We all know Ohio State-Michigan, Auburn-Alabama, Oklahoma-Texas and other rivalries are among the best in college football. But there are some rivalries out there (mostly in the West) that may go unnoticed on the national radar compared to the more traditional battles, but they are unrivaled in their intensity.â€¨â€¨There have been many lists of “underrated rivalries” but here’s a fresh take, ranked in order.

In the Pacific Northwest, nothing compares to the venom between Oregon and Washington. The Huskies lead the series by 15 games, but the Ducks have won 10 in a row, none closer than 17 points.

1- Oregon vs. Washington

â€¨â€¨This is the most underrated rivalry in the country because the general college football-following population has no idea of the venom that exists between these two programs.To the average college football fan, it’s easy to assume the Ducks biggest “rival” was Oregon State. After all, the schools are not separated by much distance, they play in a game dubbed the “Civil War” every year and it’s an in-state rivalry, which usually (not the use of the word usually) equals more intensity. Same holds true with Washington- you’d think the biggest rival on the schedule was Washington State, which the Huskies battle for the Apple Cup annually. Dig deeper and you will find that very little matches the intensity of Oregon vs. Washington in the Pacific Northwest. “The Civil War game is one we want to win every year and it’s a great rivalry- we don’t like them- but we HATE UDub,” one Oregon fan once told me. Judging from the venom the two fan bases have for one another on the 247Sports message boards, this is true. The “hatred” dates back to 1948- when the Huskies allegedly conspired with another institution to vote Cal into the Rose Bowl rather than the Ducks when the tie-breaker came down to a vote. The Huskies lead the series, which dates back to 1900, 58-43-5 and won 16-of-19 between 1974 and 1993. But, Oregon is currently on a 10-game winning streak with the closest game being a 34-17 win in 2011 in Seattle. That sticks in the crawl of the Huskies big-time.â€¨â€¨

2- Virginia vs. Virginia Techâ€¨â€¨

The Hokies have dominated their in-state rival for the last 15 years, winning 14 of 15 and the last 10 in a row. That has not at all quelled the intensity of the annual battle for the Commonwealth Cup. The fabric of these two institutions has been woven in opposition. “It’s a bunch of wine and cheese rich people against normal people,” one Virginia Tech alum told me one time about the series. Likewise, UVA fans commonly take shots at the “Jokies” (their term) and tout their academic reputation compared to Tech’s. The venom also has been escalated off the field during the last few seasons as Virginia head coach Mike London and his staff have won their share of recruiting battles in the talent-rice Tidewater region of Virginia, which has been a valuable pipeline to Blacksburg during the rise of the Hokies program.

3- Nevada vs. UNLVâ€¨â€¨

This one is completely off of the radar. UNLV hasn’t even existed as an institution for very long (as the ages of colleges go), holding its first class in 1959 and was not granted equal status to its northern counterpart until 1968. In 1969, the two schools played the first game in this rivalry on Thanksgiving Day. UNLV elected to be nicknamed the “Rebels” as a symbolic protest to the school in the north. In fact, on UNLV’s official athletic site, they refuse to call Nevada “Nevada” as most do, they say “Nevada-Reno”. These two schools play every year for the Freemont Cannon and one of the highlights of UNLV’s 7-6 record last season was winning 27-22 against the Wolfpack in Reno. From the Wikipedia page on the rivalry: “Many Nevada students hail from Las Vegas and view UNLV as a glorified community college; UNLV students see Nevada as an overrated, stodgy institution in an uncultured part of the state. In 1993 Wolf Pack coach Jeff Horton left Nevada after one season to coach for UNLV in what is referred to as the Red Defection.” The Wolfpack leads the overall series and since a five-game Rebels win streak from 2000-04, Nevada has won eight of nine.

4- BYU vs. Utah

BYU is owned and administered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Utah is a public university owned and administered by the state of Utah. So, like many of these rivalries the fabric/foundation of both schools is in opposition, even though many Utah fans and students are LDS members. This series is on a two-year hiatus because of the Utes heading to the Pac-12 and the Cougars going Independent and that’s a shame because it’s one of the best in college football when you get right down to it. I once knew a Utah fan who refused to even look at anything with the trademark BYU “Y” on it. I mean, she would get really upset. Utah leads the overall series by a wide margin, 57-34-4 and has won four in a row. The first game between the two schools was in 1896. They will meet again in 2016.

5- Arizona vs. Arizona Stateâ€¨â€¨

This game is referred to as the “Territorial Cup” and became heated in the late 1950s when ASU, then known as Arizona State College, was attempting to become an official university. This move was opposed by the University of Arizona and many of its alums. The measure was put to a statewide vote in 1958. That year, Arizona State defeated UofA, 47-0 on the gridiron (a source of pride for Sun Devils) and became a university officially later that year. This series also facilitated the creation of one of college football’s major bowl games. In 1968, the winner of the rivalry game was set to accept a bid to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, but Wildcats coach Darrell Mudra issued an ultimatum prior to the game that his team would decline the bid unless they were selected regardless of who won. The Sun Bowl invited Arizona, which lost to ASU, 30-7 (part of a nine-game ASU win streak in the series), and that led to the creation of the Fiesta Bowl, which was considered a default bowl for the Sun Devils at the beginning. The game, now played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, is now part of the College Football Playoff. Arizona leads the overall series, 47-39-1. The Sun Devils have won the last two meetings.