Sports

College Football’s Greatest Rivalries: History, Traditions and Intensity

Nov 1, 2024
Bryan Kress

College football rivalries are never short of drama. Nearly every big game every season features rivalries. While sports fans worldwide chase after bowl game tickets or College Football Playoff tickets, watching your team win a historic rivalry matchup in the regular season can bring just as much glory. With feuds that have spanned over a century and spawned several traditions of their own, learn all about the top college football rivalry games below.

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Army vs. Navy

  • Total games played: 124
  • Series record: Navy leads, 62-55-7
  • First matchup: November 29, 1890; Navy, 24-0
  • Longest win streak: Navy, 14 (2002-2015)

When it comes to the Army-Navy rivalry, expect both football teams to bring out the big guns. Representing the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York and the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, respectively, Army and Navy held their first matchup in 1890, launching one of the oldest active college football rivalries. Only seven rivalry games have been played on either team’s campus, while the majority have taken place at neutral sites in Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, D.C. and more. In 2024, the Army-Navy game will be played for the second time at Northwest Stadium, home of the NFL’s Washington Commanders.

Known as “America’s Game,” Army-Navy typically serves as the final game on both teams’ regular season schedules. Entering the 2024 season, the stakes rose higher when Army joined Navy in the American Athletic Conference. Under the AAC’s new configuration, there could be an immediate rematch between Army and Navy if both teams rank in the top two of the conference. Since 1972, Army and Navy have also competed in an annual three-way contest with the United States Air Force Academy; the team with the best record among the three is then awarded the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.

Beyond the formation of Cadets and Midshipmen fans, the Army-Navy game has also hosted ten sitting U.S. presidents. Prior to kickoff, a friendly “prisoner exchange” traditionally occurs where students studying at the rival academy for a semester can switch back to their home team’s side for the game. However, there’s perhaps no moment more powerful or unifying than watching both teams stand on the field after a game and take in each alma mater together.

Buy tickets to the 2024 Army vs. Navy rivalry game on December 14, or catch the Army Black Knights and Navy Midshipmen elsewhere throughout the college football season, via Ticketmaster.

Alabama vs. Auburn

  • Total games played: 88
  • Series record: Alabama leads, 50-37-1
  • First matchup: February 22, 1893; Auburn, 32-22
  • Longest win streak: Alabama, 9 (1973-1981)

The Iron Bowl is not your typical college football bowl game. In fact, it’s not a bowl game at all, but rather the annual matchup between two perrenial Alabama powerhouse schools. Despite taking place on a neutral site in Montgomery and Birmingham for the first century of its running, the Alabama-Auburn rivalry is deeply rooted in both schools. In 1989, the Iron Bowl was held at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time, and since 2000, the game’s location has alternated between the Auburn home field and Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium. The winner each year is presented with the Foy-ODK Sportsmanship Trophy during halftime of the subsequent Alabama-Auburn basketball game.

Named for the iron-rich soil and bustling steel industry in its former host city of Birmingham, the Iron Bowl typically brings out a whole new level of grit from the players and fans. Notable moments include the 55-0 shutout by Alabama in 1948 after the rivalry game’s 41-year hiatus, Alabama coach “Bear” Bryant becoming the all-time winningest FBS coach in 1981 and the first overtime game in 2021. Fans are also likely to recall unforgettable Iron Bowl plays like 1972’s “Punt Bama Punt,” 1985’s “The Kick” and 2013’s “Kick Six.” At games, they’re bound to find themselves on the other end of either Auburn’s “War Eagle” or Alabama’s “Rammer Jammer” cheer, with the latter traditionally calling out Auburn directly.

Buy tickets to the 2024 Alabama vs. Auburn rivalry game on November 30, or catch the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn University Tigers elsewhere throughout the college football season, via Ticketmaster.

