Brian Kelly Wants a Rivalry With Jim Tressel and the Ohio State Buckeyes

Ohio is Buckeyes territory, that goes without saying. But in one small section of the state, there is there is a place where the Buckeyes don't rule the roost anymore.

That area is Cincinnati.

With coach Brian Kelly and his Bearcats coming off a 10-3 record in 2007, he has some strong words for Jim Tressel and his Buckeyes.

Is it the fact that Kelly was born and raised in Michigan? Most Ohio State fans would point that out, but I believe that it is Kelly wanting to change the fact that everyone in Ohio is a Buckeyes fan, and the Bearcats are an afterthought when it comes to college football in the state of Ohio.

The idea was started when Ohio State wanted to back out of a game in Cincinnati in 2010, paying the Bearcats a reported $1 million to play in Columbus. Kelly was then asked by the media about Ohio State's backing out of the game in Cincinnati.

Kelly said, "We're going to work very hard on this end to make sure we play Ohio State," Kelly said. "I want to play them annually."

Later in the interview Kelly said he didn't care where he played Ohio State, even if it was in a parking lot in Xenia. Kelly apparently wants to start up a rivalry with the Buckeyes, and is showing that he and his players aren't afraid of the big bad Buckeyes.

At UC's game in 2007 against UConn, the score of the Ohio State-Illinois game was announced by the PA announcer, and I heard something I didn't think I would ever hear; a large roar of 35,000 people in the state of Ohio cheering an Ohio State loss.

So in Cincinnati, there is some bad blood against the Buckeyes. As Kelly begins to steal key recruits from Tressel and the Buckeyes, more and more tension will build up, and a rivalry may emerge that Tressel and the Buckeyes don't really want.