uLoL exhibition matches bring college rivalries to League of Legends

In a partnership with Yahoo Esports, Riot is launching a special series of collegiate League of Legends matches to celebrate some favorite college rivalries.

Fans will be able to vote on the matches they want to see from the following list:

• Michigan vs. Ohio State
• USC vs. UCLA
• Cal vs. Stanford
• Texas vs. Texas A&M
• Florida vs. Florida State
• Harvard vs. Yale
• Virginia vs. Virginia Tech
• Simon Fraser vs. University of British Columbia
• BYU vs. Utah
• Duke vs. North Carolina
• Alabama vs. Auburn
• Arizona vs. Arizona State

The top five favorites will play in exhibition matches starting on November 4 at 3 p.m PST every week. Riot will also be providing viewing parties to the teams participating.

Even if teams seem unbalanced, the matches will still be exciting to watch! Michael Sherman, the manager of the collegiate esports scene, stressed that even though some games might end up being one-sided, that’s all part of the fun with rivalries.

“Are we looking for rivalries that are the most balanced or are we looking to play out actual rivalries?” he said in an interview. “The two of those don’t really operate together, which is why we decided it was important to really embellish the school rivalries.

“I remember growing up, there were years when my school just got destroyed. It just wasn’t a good roster year for the University of Texas and we just had to live with that,” he said. “We’re kind of excited. If Auburn just destroys Alabama - that’s what rivalries are all about.”

These exhibition matches are supposed to recreate those exciting feelings of playing games against rival teams, even if things aren’t exactly even in match-up.

The matches will be able to be watched via Twitch and YouTube.