Okay, with the Cannon game coming up tomorrow ... what are your CURRENT Big Ten hate tiers? I was never as in to hating Purdue, but sitting in the freezing cold and watching them steal our Big Ten Championship Game hopes in 2022 while their obnoxious fans were complete clowns definitely elevated them for me, lol.
Tier 1 - Genuine Hate
- Michigan (I always rooted for them vs. OSU before they got good again, but WOW do I hate them now, haha...)
- Ohio State
- Indiana (more recent, but it was easy to adapt!)
Tier 2 - Genuine Dislike
- Iowa (I at least have some respect for their program over the last 25+ years)
- Purdue (again, this is mostly post-2022 for me)
- Wisconsin (I feel like the fact they've been sort of meh in the last 5+ years has injected zero humility into that fan base)
Tier 3 - Mild Dislike
- USC (I find them a VERY easy program to dislike, even though we don't feel "close" enough to them for true hatred to form)
- Northwestern (a weird paradox where I simultaneously just don't care that much but also find them really annoying and don't ever want them to be good)
- Michigan State (I feel like every couple years they do something hateworthy in one sport or another, and then I forget about them again)
- Nebraska (probably influenced by me having a bunch of Iowa friends, but I literally can't stand the online myth that they are these uniquely nice and classy fans ... go read their board, they spew hate the second you don't kiss the ring and accept their delusional reality where they're a Blue Blood)
- Penn State (my hate from after the scandal has mostly died down, but I do get annoyed by how entitled their fans seem to be when their history really doesn't back it up...)
Tier 4 - Mostly Indifferent
- Oregon (I find them obnoxious, but I can't say I "dislike" them)
- Maryland (they do kind of rub me the wrong way, though...)
- Minnesota (shocking how little I care about them given they're a longtime conference member)
Tier 5 - Totally Indifferent
- UCLA (love their colors, and you almost have to just feel bad for them a bit with the setup they have of an off-campus stadium, being dominated by USC, etc.)
- Rutgers (I actually empathize with them a lot ... their New York is our Chicago, their Philadelphia is our St. Louis, we are both in pro sports states, etc.)
- Washington (I've heard the actual students can be insufferable and the opposite of down to Earth but what a beautiful stadium and great color scheme)
If we open it up to non-conference, the only team I truly despise is Notre Dame (and their bandwagon fans who probably ditch the Irish when it's time for basketball season and bandwagon Duke or something). It's becoming easier to have almost zero respect for LSU as an athletic program, but it's also sort of almost a funny meme at this point. Can't say I care for South Carolina or Tennessee after our bowl encounters, haha.
