Hello everyone I hope everyone is having a great day today. I'm a student at NKU and I wanted to learn more about Cal's Rivals and I thought no better way than jumping into this message board. With the help of message board members beginning in 2014, we the students and professors of the Know Rivalry Project began answering this question and others related to rivalry in the NCAA FBS. Please help us update and expand our results to ensure that the Golden Bears are included by taking 9 minutes to complete our newest survey:

NCAA FBS: https://umassamherst.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3FdJ8eN2EgFCfCB?grpID=1051&mbsrc=mb

Our previous results have been featured in numerous sports media outlets, as well as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. You can view those results, links to media coverage, and learn more about us at our KnowRivalry.com website BUT we'd prefer you didn't until you completed the survey via the link above... we don't want to influence your opinions provided in the survey.
We use the Qualtrics online survey software for data collection. This academic research has been approved by two US universities' Institutional Review Boards (IRB) and it poses no risks to respondents. You'll find more information on the disclosure agreement that is required to start the survey. There are plenty of other teams you can look into as well on the site if you have other favorite teams. I'd love to know more in this thread about why certain teams are rivals. Thank you for helping us to include the Golden Bears by participating and please share this with any other fans that may also help.

Zachary Beal, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. Joe Cobbs, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. David Tyler, University of MassachusettsAmherst

sportprof101 said:

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Hello everyone I hope everyone is having a great day today. I'm a student at NKU and I wanted to learn more about Cal's Rivals and I thought no better way than jumping into this message board. With the help of message board members beginning in 2014, we the students and professors of the Know Rivalry Project began answering this question and others related to rivalry in the NCAA FBS. Please help us update and expand our results to ensure that the Golden Bears are included by taking 9 minutes to complete our newest survey:

NCAA FBS: https://umassamherst.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3FdJ8eN2EgFCfCB?grpID=1051&mbsrc=mb

Our previous results have been featured in numerous sports media outlets, as well as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. You can view those results, links to media coverage, and learn more about us at our KnowRivalry.com website BUT we'd prefer you didn't until you completed the survey via the link above... we don't want to influence your opinions provided in the survey.
We use the Qualtrics online survey software for data collection. This academic research has been approved by two US universities' Institutional Review Boards (IRB) and it poses no risks to respondents. You'll find more information on the disclosure agreement that is required to start the survey. There are plenty of other teams you can look into as well on the site if you have other favorite teams. I'd love to know more in this thread about why certain teams are rivals. Thank you for helping us to include the Golden Bears by participating and please share this with any other fans that may also help.

Zachary Beal, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. Joe Cobbs, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. David Tyler, University of MassachusettsAmherst

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I don't respond to internet questionnaires
But I don't mind answering through BI.
IMO Top six Rivals for Cal football are in order of importance:
1. Stanfurd (often misspelled as Stanford)
2. USC
3. UCLA.
4. Oregon
5. Washington
6.Washington State
As for the rest, it all depends on which is ranked highest.

I agree with your list. It highlights that we should be in the south where our rivals are. That ship left when we went to the Pac 12 but that ship will come around again since the conferences are no longer cast in iron.

GivemTheAxe said:

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sportprof101 said:

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Hello everyone I hope everyone is having a great day today. I'm a student at NKU and I wanted to learn more about Cal's Rivals and I thought no better way than jumping into this message board. With the help of message board members beginning in 2014, we the students and professors of the Know Rivalry Project began answering this question and others related to rivalry in the NCAA FBS. Please help us update and expand our results to ensure that the Golden Bears are included by taking 9 minutes to complete our newest survey:

NCAA FBS: https://umassamherst.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3FdJ8eN2EgFCfCB?grpID=1051&mbsrc=mb

Our previous results have been featured in numerous sports media outlets, as well as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. You can view those results, links to media coverage, and learn more about us at our KnowRivalry.com website BUT we'd prefer you didn't until you completed the survey via the link above... we don't want to influence your opinions provided in the survey.
We use the Qualtrics online survey software for data collection. This academic research has been approved by two US universities' Institutional Review Boards (IRB) and it poses no risks to respondents. You'll find more information on the disclosure agreement that is required to start the survey. There are plenty of other teams you can look into as well on the site if you have other favorite teams. I'd love to know more in this thread about why certain teams are rivals. Thank you for helping us to include the Golden Bears by participating and please share this with any other fans that may also help.

