville, Pitt and WVU). Now I realize someone like Bullet or Miami (OH Yeah!) will remind people Miami leads the all-time series 58-59-- but neither of these two live in Greater Cincinnati and understand the dynamics at play. A lot has changed over the past 15 years. Even the large majority of Miami alums/students recognize this.

UC really doesn't have an active rival in football right now.

(06-23-2020 09:20 AM)TuckerGnat Wrote:  

(06-22-2020 12:48 AM)Cattidude Wrote:  

(06-21-2020 09:53 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  I didn't if I could include these two or not, since they are G5-P5 clashes, but they actually meet the requirements, so I will list them:

SMU vs TCU: Battle for the Iron Skillet
Navy vs Notre Dame

If you're throwing in G5 vs P5 then you have to have UC vs Louisville - Keg of Nails

You don't really have to have it, because it's no longer played.

Who ended up with the Keg of Nails, anyway, and what do you reckon they aim to build with it? It'd be a darn shame for a good Keg of Nails to go to waste.

(06-23-2020 10:06 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(06-23-2020 09:20 AM)TuckerGnat Wrote:  

(06-22-2020 12:48 AM)Cattidude Wrote:  

(06-21-2020 09:53 PM)DawgNBama Wrote:  I didn't if I could include these two or not, since they are G5-P5 clashes, but they actually meet the requirements, so I will list them:

SMU vs TCU: Battle for the Iron Skillet
Navy vs Notre Dame

If you're throwing in G5 vs P5 then you have to have UC vs Louisville - Keg of Nails

You don't really have to have it, because it's no longer played.

Correct. It was a casualty of Louisville to the ACC. It was great for the 52 meetings it had though.

Some have mentioned UC-Miami-- I consider that a series not a rivalry. It hasn't been a rivalry in over a decade. UC has won 15 straight, mostly by large margins. The fan interest and school funding of the two programs is so far apart it is comical. The series is only still around because UC no longer plays another close rival (ie. Louisville, Pitt and WVU). Now I realize someone like Bullet or Miami (OH Yeah!) will remind people Miami leads the all-time series 58-59-- but neither of these two live in Greater Cincinnati and understand the dynamics at play. A lot has changed over the past 15 years. Even the large majority of Miami alums/students recognize this.

UC really doesn't have an active rival in football right now.

The battle for the Iron Skillet stills goes on. SMU won the last game in Fort Worth.