Ohio State vs. Michigan

  • Total games played: 119
  • Series record: Ohio State leads, 61-51-6
  • First matchup: October 16, 1897; Michigan, 34-0
  • Longest win streak: Michigan, 9 (1901-1909)

A rivalry this big speaks for itself when the yearly matchup is simply called “The Game.” As the most historic feud in the Big Ten and one of the most renowned in North American sports, Ohio State vs. Michigan has routinely highlighted the final weekend of the regular season, fittingly known as College Football Rivalry Week. Since joining the same conference in 1917, both teams have gone on several successful, and often simultaneous, runs to earn the college football’s first and third all-time rankings in wins, for Michigan and Ohio State respectively.

Against each other, Ohio State and Michigan are just as competitive. From 1969 to 1978, the rivals were engaged in the “Ten-Year War” between Ohio State coach Woody Hayes, Michigan coach Bo Schembechler and both of their perennially Top 5-ranked teams. In 2006, the two programs met for “The Game of the Century,” in which both teams arrived undefeated while Ohio State held the No. 1 BCS ranking and Michigan came in at No. 2. True to its billing, the Buckeyes won in thrilling fashion, 42-30. The teams faced each other again with undefeated records in 2022 and 2023, and both ended with No. 3 Michigan defeating No. 2 Ohio State. More infamously, The Game hosted the “Snow Bowl” in 1950, one of the coldest football games ever recorded with a windchill at -4 degrees, proving nothing can chill the rivalry between the Wolverines and Buckeyes.

Buy tickets to the 2024 Ohio State vs. Michigan rivalry game on November 30, or catch the Ohio State Buckeyes and University of Michigan Wolverines elsewhere throughout the college football season, via Ticketmaster.

Oklahoma vs. Texas

  • Total games played: 119
  • Series record: Texas leads, 63-51-5
  • First matchup: October 10, 1900; Texas, 28-2
  • Longest win streak: Texas, 8 (tied; 1940-1947 and 1958-1965)

For the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns, the enemy is just over the river. Since 1900, the Red River Rivalry has been waged on neutral territory, most commonly at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. To maintain fairness, the home team alternates every year with the Sooners on even-numbered years and Longhorns on odds. In addition, tickets for the Red River Rivalry are split evenly amongst Texas and Oklahoma fans with the stadium’s fan sections separated on the 50-yard line.

Along with historic gameday traditions and the spectacle of two of the most consistent college football programs duking it out, the Red River Rivalry is a marquee event during the monthlong State Fair of Texas. With fans from all over Oklahoma and Texas descending on Dallas for the most anticipated matchup every year, the Red River Rivalry holds an unmatched, unbridled energy. The game also yields three trophies: the Golden Hat, the Red River Rivalry Trophy and the Governors’ Trophy. Separately, a game ball is run to Austin in a relay by each of the schools’ NROTC programs; once reaching the venue, the two teams compete and the winner earns the Red River Shootout Flag Football Trophy.

In 2024, the Red River Rivalry will get a new look after a massive college football conference realignment brought the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns to the SEC. The two schools had previously faced each other in the 2018 Big 12 Championship Game, and by leaping to the SEC together, kept the chance for a conference championship rematch alive.

Buy tickets to the 2024 Oklahoma vs. Texas rivalry game on October 12, or catch the Oklahoma Sooners and University of Texas Longhorns elsewhere throughout the college football season, via Ticketmaster.

Notre Dame vs. USC

  • Total games played: 94
  • Series record: Notre Dame leads, 49-37-5
  • First matchup: December 4, 1926; Notre Dame, 13-12
  • Longest win streak: Notre Dame, 11 (1983-1993)

As a rare non-conference, cross-country rivalry in college football, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and USC Trojans may seem like an unlikely pair. However, the two schools make for fierce, natural opponents considering their individual high level of competition. The Notre Dame-USC matchup contains the most combined National Championship titles between any two college football rivals (22) aside from Yale-Princeton, the oldest rivalry in college football.

The first connection in the unique rivalry has been widely credited to the wives of Notre Dame head coach Knute Rockne and USC athletic director Gywnn Wilson. Ahead of the 1926 season, USC was on the hunt for a rivalry school big enough for the national stage, while Rockne was convinced by his wife to take the offer for a guaranteed trip to southern California every two years. With exceptions for World War II and the COVID-19 pandemic, the rivalry game has been played at either USC’s Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum or Notre Dame’s Notre Dame Stadium every year since. Memorable moments include the 1977 “Green Jersey Game,” Notre Dame’s “Decade of Dominance” with 13 consecutive unbeaten matchups and the 2005 “Bush Push” victory for USC. Since 1952, the triumphant team in the Notre Dame-USC rivalry game earns the Jeweled Shillelagh, a traditional Irish club decorated with a ruby-fitted Trojan or emerald-adorned shamrock to mark each team’s wins over the years.