Zachary Beal, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. Joe Cobbs, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. David Tyler, University of MassachusettsAmherst

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I don't respond to internet questionnaires
But I don't mind answering through BI.
IMO Top six Rivals for Cal football are in order of importance:
1. Stanfurd (often misspelled as Stanford)
2. USC
3. UCLA.
4. Oregon
5. Washington
6.Washington State
As for the rest, it all depends on which is ranked highest.

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1. Stanford


2. USC
3. UCLA


4. Washington
5. Oregon

I would have never guessed what NKU was.We should play them.

calumnus said:

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GivemTheAxe said:

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sportprof101 said:

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Hello everyone I hope everyone is having a great day today. I'm a student at NKU and I wanted to learn more about Cal's Rivals and I thought no better way than jumping into this message board. With the help of message board members beginning in 2014, we the students and professors of the Know Rivalry Project began answering this question and others related to rivalry in the NCAA FBS. Please help us update and expand our results to ensure that the Golden Bears are included by taking 9 minutes to complete our newest survey:

NCAA FBS: https://umassamherst.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3FdJ8eN2EgFCfCB?grpID=1051&mbsrc=mb

Our previous results have been featured in numerous sports media outlets, as well as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. You can view those results, links to media coverage, and learn more about us at our KnowRivalry.com website BUT we'd prefer you didn't until you completed the survey via the link above... we don't want to influence your opinions provided in the survey.
We use the Qualtrics online survey software for data collection. This academic research has been approved by two US universities' Institutional Review Boards (IRB) and it poses no risks to respondents. You'll find more information on the disclosure agreement that is required to start the survey. There are plenty of other teams you can look into as well on the site if you have other favorite teams. I'd love to know more in this thread about why certain teams are rivals. Thank you for helping us to include the Golden Bears by participating and please share this with any other fans that may also help.

Zachary Beal, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. Joe Cobbs, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. David Tyler, University of MassachusettsAmherst

---

I don't respond to internet questionnaires
But I don't mind answering through BI.
IMO Top six Rivals for Cal football are in order of importance:
1. Stanfurd (often misspelled as Stanford)
2. USC
3. UCLA.
4. Oregon
5. Washington
6.Washington State
As for the rest, it all depends on which is ranked highest.

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1. Stanford


2. USC
3. UCLA


4. Washington
5. Oregon

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We have a winner! (and note that the spacing is important)

sportprof101 said:

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Hello everyone I hope everyone is having a great day today. I'm a student at NKU and I wanted to learn more about Cal's Rivals and I thought no better way than jumping into this message board. With the help of message board members beginning in 2014, we the students and professors of the Know Rivalry Project began answering this question and others related to rivalry in the NCAA FBS. Please help us update and expand our results to ensure that the Golden Bears are included by taking 9 minutes to complete our newest survey:

NCAA FBS: https://umassamherst.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3FdJ8eN2EgFCfCB?grpID=1051&mbsrc=mb

Our previous results have been featured in numerous sports media outlets, as well as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. You can view those results, links to media coverage, and learn more about us at our KnowRivalry.com website BUT we'd prefer you didn't until you completed the survey via the link above... we don't want to influence your opinions provided in the survey.
We use the Qualtrics online survey software for data collection. This academic research has been approved by two US universities' Institutional Review Boards (IRB) and it poses no risks to respondents. You'll find more information on the disclosure agreement that is required to start the survey. There are plenty of other teams you can look into as well on the site if you have other favorite teams. I'd love to know more in this thread about why certain teams are rivals. Thank you for helping us to include the Golden Bears by participating and please share this with any other fans that may also help.

Zachary Beal, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. Joe Cobbs, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. David Tyler, University of MassachusettsAmherst

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1. Indiana
2. Slippery Rock
3. West Chester

Oh wait... that's the California University in Pennsylvania. Never mind.

Calumnus has it right.

The reason you need to put Washington in front of Oregon is over the years, Washington has been a higher profile and better program. I know recent years will dispute that. But if you look at the overall history of Cal football, Washington is a bigger foe. PLUS, recall that when we were unable to play stanford for Big Game, Washington became the Big Game foe.

