Settling the Rivalry Debate

Okay. Over the last few weeks there has been endless talk as to which rivalries are bigger than the other. I'm a statistics guy, so I plugged some numbers in and crated some formulas to quantify the rivalries based on 5 categories: Longevity, Competitiveness, Historical Importance, Recent Importance, & Hatred

Here's the Top 5 of each category:

Longevity (based off of number of all-time meetings):

1. Georgia vs. Auburn- 100.00
2. Ole Miss vs. Miss. St.- 94.07
3. LSU vs. Miss. St.- 92.37
4. Tennessee vs. Vandy- 88.14
5. LSU vs. Ole Miss- 87.29

Competitiveness (based off how close the all-time series record is):

1-TIE. Georgia vs. Auburn- 100.00
1-TIE. Georgia vs. Tennessee- 100.00
3. Florida vs. LSU- 95.16
4. Auburn vs. Florida- 93.98
5. Auburn vs. Arkansas- 92.00

Historical Importance (based off of the average ranking of the two teams by the AP):

1. Alabama vs. Tennessee- 100.00
2. Alabama vs. LSU- 95.37
3. Alabama vs. Auburn- 92.45
4. Alabama vs. Georgia- 92.08
5. Alabama vs. Florida- 88.31

Recent Importance (Based off Standing in the AP the last 25 years, with the last 10 years weighted more heavily, plus the number of meetings over the past 25 and 10 seasons)

1. Alabama vs. LSU- 100.00
2. Florida vs. LSU- 94.26
3. Georgia vs. Florida- 90.66
4. Alabama vs. Auburn- 86.39
5. Alabama vs. Tennessee- 79.88

Hatred (This is subjective based off my own opinions. Special weight given to inter-state rivalries)

1. Alabama vs. Auburn- 100.00

2. Ole Miss vs. Miss. St.- 90.00

3. Georgia vs. Florida- 70.00
3. LSU vs. Texas A&M- 70.00
3. Alabama vs. Tennessee- 70.00

6. Florida vs. Tennessee- 60.00
6. Alabama vs. LSU- 60.00
6. Georgia vs. Auburn- 60.00
6. LSU vs. Ole Miss- 60.00
6. LSU vs. Arkansas- 60.00
6. Tennessee vs. Vandy- 60.00
6. Tennessee vs. Kentucky- 60.00

So added all together, here are the SEC' Greatest Rivalries:

1. Alabama vs. Auburn- 435.66
2. Alabama vs. Tennessee- 417.65
3. Georgia vs. Auburn- 398.45
4. Georgia vs. Florida- 394.78
5. Alabama vs. LSU- 391.94
6. Florida vs. LSU- 365.28
7. LSU vs. Ole Miss- 337.34
8. Florida vs. Tennessee- 333.01
9. Georgia vs. Tennessee- 323.07
10. Auburn vs. LSU- 319.43
11. Auburn vs. Florida- 316.82
12. Ole Miss vs. Miss. St.- 312.31

Sorry LSU fans, the numbers say that UT-Bama is still a bit bigger than LSU-Bama.

I was a bit surprised as a Georgia fan to see the Auburn rivalry rank ahead of Florida, but the numbers are just too strong in that game's favor.

The "Deep South's Oldest Rivalry" has 118 meetings. There is not a single match-up of Big 6 members that has even hit 100 meetings (Alabama vs. Tennessee is next closest at 97).

Also the fact that the series is tied 55-55-8 means it can't get any closer.