The distance across the Causeway makes it a natural rivalry, especially as the two programs have competed mostly at the same "level" of college football. I don't disagree with any of your points, it is simply what it is.

Cal has Stanford and Stanford has Cal. I doubt the Ags crack that one anytime soon.

In the old days, Fresno's rival was Cal Poly. Many, many moons ago. Fresno-Davis makes more sense moving forward once we hit the MWC.

Sac vs. Toledo, Bowling Green, all of the Directional Michigans, Buffalo, UMass, Ohio U. et al will be riveting Tuesday/Wednesday night MACtion viewing for all... :vomit: I nominate Sac State vs. UMass for the rivalry game for no good reason. Player parents and degenerate gamblers are the only people who will care about those match ups.

I think the SJSU rivalry and Reno Rivalry would be fruitful and realistic rivalries for us too! Naturally will form with our move to the MW starting next season. Already started stoking the fire with Nevada when we played them earlier this year :naughty:

Shows how much I think about those programs, forgot about them! Nevada has UNLV for the Cannon, but man they got upset about the Tahoe deal so let's get it on!!!

San Jose State-Fresno has been sort of a thing in past years. I remember as a kid back in the old 1980's PCAA days those Mike Perez-led Spartan teams vs. Kevin Sweeney's Bulldogs were must see TV.

The tahoe thing cracked me up haha, the fact it got to the head football coach made me laugh. I think the Reno rivalry is def worth growing.

SJSU would be a good rivalry because as @SochorField has said, lots of Aggie alum are in the Bay.

1987 Pacific Coast Athletic Association:
San Jose State
Fresno State
Cal State Fullerton (RIP)
Long Beach State (RIP)
Pacific (RIP)
Utah State
New Mexico State
San Diego State

@SailorGabe, maybe this is your ticket to the "California-esque Conference":
SJSU
Fresno St. (not happenin' unless new/old Pac12 resurrects)
UC Davis
Sac State
Cal Poly (not happenin')
Utah State
NMSU
San Diego State (not happenin' unless new/old Pac12 resurrects)

Other suspects:
Nevada
Idaho
New Mexico

I guess this is counterproductive to the thread, "The Rivalry with Sac State Needs to End"

Reno - Davis will be a natural. We already have a history with them. The game in the Toomb was one of the most exciting games I’ve ever attended.

The Aggie-Pack Battle

UC Davis and Nevada have not played each other since 2013, but have a historical rivalry dating back to the first match up in 1915 when the University Farm School Aggies beat the Nevada Sagebrushers 14–0 in Carson City, Nevada. They have played each other 54 times since.[70] The "Aggie-Pack" battle would regularly have old-fashioned rooters buses travel 146 miles (2.5 hours) down I-80 for this rivalry that was regularly "a battle for West Coast small-college supremacy ... in fact, the mid-November 1977 Nevada-UCD matchup drew 12,800 fans to Toomey Field, which still stands as a home attendance record ... and yes, the crowd-pleasing Aggies prevailed, 37-21 ..."[71] Nevada leads the series 30-21-3 as of 2024.

there’s a fun history with Reno, but in their eyes would probably always be a secondary rivalry to UNLV. It’s unfortunate really that Sac couldn’t have approached things in a different way because they are geographically ideal, but healthy rivalries require some level of mutual respect and I don’t think that’s there right now. Plus I don’t think it would take much for their program to become unstable while this overextended. Glad the trophy is properly secured until further notice. For the present, I’d say Poly remains the rival at least for football. I don’t think the horseshoe really extended to basketball.

UNR came into the 1977 game undefeated and ranked #1 and having just beaten Sac 75-0. It looked like David vs Goliath when you looked at the size of the Nevada linemen but we absolutely shocked the Wolfpack in perhaps the best football atmosphere there ever was at The Toom. Simply electric!