History

Approaching 100 years of Rivalry.

The Blue-Green Rivalry between UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly runs deep. 

In 1921, UCSB competed in its first-ever recorded sporting event, a 42-0 football loss to, naturally, Cal Poly.

The two schools share the Central and South Coast markets and each competes at a high level in intercollegiate athletics.  The rivalry between the schools has been at an intense level since they competed in the California Collegiate Athletic Association and got even stronger when in the 1990s when Cal Poly made the leap to the NCAA Division I level.

Combined, UCSB and Cal Poly have more than 40,000 students and nearly 20,000 faculty and staff.  The programs reach more than a half million fans in the Central Coast region each year through athletics. 

The Blue-Green Rivalry between the UCSB and Cal Poly men’s soccer programs was selected as the best rivalry in college soccer by College Soccer News; but that’s just part of the story. The schools have had epic battles in men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s cross country and swimming & diving.  You name the sport and it’s safe to say that Cal Poly and UCSB have competed for Big West and regional supremacy on a regular basis.

Formalizing the Blue-Green Rivalry cements what is already known by all involved: without question, UCSB and Cal Poly have one of the most heated rivalries on the West Coast.