Ohio State Football: UNC-Duke might be best rivalry in sports now

The Ohio State football team’s rivalry with Michigan is considered to be one of the best rivalries in sports, but do we really think that is still the case?

Every year the Ohio State football team plays the Michigan Wolverines and it seems like almost every year for the past 20 years the Buckeyes have come out with the win. With Michigan never seeming to put up a good fight anymore, is this rivalry maybe not as big as it used to be?

The answer is yes.

On Saturday we saw an actual rivalry – Duke and North Carolina basketball.

Going into the game between the Tar Heels and Blue Devils on Saturday, the two teams had an equal number of wins in their last 100 meetings (50 each) and they had scored the same amount of points in those meetings (7,746 total points each), according to GoDuke.com.

Then the two teams followed that up with a stellar overtime game on Saturday in which Duke won at the buzzer 98-96.

Additionally, both these teams have won championships recently. Duke won a national championship in 2015 and they won the ACC Tournament championship just last season. North Carolina won a national title in 2017 and won the ACC Tournament in 2016.

This rivalry is the complete opposite of Ohio State-Michigan as the Buckeyes just dominate everything. The Buckeyes have won the last eight meetings against the Wolverines and 15 of the last 16. This year they won by 29 points and last year they won by 23.

Ohio State has also won multiple national titles recently, winning one in 2014 and one 2002, and they have won three straight Big Ten Championships. Michigan hasn’t won a national championship since 1997 and they haven’t won a Big Ten Championship since 2004.

I love the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry and I look forward to The Game every year, but I think Michigan’s lack of competitiveness in it has made the game not as important as it used to be. Duke and North Carolina might be the best rivalry in all of sports now, and it’s Michigan’s fault.