I think there is always a debate for who people feel is the biggest rival for Minnesota (in the west only)
would like people to rank the west teams on who they think is Minnesota’s largest rivals both historically and recently combined.
I’ll start:
1) wisconsin - clearly a toss up between Wisconsin and Iowa...I break the tie by realizing whenever Iowa and Wisconsin play I find myself hoping Iowa wins and wisconsin loses
2) Iowa - see number 1
3) northwestern - tough between 3-4 for northwestern and Nebraska to me...due to history I put northwestern higher. I felt for much of the Mason era and after northwestern and Minnesota have battled for the same position as a clear third tier big ten program (1st tier being Michigan, penn state, Ohio state, 2nd tier being Wisconsin and Iowa, 3rd tier being potentially anyone else).
4) Nebraska - I remember beating them for the first time and thought it had huge potential to be a rivalry game...but as it turns out...it is a situation where when we lose I’m not disappointed because we lost to a good team but because we lost to a bad team. Lack of Nebraska success post Maryland and Rutgers addition makes this slightly lower than northwestern for me.
5) purdue - they just seem to always be a team that’s harder for us to beat than it should be....putting them ahead of
6) Illinois - they are a team that rarely have games that matter to both teams at the same time. I can’t remember any heartbreakers that put them on the list for me
what do all you think?
would like people to rank the west teams on who they think is Minnesota’s largest rivals both historically and recently combined.
I’ll start:
1) wisconsin - clearly a toss up between Wisconsin and Iowa...I break the tie by realizing whenever Iowa and Wisconsin play I find myself hoping Iowa wins and wisconsin loses
2) Iowa - see number 1
3) northwestern - tough between 3-4 for northwestern and Nebraska to me...due to history I put northwestern higher. I felt for much of the Mason era and after northwestern and Minnesota have battled for the same position as a clear third tier big ten program (1st tier being Michigan, penn state, Ohio state, 2nd tier being Wisconsin and Iowa, 3rd tier being potentially anyone else).
4) Nebraska - I remember beating them for the first time and thought it had huge potential to be a rivalry game...but as it turns out...it is a situation where when we lose I’m not disappointed because we lost to a good team but because we lost to a bad team. Lack of Nebraska success post Maryland and Rutgers addition makes this slightly lower than northwestern for me.
5) purdue - they just seem to always be a team that’s harder for us to beat than it should be....putting them ahead of
6) Illinois - they are a team that rarely have games that matter to both teams at the same time. I can’t remember any heartbreakers that put them on the list for me
what do all you think?