Buy tickets to the 2024 Notre Dame vs. USC rivalry game on November 30, or catch the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and USC Trojans elsewhere throughout the college football season, via Ticketmaster.

Florida State vs. Miami

  • Total games played: 68
  • Series record: Miami leads, 35-33
  • First matchup: October 5, 1951; Miami, 35-13
  • Longest win streak: Florida State, 7 (tied; 1963-1972 and 2010-2016)

In a relatively short amount of time, the rivalry between Florida State and Miami has grown to be one of the biggest rivalries in college football. Although both teams boast a rich football history, the rivalry games between FSU and Miami have built a legacy all their own with a rare, nearly equal series record and memorable plays like “The Block at the Rock,” “The Rally in Tally” and the “Wide Right”/”Wide Left” field goal attempts. The two schools compete in a three-way regional contest with the Florida Gators for the Florida Cup, but as members of the ACC, Florida State and Miami double as yearly conference rivals.

Buy tickets to the 2024 Florida State vs. Miami rivalry game on October 26, or catch the Florida State Seminoles and Miami Hurricanes elsewhere throughout the college football season, via Ticketmaster.

Florida vs. Georgia

  • Total games played: 101
  • Series record: Georgia leads, 56-44-2, or 55-44-2 according to Florida (see below)
  • First matchup: October 15, 1904 (Georgia, 52-0) or November 6, 1915 (Georgia, 37-0)
  • Longest win streak: Tied at 7; Georgia (1941-1948) and Florida (1990-1996)

With even the overall series record in dispute, the Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs prove they won’t give up an inch easily. Although Georgia claimed victory first in 1904 against the University of Florida’s predecessor school, the Florida Agricultural College, the Gators contend that the first rivalry game actually occurred in 1915. Now an annual SEC matchup, Florida-Georgia is one of the last college football games to be held on neutral turf. In 1933, Jacksonville, Florida became the recurring host of the game, with EverBank Stadium, home of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, serving as the annual site since 1996.

Mixing two of college football’s largest fanbases in one city, along with Georgia’s long-cherished tailgating tradition, the rivalry game has earned the nickname as the “World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.” Nowadays, the matchup is referred to as either “Florida-Georgia” or “Georgia-Florida,” with the home team listed first; Georgia is home in even-numbered years, while Florida takes the odd-numbered years. Since 2009, the game has also been called the “War for the Oar” after the Okefenokee Oar awarded to the student body president of the winning school.

Buy tickets to the 2024 Florida vs. Georgia rivalry game on November 2, or catch the Florida Gators and University of Georgia Bulldogs elsewhere throughout the college football season, via Ticketmaster.

Oregon vs. Oregon State

  • Total games played: 128
  • Series record: Oregon leads, 69-49-10
  • First matchup: November 3, 1894; Oregon State, 16-0
  • Longest win streak: Tied at 8; Oregon State (1964-1971) and Oregon (1975-1982 and 2008-2015)

It’s the Battle of the Beaver State when the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers face off in the regular season. Formerly called the Oregon Classic and the Civil War game, Oregon vs. Oregon State has become one of the longest-running rivalry games in college football following the first running in 1894. The Platypus Trophy is awarded to the winning school’s alumni association.

Although the matchup typically held conference and bowl game implications, the dynamic between the two teams shifted in 2024 when Oregon left Oregon State in the Pac-12 Conference and joined the Big Ten. Despite their current conference separation, the schools agreed in 2023 to continue their traditional rivalry games for at least two more seasons. In September 2024, the Ducks and Beavers met as non-conference opponents for the first time in over 60 years, which ended in an Oregon victory, 49-14.

Buy tickets to catch the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers throughout the college football season via Ticketmaster.

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