For U of L and UVA, hatred will come in time

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post mixed up the locations of the first two meetings between the teams. U of L beat UVA in Louisville in 1988. Virginia edged Louisville 16-15 in Charlottesville in 1989. The story has been updated to reflect this change. Apologies for the error.

It's not exactly a rivalry with much history. In fact, it's not a rivalry.

That is, until now.

Louisville officially moved into the Atlantic Coast Conference in July. And with 14 teams in the league, and Maryland leaving for the Big Ten, Virginia needed a yearly rivalry.

Louisville, meet Virginia. Virginia, Louisville.

Now, figure out a way to hate each other.

For starters, it'll be hard to do that. Saturday's 12:30 p.m. kickoff between the two teams will be the third meeting between them. Louisville and Virginia's storied history takes them all the way back to a home-and-home series in the late 1980s, when the teams each won once.

Surely the bitter taste from Virginia's 16-15 win in Charlottesville on Oct. 28, 1989, still lingers. And UVA fans will never forget the time home-standing Louisville bopped the 'Hoos 30-28.

Right up there with the Dream Game, right?

Actually, with those two scores in mind, perhaps the programs are destined to be rivals. Only one point separated them in the first two showdowns, and the third meeting on Saturday has potential to be a good one if Virginia's defense is the real deal.

Either way, it's all new to Bobby Petrino and his Louisville staff and players. The last meeting was 25 years ago. In 1989, Petrino was the quarterbacks coach at Idaho. UVA coach Mike London was the outside linebackers coach at Richmond.

Petrino was 28. London was 29. Without looking at the birthdays of every player on both teams, I'd hazard a guess that none of them were alive then.

Now? They're ACC rivals. Forced rivals, sure. But rivals nonetheless.

"The thing that'll be unique is when we do start playing them year in and year out, we'll know all of their players and who their recruits are," Petrino said. "This is all so new to us. We're just learning about them."

Petrino likened it to Arkansas' conference-mandated rivalry with South Carolina. The teams play every year in the SEC's divisional crossover. It wasn't exactly intense to everyone.

"Through the coaches, it was that way," Petrino said. "Not necessarily with the fan base."

For now, it's sort of weird that Virginia's playing Louisville and not Maryland. They are, after all, actual rivals with some history.

"There are some natural rivalry games that are done," London said. "So it's everybody having to get used to the fact that, a team that you used to play before, you may never play again, unless, perhaps, you may meet them in a bowl game opportunity. But Maryland is obviously a border state and ... we go against them a lot in recruiting.

"Let's just put it that way. So, you know, their focus is on their team and their conference and their direction. Ours is on our team and our conference and direction. So I'll just leave it at that."

So that's how it's gonna be. And Virginia's conference and Virginia's direction leads the 'Hoos to Louisville, and vice versa.

It's kind of awkward and definitely new. It'll take some time to develop a true rivalry. Playing every year helps. Recruiting against each other does, too. As Petrino said Wednesday, the schools run into each other a lot on that recruiting trail.

Now, give the fan bases time. Fans are pretty good at hating each other. Just give them a reason.

Follow Louisville beat writer Jeff Greer on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).