Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly recently made comments that kind of made it seem like he didn’t think the school’s football rivalry with Michigan was as big a deal as some other rivalries the Irish are involved in (one assumes he means USC). ESPN decided this meant that Kelly doesn’t consider Michigan a rival at all, an interpretation that is certainly unrelated to the fact that they have a vested interest in getting eyeballs on this game. Mark May and Skip Bayless each wistfully recalled a childhood full of imaginary Wolverine/Irish battles that never actually happened (and in Bayless’ case, featured at least one player that never suited up for either school).

Personally, I find the game quite enjoyable, even though I generally hate both teams. There are a handful of games like that throughout the country, games that don’t require a major rooting interest to enjoy. Our Buckeyes are part of one, at times called the greatest rivalry in sports (although I doubt many outside the two fanbases still believe that). ESPN is currently conducting a survey on the topic, and The Game does indeed occupy the top spot (at least, as of this writing). I don’t think you’d get many unbiased arguments about the top seven or so on that list, order notwithstanding.

So instead of throwing out another list of what some idiot thinks are the best rivalries, I’m going to actually figure it out, at least in terms of competitiveness. Among the factors under consideration here are winning percentage of each team, recent average margin of victory, total number of games played and national championship relevance.

Here are the Top Five:

1. The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party: Bonus points to Florida and Georgia for not even agreeing on how many games they’ve played. This matchup takes the top spot based on impressive numbers in recent competitiveness: The Gators lead over the past 10 years, but only 6-4. Average margin of victory over that span is just 11 points, despite a couple of Florida blowouts. The two teams have a combined 10 BCS bowl appearances, with 7 wins and 2 national titles.

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Week 1 is nearly in the books with only the matchup between Florida State and Pittsburgh tonight remaining. Jameis Winston, the talented redshirt freshman, will be making his debut as the Seminoles’ starter. Given a supporting cast that includes running backs James Wilder Jr. and Devonta Freeman along with receivers Rashad Greene and Kenny Shaw, Florida State’s offense has to the potential to be very explosive this season. Hopefully, Winston and company will finish off a great first weekend of college football that included several upsets, some Manziel drama, and a few less-than-stellar performances by top teams including #1 Alabama and #2 Ohio State. Sunday’s game between Louisville and Ohio included Teddy Bridgewater playing beautifully, the return of Michael Dyer, and an amazing play by Ohio kick returner Devin Bass in which he shows incredible balance! Watch here!

1. Seven FCS teams beat FBS teams! This is why it doesn’t matter how teams matchup on paper, folks. Anything can happen and it’s that unpredictability that draws us to this game that we love. #25 Oregon State lost to Eastern Washington and Kansas State was brought down by North Dakota State. To be fair, North Dakota State is the two-time defending FCS national champions and Eastern Washington won 11 games last season so it’s not as if these two teams are horrible. Additionally, while KSU was a BCS team last season, it lost a quarterback who was responsible for 68% of its offensive yardage. Southern Utah (who beat South Alabama) and Northern Iowa (who beat Iowa State) each had losing records last season but still had more combined wins (10) than their opponents (8). South Florida (who lost big to McNeese State and UConn (who lost to Towson) but given USF won just three games last season and is in rebuilding mode that wasn’t all that surprising. UConn won just five games last season and we can’t forget that Towson played pretty well against LSU last season. The Eastern Illinois’ 40-19 beat down of San Diego State was the one that was most surprising. San Diego State was a 9-win team last year that beat the likes of Nevada and Boise State, while Eastern Illinois won just seven games and finished its season with a 48-point FCS playoff loss.

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