However, somehow he misspelled U$C

TomBear said:

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Calumnus has it right.

The reason you need to put Washington in front of Oregon is over the years, Washington has been a higher profile and better program. I know recent years will dispute that. But if you look at the overall history of Cal football, Washington is a bigger foe. PLUS, recall that when we were unable to play stanford for Big Game, Washington became the Big Game foe.

However, somehow he misspelled U$C

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Oregon has the best Pac 10 / 12 record since 1990.

TomBear said:

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Calumnus has it right.

The reason you need to put Washington in front of Oregon is over the years, Washington has been a higher profile and better program. I know recent years will dispute that. But if you look at the overall history of Cal football, Washington is a bigger foe. PLUS, recall that when we were unable to play stanford for Big Game, Washington became the Big Game foe.

However, somehow he misspelled U$C

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Beyond football, UW is more of a rival in academics too and Seattle more a rival with the Bay Area, from tech, to food, coffee, pro sports....Eugene/Portland? Not so much.

One measure of the rivalry: I hated when we hired Gilbertson from UW and he praised UW. Nobody bats an eye when we hire guys with Oregon backgrounds like Tedford, Wilcox, Sirmon, Musgrave... and they praise Oregon. Before they were good we got along fine with them (much like Oregon State).

Not only was UW the Big Game opponent from 1915-1919, but as a consequence they are the only school besides Stanford that has an entire Cal fight song directed at them, Fight 'Em (aka Down From the North). Lyrics and an audio download are here: https://calspirit.berkeley.edu/fightsongs.php

I lived near Seattle (Mukilteo) from 1983-1992, worked with many UW grads and observed the culture. Academically, they considered UW juuuuuuuust barely below Cal (there was no point in arguing with them) and well above the other public universities in the Pac10/12. I will say that when I felt homesick for Berkeley, my wife and I would head over to the U District as it had a very similar vibe. In fact, University Way is colloquially referred to as "The Ave". Wonder where they got that . . .

GivemTheAxe said:

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sportprof101 said:

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Hello everyone I hope everyone is having a great day today. I'm a student at NKU and I wanted to learn more about Cal's Rivals and I thought no better way than jumping into this message board. With the help of message board members beginning in 2014, we the students and professors of the Know Rivalry Project began answering this question and others related to rivalry in the NCAA FBS. Please help us update and expand our results to ensure that the Golden Bears are included by taking 9 minutes to complete our newest survey:

NCAA FBS: https://umassamherst.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3FdJ8eN2EgFCfCB?grpID=1051&mbsrc=mb

Our previous results have been featured in numerous sports media outlets, as well as the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. You can view those results, links to media coverage, and learn more about us at our KnowRivalry.com website BUT we'd prefer you didn't until you completed the survey via the link above... we don't want to influence your opinions provided in the survey.
We use the Qualtrics online survey software for data collection. This academic research has been approved by two US universities' Institutional Review Boards (IRB) and it poses no risks to respondents. You'll find more information on the disclosure agreement that is required to start the survey. There are plenty of other teams you can look into as well on the site if you have other favorite teams. I'd love to know more in this thread about why certain teams are rivals. Thank you for helping us to include the Golden Bears by participating and please share this with any other fans that may also help.

Zachary Beal, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. Joe Cobbs, Northern Kentucky University
Dr. David Tyler, University of MassachusettsAmherst

---

I don't respond to internet questionnaires
But I don't mind answering through BI.
IMO Top six Rivals for Cal football are in order of importance:
1. Stanfurd (often misspelled as Stanford)
2. USC
3. UCLA.
4. Oregon
5. Washington
6.Washington State
As for the rest, it all depends on which is ranked highest.

I agree with the list, but if are explaining it to an outsider, I would suggest that Oregon would be like 5th or 6th, (with blank spots) because the top 3 is a much bigger deal than the rest of the list...IMO of course....

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Hearst, your point about the song was on my mind as I was writing my comment. Well played.

And your second paragraph almost mimics my experience. UW became my "second" Pac team when I experienced my first game at Husky Stadium in the early '70s. Their band patterned itself after Cal Band, and the overall vibe at Husky Stadium was as close to Berkeley/Bay Area as I could find. The architecture at UW is impressive as well. When I moved to Seattle in the '80s, it was an easy transition.

