Over on our Facebook page we have polls up asking about the best rivalries in college football and college basketball, but today I started thinking about what the best rivalry in college sports is. All college sports, not just football and basketball. That one’s a little more difficult. Duke-North Carolina is leading in our college basketball poll right now, but when those two schools play in football, is the intensity level as high? Or when they play in baseball, volleyball, or any other sport.

There’s a little more thinking that goes into this question than the poll choices. I’m not actually sure that any of the rivalries in our college football and college basketball polls would be chosen as the best overall collegiate rivalry. Oklahoma-Texas, Kentucky-Louisville and Alabama-Auburn seem like the most likely ones that could be considered. They stand out as the best of the choices we gave in the two polls.

USC-UCLA, Oregon-Oregon State, Clemson-South Carolina and Michigan-Michigan State all come to mind as possibilities for the best overall rivalry. It’s probably not a shock to anyone that all but one of these that I’ve named are intra-state rivals.

So what do you think? Which one’s the best, most intense? I’m actually not sure. It’s a difficult choice to make.