College Football's most notable rivalries

I've always felt like the Iowa rivalry was a bit forced when the move to the BIG happened. It makes sense, given the close proximity of the schools and fan bases, but I agree that it takes time to build a rivalry. I think the game this week could go a long way in helping that rivalry grow, but it takes time and helps if both teams are at least somewhat relevant. That's what was so great about the OU rivalry; the game usually meant something on the national scale.

One of the most heated rivalries is often forgotten, and that's ASU/UofA. They've played 89 times and the schools and fan bases HATE each other. It gets really nasty, but it's also a lot of fun to be a part of.

 
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
Anyone that lives east of Columbus, which would translate to a good majority of Nebraskans/Nebraska fans, lives close to Iowa. If you live in eastern Nebraska, you are more likely to interact with Iowa fans, due to geographical proximity. How much money would you like to bet that there are more primary Iowa fans living in Lincoln/Omaha than there are OSU/MU/PSU/MSU/UT/UW/OU/etc. fans?
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I've lived my whole life in that geographic area and my interactions with Iowa fans can be counted on the fingers of one hand. That includes both games they've played here since the merger.

Based on team gear, bumper stickers, etc, that I've seen around Lincoln these past nearly 30 years, I'd go with Michigan as the #1 expat fan base in Lincoln, followed by Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, etc. Not even joking when I say that Iowa Fan is barely a blip on the radar here. I've seen more Oregon gear in the past year than I've seen Iowa gear in 30 years.

There are more Colorado Buffaloes fans in Lincoln to this day than Iowa fans.

 
knapplc said:
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
Anyone that lives east of Columbus, which would translate to a good majority of Nebraskans/Nebraska fans, lives close to Iowa. If you live in eastern Nebraska, you are more likely to interact with Iowa fans, due to geographical proximity. How much money would you like to bet that there are more primary Iowa fans living in Lincoln/Omaha than there are OSU/MU/PSU/MSU/UT/UW/OU/etc. fans?
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I've lived my whole life in that geographic area and my interactions with Iowa fans can be counted on the fingers of one hand. That includes both games they've played here since the merger.

Based on team gear, bumper stickers, etc, that I've seen around Lincoln these past nearly 30 years, I'd go with Michigan as the #1 expat fan base in Lincoln, followed by Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, etc. Not even joking when I say that Iowa Fan is barely a blip on the radar here. I've seen more Oregon gear in the past year than I've seen Iowa gear in 30 years.

There are more Colorado Buffaloes fans in Lincoln to this day than Iowa fans.
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I agree on Michigan but see quite a bit of Alabama too. I think the Alabama stuff is just due to bandwagoners, though.

 
All of that stuff is due to bandwagoners. Scheels sells the college apparel of all those schools because they're successful brands. I own Ohio State shorts, Kentucky shorts, Florida shirts, etc. because I liked the gear when I was younger.

I'm starting to think knapp intentionally avoids any Iowa fans
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Either that or he's recycling his fingers in counting!

 
No, there just aren't many Iowa fans in Nebraska. Certainly not permeating an area the width of the state east of Columbus. If anything there's a bunch in Omaha, but that's it. That's also why the people most interested in hating on Iowa are concentrated in Omaha.

 
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I've lived in Lincoln 5 years and never seen anyone wearing Iowa gear unless they were at an Iowa game played in Lincoln. I did know an Iowa State fan once.

 
Moiraine said:
I've lived in Lincoln 5 years and never seen anyone wearing Iowa gear unless they were at an Iowa game played in Lincoln. I did know an Iowa State fan once.
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God that sounds glorious.............I want to pull my hair out right now. My facebook feed is filled with Iowa fans running their chops. Please lord let us win!!!!
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The thing about a lot of Iowa fans, is that they spend more time talking about Nebraska than their own team. It's bizzare. I see it on my Facebook feed, and in the few I keep in contact with back home. They're obsessed with making sure Nebraska fans know it isn't the 90's anymore.

 
I have to echo knapp's position on this Iowa rivalry thing. It just isn't a thing for the average Nebraska fan who does not reside in Omaha or in Iowa. Sorry but they're way down my list of wannabe rivals. Does that mean I want to win any less? No. I would love to ruin their undefeated season and contrary to what some claim, I think Nebraska raining on their perfect season would go much further in contributing to an actual eventual rivalry than if Iowa wins. I mean Iowa winning would not be any kind of surprise and really does little to harm our season other than making us ineligible for a bowl game. 6-6 or 5-7 machts nicht. But Iowa suffering their first loss, not being undefeated, getting knocked out of 4 team playoff contention, well that'll leave a mark on Hawkeye nation for quite a while. Those are the types of losses that fuel real rivalries.