Haven't been back to the stadium since the renovation. My last experiences there were in the press box, located UNDERNEATH the overhang on the west side of the stadium. It was WAY way up there and hanging right over the stands. To this day I get chills thinking about it.

Back to the main topic..... I'd be interested to get feedback from folks regarding their feeling about how the Rose Bowl has evolved from a Pac vs. Big 10 festival to the more commercialized playoff venue. When we talk about rivals, I still have, in the back of my mind, a desire to play Big 10 representative such as Ohio State, Michigan or Northwestern in THE Rose Bowl game. These days, now, things have to align themselves just right for that to happen, unfortunately. But when you talk about rivalries, I still have that conference vs. conference dream in the back of my mind. I wonder if that thought is as strong now with so many people having grown up with some aspect of the playoff system.

HearstMining said:

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Not only was UW the Big Game opponent from 1915-1919, but as a consequence they are the only school besides Stanford that has an entire Cal fight song directed at them, Fight 'Em (aka Down From the North). Lyrics and an audio download are here: https://calspirit.berkeley.edu/fightsongs.php

I lived near Seattle (Mukilteo) from 1983-1992, worked with many UW grads and observed the culture. Academically, they considered UW juuuuuuuust barely below Cal (there was no point in arguing with them) and well above the other public universities in the Pac10/12. I will say that when I felt homesick for Berkeley, my wife and I would head over to the U District as it had a very similar vibe. In fact, University Way is colloquially referred to as "The Ave". Wonder where they got that . . .

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I agree with Washington over Oregon.

I don't consider Oregon a rival in any way and I doubt they consider Cal a rival. A rival is a team you compete with and hate regardless of the quality of their team (or yours). Hating a team because they are good is just jealousy and it is also not much of a rivalry if it is one-sided. Lots of schools claim to be rivals with USC, but in reality USC's biggest rivals are UCLA and Stanford (and Notre Dame but only in football).

To me Cal's biggest rivals are:

1. Stanford

2. UCLA
3. USC
(tie, but tiebreaker to UCLA becuse they compete with us in every possible way whereas USC is just obnoxious and could care less about Cal)

4. Washington
(long rivalry but we are a blip on their radar behind Oregon and Wazzu)

Anyone else: don't care, although it is nice to beat the Ducks because as their program has gotten more successful their fans have gotten unbearable

Some ramblings on rivals and on the bowl versus playoffs:

As a member of a old SC fan family (SC was our college because it was the tiny southern California school going against the big schools (yep that was a thing in the 1920s-40s in my family) and so we looked at anything that enhanced SC's standing and that translates easily into rivalries. That is why the Notre Dame rivalry is more important to SC fans than any other rivalry. Converting to Cal, I discovered the Stanford rivalry in all things. Cal has no out of conference rival in football as do lots of colleges, particularly those back east and south that would enhance our national standing like SC did and as Stanford is doing, again like SC, with Notre Dame.


Now about the other question, bowls and playoffs:


I think that there is fandom separation in the bowl versus playoff and it is due to age and then again by college experience at least in the old Pac 8-10 world. I am not sure about such a line anywhere else in the country. On one side of the line are the playoff supporters and on the other side are the bowl configuration who are really only supporters of the old Rose Bowl.

Growing up in LA, I would say that the playoff supporters were always more numerous due to the success of SC while Cal fans generally wanted a Rose Bowl. Of course, there will be supporters for either outside of their age or college fandom. I also think that the Rose Bowl supporters are fewer each year in comparison to the playoff supporters. I think that the playoff supporters really can't believe that some don't care about a national championship in football. (an aside: Unbelievably there was no state high school championship in football in California for many decades either)



Now about the Rose Bowl... In my biased view, the Rose Bowl was unique. In 1970, remember, there were only 4 major bowls (Rose, Cotton, Sugar and Orange) and a few secondary bowls (Peach, Sun, Gator, Tangerine, Liberty). Growing up, the Rose Bowl was a national institution as compared to any other bowl and in my opinion that was due both to the game itself (Big 10 v. Pac 8) and the parade. While there was probably other non game events tied to the other bowls, in my memory, only the Orange Bowl had such an event and it paled in comparison to the Rose Parade.

