LSU is a rival, but not the game I want to win the most. I would trade three wins over LSU for one over Bama. UGA is second because of the history and longevity of the game. LSU is now a strong third, since you are now on our schedule every year. When I was growing up, we played Florida and UT every year, but LSU rarely. Now that you have supplanted those two on the slate, LSU will always be an important game and the rivalry will grow. I just hope that it will grow into an UGA rivalry, passionate but amicable.
I think much of those pre division years, especially in the 70's and early 80's is why LSU was usually at the top of the conference standings, we didn't have to play as many of the good teams in the eastern part of the conference year in and year out. I'm guessing this was due to travel by train, natural rivalries, etc. Back in the day, playing Ole Miss, Bama, Tulane and even UK every year was a hard conference schedule, but when Tulane, Ole Miss and UK's programs went downhill we had a pretty easy conferecne shedule. We had actually played Arkansas more than we had played Auburn, Georgia, Tenn. and had played them one less time than we had played Florida. Ole Miss had played Arkansas a lot too and that is one of the main reasons they were added to the conference. And there were those in the LSU family that wanted us to pull out of the SEC and form a conference with MOO U, Ole Miss, Texas(although we didn't play them a lot), aTm, Bama, Arkansas, etc. as those programs were our biggest rivals for many years. Thank goodness that did not happen.
First, note that the question geauxscott asked in his poll on WEN is "do you consider LSU a rival?" 67% said yes. I'm surprised it wasn't 100%. But the results would have been very different if the question had been "do you consider LSU to be your main rival?" I consider every team in the SEC as a rival since those we play in a given year stand in our way to a successful season which I assume is every school's goal. But for me, LSU is not the bitter rival bama is and never will be. bama is so far out front it doesn't really matter who is second. It's kind of like LSU and Tulane used to be. I would probably put Georgia as second with Tenn., Florida and LSU tied for third. But see what that means.......bama is clearly 1st and the other strong FB programs follow. For sure LSU and Auburn are rivals because we will vie for the SEC West every year, but it just isn't as intense as the rivalry with bama. We don't come into contact with LSU fans on a daily basis. But we do have to live with the arrogant, sanctimonious, crimson koolade drinking bammers every day. Any question who I passionately dislike? :hihi: :hihi: As most Auburn fans say, "my two favorite teams are Auburn and whoever is playing bama." :thumb:
It would be pointless to ask if it was your "main rival"....I should have asked it like this. Where do you rank LSU as a rivalry game 1) Ahead of Bama 2)Behind Bama, but ahead of UGA 3) Behind Bama, tied with UGA 4) Behind both Bama and UGA 5) not a rival at all or something along those lines.... Yes pretty much any decent team that you play every year is a rival.. when I say Rival, i don't just mean a team that you NEED to beat......To me a RIVAL, is deeper than that.
geauxscott....JMO, I'm guessing if you poll folks on WEN with this question, you get a distribution that looked something like this: 1) 0% (unless you voted :hihi: j/k) 2) 7% 3) 10% 4) 81% 5) 2%
that seems about right? when I posted that poll I wasn't wondering if AU thought LSU was bigger than Bama or UGA. I know the answer to that....its not even close. It is getting stronger and stronger though. I don't use the word RIVAL loosely like some do. I don't consider a team that just stands in your way to be a RIVAL. A RIVAL to me has storylines and other things that come with the game other than just needing a win.
Recently, the LSU-Auburn game is a very big rivalry game for both teams because it often determines who wins the SEC West. That doesn't mean the teams have to be rivals. We don't have a long-standing tradition of playing each other & aren't geographically located in a way that makes our fans come into contact very often. I think of a rival as someone I want to lose every game. Someone I don't even pull for in their bowl game to make the SEC look good. Ole Miss is the only program I can personally say that about, and I think Bama would be the only program most Auburn fans could say that about.