 
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knapplc said:
...... Since the early 1970s when Nebraska battled Oklahoma for the Big 8 Championship (and often a berth in the National Championship Game), the day after Thanksgiving has become known to Nebraskans as the day they play their rival.

... The Big Ten in all their wisdom decided that Nebraska Fan, once again, could be enticed by something shiny - a NEW rivalry, against natural foe Iowa. And thus was born from some Indianapolis conference room the next chapter in this saga.
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Knapp, I want to clarify a couple of points that you made in your original post.

1) While Nebraska's game with Oklahoma has been relatively consistently on this weekend, it hasn't always been on Friday. A couple of years we didn't even play Oklahoma!

We played Oklahoma on Thanksgiving day in 1965 - 1967 and 1971 - 1972.

We played Oklahoma on Black Friday in 1973, 1976, 1977, and only once in the 1980's!

We played Missouri on the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 1978 and Colorado in 1987.

All of the other years we played Oklahoma on Saturdays after Thanksgiving.

The Black Friday tradition really started (consistently) in 1990, and by 1996 it was Colorado.

my source: 100 Things Nebraska Fans should Know and Do Before they Die (book)

https://books.google.com/books?id=CbCwAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA263&lpg=PA263&dq=100+things+nebraska+fans+should+know+do+before+they+die+black+friday+game&source=bl&ots=l_jP19N58H&sig=uy_gbSZa7pD8lh715ixQfm_wJ7c&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivgcaFwqzJAhUJ9WMKHVVJBQgQ6AEITDAC#v=onepage&q=100%20things%20nebraska%20fans%20should%20know%20do%20before%20they%20die%20black%20friday%20game&f=false

2) Tom Osborne actually made a request to Jim Delany that the Huskers be allowed to play Iowa on Black Friday. It wasn't the Big Ten that forced this game on us.

same source.

 
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The Black Friday game needs to be Wisconsin as it will likely be for the division title 95% of the time. That is what made the OU series great is that there was something on the line for both teams. There will never be anything on the line against Iowa as they won't be this good again for another decade or more.

 
IA State Husker said:
knapplc said:
...... Since the early 1970s when Nebraska battled Oklahoma for the Big 8 Championship (and often a berth in the National Championship Game), the day after Thanksgiving has become known to Nebraskans as the day they play their rival.

... The Big Ten in all their wisdom decided that Nebraska Fan, once again, could be enticed by something shiny - a NEW rivalry, against natural foe Iowa. And thus was born from some Indianapolis conference room the next chapter in this saga.
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2) Tom Osborne actually made a request to Jim Delany that the Huskers be allowed to play Iowa on Black Friday. It wasn't the Big Ten that forced this game on us.

same source.
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Well then Tom messed this up just as bad as he did his coaching hires as this game makes no sense to play at the end of the year.

 
knapplc said:
But a funny thing happened on the way to corporatizing College Football - when the Big XII was formed, Oklahoma chose to play their real rival after Thanksgiving - Texas, not Nebraska. The Big XII thought long and hard about who could replace Oklahoma on Black Friday, and ended up foisting Colorado off on us.
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Huh? When did they play after Thanksgiving? Never, I'm pretty sure. Texas continued their game with A&M until A&M went to the SEC. We stopped playing Oklahoma every year since they were in a different division, that's why we stopped playing them after Thanksgiving. It wasn't going to be an annual game anymore.

 
More often than not, I remember playing Oklahoma before Thanksgiving. A look at our schedules from the 80s suggest it happened every year except '82 and '83. OU used to play Oklahoma State after us.... one phrase I used to get really sick of hearing in those days was "OU will head to the Orange Bowl provided they can take care of Oklahoma State next week".... OSU had some good teams then but funny enough they never helped us out on that front once.

I'm pretty sure '82 was the only time Nebraska ever played Oklahoma on Black Friday before 1990. I know we played them on Thanksgiving or on the Saturday after on occasion. It was a fairly dynamic thing, and the practice of playing college games anywhere on the Friday wasn't a common thing until the 90s.

 
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