Now I think that for most of the country the major bowls are dead and that that they are only locations for playoff games. Both in years when it is kind of its old self and in years it is only a playoff location, the Rose Parade keeps the Rose Bowl game in some kind of unique zombie status... is it alive...no... is it dead ...mainly.

In conclusion, I understand the thrill of being number one that you get from a playoff (I would vote for 8 or 16 teams and not the silly 4 team or the old 2 team playoff). However, going out a winner as do the winners of bowl games has a value too. The minor bowls give the winners that thrill. Maybe the Rose Bowl should look there?

Bonus points on this thread to HearstMining and TomBear for referencing the Cal song "Fight 'Em" ("Down from the north come the Purple and Gold... "). And if you out there can hum the tune, points to you, as well.

oskidunker said:

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I would have never guessed what NKU was.We should play them.

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Amusingly I just assumed this was referencing Nike U. Guess that shows which school gets one of my votes I find the team gauche and the epitome of the collegiate nouveau riche (come into some money and pretend like you are an athletic blue blood since the days of leather helmets) but whatever. If they want to strut they've earned it. It's really the fans that set them apart. If I took my 10 most unpleasant opposing fan interactions they'd get at least half the slots. A bigger group of braying jackasses you'd be hard pressed to find.

calumnus said:

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TomBear said:

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Calumnus has it right.

The reason you need to put Washington in front of Oregon is over the years, Washington has been a higher profile and better program. I know recent years will dispute that. But if you look at the overall history of Cal football, Washington is a bigger foe. PLUS, recall that when we were unable to play stanford for Big Game, Washington became the Big Game foe.

However, somehow he misspelled U$C

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Beyond football, UW is more of a rival in academics too and Seattle more a rival with the Bay Area, from tech, to food, coffee, pro sports....Eugene/Portland? Not so much.

One measure of the rivalry: I hated when we hired Gilbertson from UW and he praised UW. Nobody bats an eye when we hire guys with Oregon backgrounds like Tedford, Wilcox, Sirmon, Musgrave... and they praise Oregon. Before they were good we got along fine with them (much like Oregon State).

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I hear what you are saying and you make some very good points but I remember more exciting wins against UO than I do against UW.

The great comeback from 30 points down to win in the final minutes of play in 1993 was my favorite.

But there were many others such as the 2007 fumble by UO into and out of the end zone to save the Cal win.

The 2006 game was a fun dominant Cal win at CMS.

The 2020 game was another classic. UO comes in with one of the best offenses in CFB this year (I know it was a bad year for CFB) Cal Defense rises to the occasion and clamps down on UO's formidable offense in the second half. The TV announcers in the first half were all raving about the UO phenomenon at QB. "He can do everything".
During the entire second half he was running for his life. He was made to look very average.

Thank you to everyone that replied and helped out! I appreciate the conversation and I learned so much!

dimitrig said:

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HearstMining said:

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Not only was UW the Big Game opponent from 1915-1919, but as a consequence they are the only school besides Stanford that has an entire Cal fight song directed at them, Fight 'Em (aka Down From the North). Lyrics and an audio download are here: https://calspirit.berkeley.edu/fightsongs.php

I lived near Seattle (Mukilteo) from 1983-1992, worked with many UW grads and observed the culture. Academically, they considered UW juuuuuuuust barely below Cal (there was no point in arguing with them) and well above the other public universities in the Pac10/12. I will say that when I felt homesick for Berkeley, my wife and I would head over to the U District as it had a very similar vibe. In fact, University Way is colloquially referred to as "The Ave". Wonder where they got that . . .

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I agree with Washington over Oregon.

I don't consider Oregon a rival in any way and I doubt they consider Cal a rival. A rival is a team you compete with and hate regardless of the quality of their team (or yours). Hating a team because they are good is just jealousy and it is also not much of a rivalry if it is one-sided. Lots of schools claim to be rivals with USC, but in reality USC's biggest rivals are UCLA and Stanford (and Notre Dame but only in football).

