Irish Blogger Gathering: Rivalry Edition

Ok, so when I went to Subway Domer’s blog to see this week’s topic for the Irish Blogger Gathering, I didn’t realize that his most recent topic was for a DIFFERNT blog roundtable, but since I already typed it, I will leave it up.  Anyway, here is a link to Subway Domer’s first Irish Blogger Gathering post so you can get some more details.  Here’s my entry for the week.

1. This is Notre Dame. Notre Dame is the game circled on just about every opposing teams schedule. They hate us and want to destroy us. So, it is safe to say that if ND plays a team every year, that game will become a big game for ND and an even bigger game for the opponent. So, pick any team that ND does not currently play and make that team a rival and create a rivalry trophy to go along with your rival of choice.

Florida.  There is such intense dislike for Florida amongst Notre Dame fans already because of Urban Meyer so is there any other better school right now to become a rival?  From a football standpoint, playing a marquee game in the state of Florida every two years would also be a big boost to recruiting.  There is also a bit of history here with the “Cheerios” Bowl in 1992 against Spurrier and the Gators when Jerome Bettis ran ALL over Florida.

As for the trophy… how about a the “Golden Cheerio”

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2. What current rival of ND (Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Boston College, Stanford, Southern California – all trophy games) would you take off of the schedule and never play again?

I’ll go with Boston College here because they treat the Notre Dame game like their Super Bowl every year and then don’t know how to act when they win (see them ripping up the field after beating us in 1999).  Only problem is Boston College won the last meeting so I wouldn’t want them to have that feather in their cap.  Outside of the ’93 game there is also very little history in this series – not many big games, not many defining moments.

3. What entertainment rival (whether it be TV, movies, or celebrity) would you compare to ND and one of its current rivals?

How about Notre Dame and Michigan compared to Tony and Uncle Junior on Sopranos?  Junior taught Tony everything, but it was Tony who ended up being the boss at the end of the day just like Michigan taught Notre Dame football and then we quickly ascended to the pinnacle of the college football world.  Notre Dame, despite what many Michigan fans would like to believe, is almost always described as the most storied program in all of college football.  Now, just like when Uncle June shot Tony in Sopranos, every now and then Michigan gets it’s shots in (38-0 twice in 2003 and 2007).  The two are also always talking about never playing or stopping the series and what have you, but at the end of the day, they seem to need each other.

4. List your top 5 historical college football rivalries. After that, list your top 5 college football rivalries as of 2008.

Historical

• Notre Dame and USC
• Ohio State and Michigan
• Army and Navy
• Texas and Oklahoma
• Miami and Florida State

2008
I picked these base on which rivalries I thought would play the biggest role in determining the national champion this year.

• Oklahoma and Texas
• Auburn and Alabama
• Florida and Georgia
• Missouri and Kansas
• Ohio State and Penn State

5. There are a lot of rivalry games out there. What is a great rivalry game that may not be as well known as the ones in your top 5 and explain why it so fantastic.

Delaware vs. Delaware St.  How can this be a great rivalry if they don’t play each other?  Because they are separated by less than 50 miles and the two sides flat out hate each other.  If these two schools ever realize just how stupid it is that they don’t play each other, they will end up with one of the truely great small school rivalries in the country.