I spent part of Tuesday (10/15) trying to figure out why a section of Notre Dame Twitter was discussing Boston College. Sure they’re on the schedule in late November but they’re 3-3 and so much an after thought right after the USC game and right before the Michigan affair.

Then I stumbled into this New York Times piece and figured out what the to-do was all about.

Essentially this is about a study done to better understand the viewpoints of rivalries from different perspectives. Each participant is given 100 points to distribute to whichever rival they’d like and can use multiple teams for however many points they feel are worthy.

For example: an Indiana basketball fan taking this poll may put 60 points on Purdue then 30 on Kentucky and another 10 on Michigan.

A bit surprising in terms of notoriety, Arizona vs Arizona State actually had the top score for any rivalry in college football. After a second or two of thought it makes sense, simply because who else do either even begin to consider hated foes? The Wildcats and Sun Devils combined to score a 171.76.

For comparison Ohio State and Michigan finished second at 160. OSU had incredible hate for “That school up north” grading them a 91 while Michigan fans “only” gave OSU a 69 thanks to both Notre Dame and Michigan State a significant amount of points.

Speaking of the Irish, how did their fans grade out the rivals?

Shocking to probably no one they placed USC first and Michigan second before a wide gap found third place Michigan State.

In fourth came Navy. Yeah, really hate those Middies! (Kidding, of course)

Then came Stanford.

And finally, with 2 whole points, in checked Boston College as the sixth biggest rival.

Even though games are no longer anywhere near annual I’d still have Miami (Fl) ahead of all but two of these.

But Boston College fans made Notre Dame their biggest nemesis and it wasn’t particularly close. The Irish walked away with a 74 from BC fans and that 72 point gap was the biggest of any listed rivalry in all of college football.

So congrats, Eagles. And congrats again on ’93 and ’02. Those days and hell, even weeks stung. But if it wasn’t for those games I may not even be aware you exist.

Now do everyone a favor and get back to the kids table. And while you’re at it – take Doug Flutie back with you.

Check out KnowRivalry.com if you’d like to learn more about this very important study