top 10 college_football_rivalries

Top 10 College Football RivalriesNo matter what school you bleed for, chances are you have a rival. A game that gets circled on the calendar before any Top 25

lists come out. An opponent that your team can’t stand. There’s perhaps nowhere that rivalries burn hotter than in the world of

college football, where every game matters in the chase for the National Championship. Here are the Top 10 college football ri-

valries presented in no certain order, lest an argument break out over this as well.

Top 10 College Football Rivalries

Alabama vs. Auburn 1

Amidst cries of “Roll Tide,” and “War Eagle,” this is the rivalry against which all others are judged, a blood feud to end all others. Each year, the winner of the Iron Bowl takes home the Foy V-ODK Trophy, as well as the more important bragging rights.


Texas vs. Oklahoma 2

The Red River Showdown is played every year at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Since the inception of the AP Poll in 1936, either Texas or Oklahoma has come in to the game ranked 67 times, making this a critical game every year on the college football landscape.


Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State 3

It may not get the national exposure that some other rivalries get, but the Egg Bowl game between the Bulldogs and Rebels is the tenth longest currently running rivalry in college football. In 1927, the Egg Bowl Trophy was awarded for the first time, and has been every year since.


Arizona vs. Arizona State 4

This might be the most underrated college football rivalry game played. It doesn’t make a lot of the lists, but its history makes it one of the most heated rivalries ever. The history behind the winner’s prize, the Territorial Cup, is so long and riveting, there’s even a book written about it specifically.


Notre Dame vs. USC 5

There is perhaps not another rivalry as sto-ried as the Battle for the Shillelagh. No two schools have combined for more national titles, Heisman Trophy winners or future NFL Hall of Famers than these two teams. Played the Saturday after Thanksgiving, this game has launched these two teams to more National Championships than any other.


Oregon vs. Oregon State 6

They say familiarity breeds contempt, and nowhere is that more true than the Civil War. The two campuses are located just 50 miles apart, and each school’s rise to natio-nal prominence has just fueled the intensity.


Michigan vs. Ohio State 7A personal rivalry between two of college football’s

most revered coaches pushes this matchup on to

almost everyone’s listed of top college football ri-

valries. The Ten Year War as it is called created an

enduring hatred between the two schools. From

1969 to 1978, Bo Schembechler’s Michigan

squad entered the game undefeated, emerging

unscathed only in 1971. Woody Hayes, the OSU

coach during that same period, was famous for

referring to Michigan only as “That school up

north,” refusing to say their name.


Florida vs. Georgia 8

This game remains as one of the few still played at a neutral site. The game attracts a huge crowd to Jacksonville, FL, where the game is held, which has earned it the moni-ker “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” These two teams don’t see eye-to--eye on anything, including when the rivalry was first played.


Florida vs. Florida State 9Although the two schools are among the oldest public universities in the United States, they did not meet on the football field until 1958. A rivalry quickly developed, however. From 1990 to the year 2000, at least one of the schools entered in to the game ranked in the Top 10 in the AP Poll. In fact, in six of those seasons, the winner of the game went on to compete for the Natio-nal Championship.


Army vs. Navy 10Though it may no longer have the national implications that some of the other great ri-valries in college football do, the Midship-men and Black Knights usually find their game marked as the unofficial end of colle-ge football’s regular season. This rivalry is fueled by the interservice military rivalry as well. It’s been contested since 1890, making it one of the most enduring rivalries in the sport.

While the college football rivalry is one of the most enduring facets of the game, arguing about those rivalries is not far behind. Think I disre-spected your intrastate feud? Make your case in the comments, or yell

at me on the Twitter (https://twitter.com/tilt).

top 10 college_football_rivalries

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