what?
I hope you don't think people outside of tOSU/Michigan fans pass down stories of The Game from generation to generation. because we don't.
you're also kidding yourself if you don't think other schools view their big rivalry series with the same enthusiasm and hate as y'all and Michigan.
just because people in Ohio don't give a shit about LSU/Ole Miss, doesn't mean we don't.
Compare LSU-Ole Miss to Oregon-Washington, Wisconsin-Minnesota, Utah-BYU, Kansas-Missouri, etc. and other ‘hated rivals’. We’re not trying to pretend the LSU and Ole Miss programs don’t hate each other, it’s just not in the same ballpark as The Game.
If just folks in SEC country were asked to name the most heated rivalries within the conference, it wouldn’t get mentioned on equal terms with the Iron Bowl, the now-SEC Red River Shootout, the WLOCP, and probably a couple more.
And they will be one of your 3 ongoing every-year opponents, but the fact that it’s not the final game of the year, when the Golden Boot and the Egg Bowl are, gives it less of a spotlight, certainly on a national scale. You each have a separate, season-ending rivalry game.
I understand rivalries don’t have to be national to be intense; hell, Lafayette and Lehigh hate each other, but the fact that The Game has impacted so many Natty opportunities adds to its intensity. Playing each other 50 times when both teams are ranked definitely raises the stakes.