/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67027921/_MIL1730.0.jpeg)
Very early in our rivalry debate about the Notre Dame Fighting Irish it was quite clear that there were many MANY opinions out there. While I strongly voiced my thoughts and reasons, I also recognized that this whole debate comes down to personal choice for any slot not named #1 Rival the USC Trojans.
I put out a very unscientific set of polls to provide a fan ranking, and OFD commenter mmurph28 gave it a much more scientific polish.
Here’s the rivalry poll excel document if you want to mess with it.
The second part below was an attempt to restrict points by requiring a 5% share. The idea was to remove any effect of troll votes (such as USC as our # 8 or BC as #1...) It honestly didn’t change much, but I didn’t update it with the final data.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/20071442/Screen_Shot_2020_07_07_at_3.55.33_PM.png)
The Navy apologists obviously put the bat/goat signal out on the interwebs.
As a refresher, this exercise gave free reign as to how these teams were ranked. Personally, I’m not sure how we can look at a team as being a rival of such stature as #2 when the Irish are scheduled to play the Michigan Wolverines again until 2033 (Brendan’s unborn child will have just become a teenager).
But it is what it is. Thanks for your participation, and thanks to mmurph28 for tallying up all the info.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13186301/Screen_Shot_2018_09_30_at_2.15.08_PM.png)