To me Cal's biggest rivals are:

1. Stanford

2. UCLA
3. USC
(tie, but tiebreaker to UCLA becuse they compete with us in every possible way whereas USC is just obnoxious and could care less about Cal)

4. Washington
(long rivalry but we are a blip on their radar behind Oregon and Wazzu)

Anyone else: don't care, although it is nice to beat the Ducks because as their program has gotten more successful their fans have gotten unbearable

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I tend to agree with this, but IMHO, it's more like this:

1. Stanfurd Junior University

2. UCLA
3. U$C

UCLA is second because they are our little brothers in the UC system and try to compete with us but still fall short academically. Living in SoCal, there are a lot more USC fans around, so beating USC is always fun. However, USC is nowhere near even coming close to being on par with Cal academically. It's still a school for entitled spoiled brats with more money than brains. That said, I've met some smart $C alum, though they all had graduate degrees from $C.

As for the rest, I really don't consider them rivals. Sure, they may be in the same athletic conference but that doesn't make them our rivals. At best, each school happens to host an athletic team that may oppose ours on any given day.

1. Harvard
2. MIT
3. Oxford
4. Stanfurd Junior College

ColoradoBear said:

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1. Harvard
2. MIT
3. Oxford
4. Stanfurd Junior College

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Academically, sure.

I am firmly of the camp that Cal basically has four TRADITIONAL rivals, the top three being the other in-state PAC-12 teams:

#1 Stanford, because of 1. geographic proximity, 2. similar superior academics, 3. History (the Big Game is the oldest college rivalry in the Western US), and 4. clash if public vs private institution.

#2 USC, because of 1. Clash of northern vs. southern California, 2. History (I believe we've played them more than any other team), and 3. Clash of public vs. private

#3 UCLA, because of 1. Clash of northern vs southern California, 2. They were molded in our image (Bears vs Bruins), 3. "They stole our song"

a distant #4 is Washington, based on the history of what others have mentioned previously.

I consider NONE of the other teams we play "traditional" rivals. However, Cal and Oregon seem to have shared a lot of coaching staff between recently, so some people may consider them rivals. Oregon State has sort of been a rival, simply because relatively recently (last decade or so) our games have been so evenly competitive. But based on THAT, one might make the argument that the University of Arizona is a close rival - a couple of years ago, our record against the Wildcats was something like 18-18-4.

HOWEVER, it is interesting to consider that these schools may not consider Cal their biggest rivals! Stanford is most likely to do so (but recently they've beaten us a lot and they may look beyond us these days). USC almost certainly does not consider us a rival anymore - I suspect they consider UCLA and Notre Dame their rivals, while UCLA certainly considers USC their biggest rival. Washington of course, considers Oregon their biggest rival, even over WSU.

chalcidbear said:

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I am firmly of the camp that Cal basically has four TRADITIONAL rivals, the top three being the other in-state PAC-12 teams:

#1 Stanford, because of 1. geographic proximity, 2. similar superior academics, 3. History (the Big Game is the oldest college rivalry in the Western US), and 4. clash if public vs private institution.

#2 USC, because of 1. Clash of northern vs. southern California, 2. History (I believe we've played them more than any other team), and 3. Clash of public vs. private

#3 UCLA, because of 1. Clash of northern vs southern California, 2. They were molded in our image (Bears vs Bruins), 3. "They stole our song"

a distant #4 is Washington, based on the history of what others have mentioned previously.

I consider NONE of the other teams we play "traditional" rivals. However, Cal and Oregon seem to have shared a lot of coaching staff between recently, so some people may consider them rivals. Oregon State has sort of been a rival, simply because relatively recently (last decade or so) our games have been so evenly competitive. But based on THAT, one might make the argument that the University of Arizona is a close rival - a couple of years ago, our record against the Wildcats was something like 18-18-4.

HOWEVER, it is interesting to consider that these schools may not consider Cal their biggest rivals! Stanford is most likely to do so (but recently they've beaten us a lot and they may look beyond us these days). USC almost certainly does not consider us a rival anymore - I suspect they consider UCLA and Notre Dame their rivals, while UCLA certainly considers USC their biggest rival. Washington of course, considers Oregon their biggest rival, even over WSU.

There was a point when Cal wasn't even playing Washington that frequently, so for some us, its hard to make that connection.
But, I think you could make the argument that after Cal-Furd in football, Cal-Washington Rowing in the 2nd biggest rivalry in Cal sports history.

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