Payton, playing god, combined this original thread with one that has nothing to do with it. I'm restarting it. And will continue to do it all day long until it remains its own thread, where it belongs.
This question goes out to everyone of course, but I'm very interested in getting the thoughts from the Cat fans who regularly post on here.
So, can we really call the UM/MSU match-up a "rivalry".
I know it's easy to do so: the teams are from the same state, they play in the same conference, they don't like one another, they often recruit the same kids. But can it, in all good conscious, be deemed a legitimate rivalry.
Look, I know we all know the football numbers. The Griz have won 2/3 of the games; it appears they are on another streak which may not end anytime soon; since 1980, the Cats have won but 9 games in the series. We could go on, but everyone knows the numbers.
In men's basketball, the Griz have won 11 straight times, putting up numbers to compare with The Streak. UM has represented the BSC in the Dance more than any other program (tied with Weber). They've won the regular season 3 out of the last 4 years and are leading again this year. The last time the Cats won the regular season was 2002, and the Griz went Dancing. The last time MSU went to the NCAAs was 1996.
Yes, the Cats won in women's BB yesterday. But here's all you need to know about women's basketball: Montana leads the series 76-23. Since the formation of women's play in the BSC, the Griz have won the regular season title 21 times. The rest of the league COMBINED has won it 10 times. For NCAA births, it's 20 Griz, 11 remainder of the conference. Selvig has lost 18 games to the Cats in his career. Put another way, Robin has more conference titles than losses to MSU.
So, would any objective outsider consider this a rivalry?
