Another topic, another day, gentlemen. I was wondering if there are built-in rivals or if they are naturally developed over time. We are all quite familiar with real traditional rivals: Mich-Ohio, ND-USC, Auburn-Ala, etc. The reason why I ask, when I was coaching Navy, no matter how good my team was and how ****** Army was. They always gave me a run for my money and even won a couple of times, which was a head-scratcher of head-scratchers. I always wonder if the sim/rival gets the boost or the games are amped up just because they are rivals. Has anyone else noticed, or am I reaching for straws and Army just beat me fair and square? I haven't noticed any rivals with Baylor, and if I am looking at history, I guess it would be the team with the closest records over time.

I don't believe I've seen anyone discuss that topic in the threads, but it would be a fun aspect of the game to navigate. Maybe a slight "formulaic tightening" of the attributes, so blowouts would certainly still happen if rivals skill level are world's apart, but the potential for a close game increases as well. Army/Navy is a great real-life example of a game that often seems to "throw out the record books". THE Game, The Red River Shootout, and the Iron Bowl have all had multiple significant upsets in the last several years as well.

the rivalries aren't driven by the schools, but rather the coaches at the schools. inevitably, you have a few guys you seem to see more often than not and you try real hard to beat those guys. within the conference and division feels like "rivalries" when you have a few to several good coaches there.

Posted by papachooby on 9/23/2026 3:06:00 PM (view original):
the rivalries aren't driven by the schools, but rather the coaches at the schools. inevitably, you have a few guys you seem to see more often than not and you try real hard to beat those guys. within the conference and division feels like "rivalries" when you have a few to several good coaches there.

My thoughts as well. Back in the day there were plenty of "rivalries". Many of those were quite competitive, unlike the current run between Holdaway and me where he has 999 wins to my 1 !

Posted by majique on 9/24/2026 5:59:00 PM (view original):

Posted by papachooby on 9/23/2026 3:06:00 PM (view original):
the rivalries aren't driven by the schools, but rather the coaches at the schools. inevitably, you have a few guys you seem to see more often than not and you try real hard to beat those guys. within the conference and division feels like "rivalries" when you have a few to several good coaches there.

My thoughts as well. Back in the day there were plenty of "rivalries". Many of those were quite competitive, unlike the current run between Holdaway and me where he has 999 wins to my 1 !

That makes sense and actually creates a bit of realism. I know many, many of you have stomped me in the ground, but I may have squeaked out a win here and there...LOL! I will take a "W" whenever I can from some of you. Great, Great coaches a lot of you are.

Posted by Troll_God on 9/24/2026 7:44:00 PM (view original):

Posted by majique on 9/24/2026 5:59:00 PM (view original):

Posted by papachooby on 9/23/2026 3:06:00 PM (view original):
the rivalries aren't driven by the schools, but rather the coaches at the schools. inevitably, you have a few guys you seem to see more often than not and you try real hard to beat those guys. within the conference and division feels like "rivalries" when you have a few to several good coaches there.

My thoughts as well. Back in the day there were plenty of "rivalries". Many of those were quite competitive, unlike the current run between Holdaway and me where he has 999 wins to my 1 !

That makes sense and actually creates a bit of realism. I know many, many of you have stomped me in the ground, but I may have squeaked out a win here and there...LOL! I will take a "W" whenever I can from some of you. Great, Great coaches a lot of you are.

There has been 200-plus seasons in many worlds for those rivalries between coaches to develop. Many of those coaches have been in GD for an incredibly long time. This is both a strength and a weakness of the game.

Nearly every currently active coach has been around so long, they know exactly which players to recruit, exactly which schemes to run, etc. It makes for a lot of really competitive games among the most experienced coaches in every world/division. The margins for error are razor-thin.

But, new coaches are at a pretty significant disadvantage during their learning curve. It can be discouraging for them. Many just drop out. If we had more new coaches cycling in, there would be competitive balance beyond just the upper tier. Recruiting and retention is what I see as GD's biggest challenge at this stage.