So this is what it feels like to be Duke...

[Losac]

MD-Duke was a great rivalry in the early 00's, in the Dixon/Baxter/Blake years when they had Williams, Battier, etc. We met them in the Final Four (2001), won a national championship (2002), and unexpectedly beat them in the ACC Tournament (2004) all during that stretch. In recent years, it's been pretty one-sided with Duke beating us soundly, but for a 5-6 year stretch, it was as good a rivalry in college basketball as any. And yes, I think the whole "not our rival" thing is really just to get under MD fans' skin.

As for Denver, their fans obviously want this game badly for the revenge factor. But I don't think fans of either team are going to jump off any bridges or abandon their teams if they lose this one.

[RavenScallywag]

Just thought I would throw my two cents in.

Do you guys think that New England is a rival of yours? Always like to get thoughts from each teams fans.

Haven't you only played the Pats like 10 times? Can that be considered a rivalry? Or is it just a good modern mini-rivalry?

You still consider Pitt your biggest Rival right? I love those games. There are a few games I look forward to watching each year and that is definitely a matchup I circle on my calendar. Always close, good physical football games.

The biggest rivals are generally divisional ones. Pitt is by far the biggest rival, simply because every year, we duke it out for playoffs with them in some way.

After that, you look for teams whose destiny tends to intertwine with yours. For that reason, the Pats might be rival to many Ravens fans. For one thing, there is the baseball crossover of the Orioles-Red Sox. You would expect that to make the Jets/Giants rivals, but it doesn't seem to work quite the same (I don't really list any NFC teams as rivals, and the Jets just don't hold water to me). Then there's the recent history...Now, before Harbaugh, this wasn't a discussion. Pats owned us EVERY SINGLE TIME. Not even close. It took us until the playoffs in 2009 season when we went into NE and managed to smack them. Even after that, it took until our wins in 2012/2013 to give us more than 1 against them.

Do I consider them a rival of ours? Sure. Because generally, we have to go through them to get to the playoffs, or advance. But no way are we a rival of theirs. Because of the stated reasons by local Ravens fans, but also because in the long history, we haven't racked up enough challenges against them.

Here's a short list of other notable "rivalries" (perceived or truthful)

Bengals - Somewhat, due to divisional matchup. Definitely a lesser one than Steelers, just because of long term history. I could see this one budding in the future, with the talent they are accumulating on offense
Browns - Perceived. Joe Flacco has never lost to the Browns. Which means, they haven't beaten us in the Harbaugh era. Rivalry would mean there needs to be give and take
Colts - Difficult to say. The history there generally fires it up. With Peyton there, they also owned us for awhile. From 2002 until Peyton was out in 2011, we never beat them.
Titans - Old division rivalry, but in recent years I think this one has cooled. We still have trouble against them, 2-4 in last 6 meetings.
Redskins - Only NFC team that you could list, rival only by proximity. The fans care more about the games between these two than the players and coaches.

[DonNMass]

Since I live in Boston, I can tell you that the Patriots don't consider anybody their rival. They believe Brady and Bellicheck are football gods incarnate with no equal on this earth. They love to hate the jets but since they suck so badly they just mostly make fun of them and obsess about the Yankees. While we are not a rival, most patriots fans respect the Ravens even if they will not outwardly admit it. They know the Ravens do not fear Tom Brady and the Patriots like some other teams do.

But I think that feeling is mutual. I don't think of the Patriots as a rival either. They are a good football team who we need to beat to get to a championship. It's a big game because I know they will be there in the end. I don't have personal animosity because they kicked us out of the playoffs a few years back. They won, we lost. When we played them last year, it was not revenge for the year before, it was because they stood between us and the Lombardi.

Spot on: Fans dread Brady facing the Ravens; wanted any other team last year in the playoffs. Not a rivalry, some would say actually envied; Pat's fans don't consider anyone else to be in their class and will be pissed when Brady and Belichek go into the HOF without the NFL building a wing of their own in Canton.

I agree.

I spend a lot of time in that area and there is not a more arrogant and smug fan base. The funny part is that the Pats still take a backseat to the Sox and its not even close.

Definately smug and arrogant. But the Pat's fans are far more passionate and intense than the Sox fans I live near and I see in my trips to Boston. NE sports is all things Brady and Foxborough.

[HKusp]

The biggest rivals are generally divisional ones. Pitt is by far the biggest rival, simply because every year, we duke it out for playoffs with them in some way.

After that, you look for teams whose destiny tends to intertwine with yours. For that reason, the Pats might be rival to many Ravens fans. For one thing, there is the baseball crossover of the Orioles-Red Sox. You would expect that to make the Jets/Giants rivals, but it doesn't seem to work quite the same (I don't really list any NFC teams as rivals, and the Jets just don't hold water to me). Then there's the recent history...Now, before Harbaugh, this wasn't a discussion. Pats owned us EVERY SINGLE TIME. Not even close. It took us until the playoffs in 2009 season when we went into NE and managed to smack them. Even after that, it took until our wins in 2012/2013 to give us more than 1 against them.

Do I consider them a rival of ours? Sure. Because generally, we have to go through them to get to the playoffs, or advance. But no way are we a rival of theirs. Because of the stated reasons by local Ravens fans, but also because in the long history, we haven't racked up enough challenges against them.

Here's a short list of other notable "rivalries" (perceived or truthful)

Bengals - Somewhat, due to divisional matchup. Definitely a lesser one than Steelers, just because of long term history. I could see this one budding in the future, with the talent they are accumulating on offense
Browns - Perceived. Joe Flacco has never lost to the Browns. Which means, they haven't beaten us in the Harbaugh era. Rivalry would mean there needs to be give and take
Colts - Difficult to say. The history there generally fires it up. With Peyton there, they also owned us for awhile. From 2002 until Peyton was out in 2011, we never beat them.
Titans - Old division rivalry, but in recent years I think this one has cooled. We still have trouble against them, 2-4 in last 6 meetings.
Redskins - Only NFC team that you could list, rival only by proximity. The fans care more about the games between these two than the players and coaches.

Not so much any more, but you also can look back to when we were in the same division with the Jags when the Mark Brunnel. It was a team that beat on the Ravens and then we "came of age" against them.

[somedumbguy]

Not so much any more, but you also can look back to when we were in the same division with the Jags when the Mark Brunnel. It was a team that beat on the Ravens and then we "came of age" against them.

I enjoyed our early rivalry with the Jags and Titans. We had some great games with those teams before they left our division. The year we won the Superbowl I am convinced the Titans were the 2nd best team in the NFL.