No matter which players take the field, what year it is or which sport is being played, rivalries will always exist in college sports.
It's what truly sets them apart from pro sports - the players may not always be the same, but the emotions are unchanged. In the big leagues, teams' identities often change as players come and go, and rivalries tend to transform as the balance of power shifts.
In college, though, that's not generally the case. The only thing that can really dissolve a rivalry is when the teams no longer play on a regular basis. It doesn't matter if Michigan's football team is having a down year - the Wolverines will always be ready to play their best game when Ohio State comes to town. The same goes for Duke and North Carolina in basketball or Alabama and Auburn on the gridiron.
The UF football team is particularly interesting when it comes to this topic.
ESPN's Pat Forde wrote about the hottest rivalries in college football right now, and the Gators had two appearances in the top three spots: against Tennessee at No. 1 and against Georgia at No. 3.
So even without mentioning one of the biggest in-state rivalries in the country in any sport, UF will play two of the most anticipated games when the college football season starts in just under two months.
The Gators have a number of strong rivalries in every sport - not just football - for a number of reasons. First of all, the Southeastern Conference breeds intense competition. Football is a religion in the south, a way of life for many people. Second, all three in-state college sports powerhouses - UF, FSU and Miami - have been rivals with each other at some point or another. Although the UF-UM relationship has dulled recently, it had its moments.
So, UF is in an overly competitive conference and an overly competitive state, and rivalries are generally built by either geographical convenience or in-conference power struggles.
We discussed this issue on the alligatorSports Podcast way back on April 14, and none of the four participants had identical lists of UF's top three rivals.
That's what makes this topic interesting: Everyone has different qualifications in terms of what makes a great rivalry.
For some, football is king, and everything else is secondary. For others, the schools must be competitive in every sport. For some, in-state rivalries are more compelling because of the competing fans and the fact that many of the players grew up together. For others, conference matchups matter more simply because they have a larger impact on the team's postseason destiny. For some, it's all about how much history the schools have. For others, today's hottest rivalries are more interesting because they are shaping the future.
I tried to take all that into account when making this short list of UF's top three rivals:
1) FSU: To me, this will never be toppled. It has the right combination of all of the above factors, with the obvious exception of the conference rivalry. It doesn't matter if it's football or tennis - players, coaches and fans on both sides know the importance of this game in every sport.
2) Georgia: In one of my first classes at UF, my TA (whose other job was a priest, mind you) told us he generally saved the word "hate" for the devil, but he wanted everyone to hate anything and everything that came out of Athens, Ga. That's a pretty strong statement, and it reflects the amount of hostility the UF-Georgia rivalry contains. Whether it's at the event formerly known as the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville, at a gymnastics meet in the O'Connell Center or in a profanity-laced conversation about jean shorts, this is a deeply rooted, intense rivalry.
3) Tennessee: Having lived in the Volunteer State for nearly two years, I'll admit I'm a little closer to this rivalry than most UF students. However, Lane Kiffin really took it to another level, even without coaching a game. With the controversial recruitment of Nu'Keese Richardson and public taunting of Urban Meyer, Kiffin has stoked the flames of this in-conference rivalry, and it's showing across all sports. When Tennessee's softball team came to Gainesville for a two-day series, Meyer was in the press box one day, and Tim Tebow was there the other day. Although Senior Day against FSU will be the most exciting experience in The Swamp this year, it's hard to argue against Sept. 19 being the most anticipated day of the season.
