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[QUOTE="DoctahLexus, post: 3444967, member: 6798"]
It all really depends on what you think makes a team a top rival. The factor I value the most is the teams we play where the players on both teams openly hate each other, and the fan bases, to some extent, actually follow suit. Every time you play there is noticeable tension between not just the players but the opposing fan bases, even full on incidents between the two. Hopkins has history but when have Hopkins students in recent years egged the team bus like Hobart students did? I have never had an experience with Hopkins fans like I did with Albany guys after they crushed us in the dome in 2018, where I was actually being loudly taunted by fans in purple shirts as I left the dome. I have had similar tense moments with wasted Hobart students. Maybe this sort of thing was more common back in the day with Hopkins fans or others, but it certainly has not been the case in my lifetime.

As IT mentioned, imagine what the experience was going to be like for the Cuse team and fans in our first game on Albany's home field! Who knows what you would deal with if you managed to get a ticket and showed up decked out in orange. I think that level of hostility and enthusiasm has to count for quite a lot, even if we beat them up and down the block almost every year, and even though it is often a lot more of them hating us than us hating them. Couple that with the more external battle for local recruits we have had with them and I think the choice is clear.

At least in the present day, I consider our top rivals to be:
1. Albany (by a mile)
2. Hobart
3. Cornell
4. Hopkins  
With honorable mentions for UVA and Colgate.
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