College football rivalries: Which are the best?

Question

I'm talking outside of the obvious (Florida-Florida State, Ohio State-Michigan, UCLA-Southern California and the like). Which are the best for unusual reasons, and why? Think Florida-Georgia, with the World's Biggest Cocktail Party. I'm looking for rivalries at *all* divisions. Give me your best, and reasons, too.

Answer 1

Central Michigan and Western Michigan. Two party hardy schools,good rivalry

Answer 2

Tennessee/Alabama. A historic Southern rivalry always played with respect.

Harvard/Yale. One of the longest of all college football rivalries, these schools had men i their administrations who helped shape the game as we know it today.

Notre Dame/USC. Always a great intersectional rivalry between two dominant programs.

Texas/Oklahoma. Hard-hitting fierce rivalry that has come to mean more than ever fro the winner now that they're in the same conference.

Plus, I like the "trophy" rivalries between certain schools....The Iron Bowl, the Little Brown Jug, the Golden Axe, the Beer Barrel, the Liberty Bell, and etc......These are fabulous even when the particiapnts aren't very good.

And, last but not least, let's not forget Army/Navy! What a rivalry! Though Army has fallen off over the last 5-6 years, as recently as 7-8 years ago, this rivalry was dead even, even after 100+ years of playing each other! That's hard to do without someone being dominant for a certain period of time.

Answer 3

There is no better rivalry than between Cal and Stanford. The reason it is the best is beacuse the most memorable moment in college sports history happened during that "Big Game" 1982 Big Game featured "The Play." No matter how good, or bad both football teams are at the time, there is ALWAYS a sold out crowd. Battle of the Brains!

Answer 4

Ahhh rivalries...why college football is king. Here are some of my votes

Indiana-Purdue(battle for the old oaken bucket)
BC-Notre Dame, back in 2008(for the Golden Shalilegh)
Clemson-South Carolina
Georgia-Auburn, The Souths Oldest Rivalry
Auburn-Alabama "The Iron Bowl"
Miami-Florida St.
Cal-Stanford "The Big Game"
Minnesota-Michigan(the oldest Div.I rivalry) "Battle for the Little Brown Jug"
Minnesota-Wisconsin "Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe"
Iowa-Iowa St. " The Cy-Hawk Trophy" I like the name
Georgia-Georgia Tech "Just Plain Hate"..they really call it that
Washington-Washington St. "The Apple Cup" another cool name
Colorado-Colorado St. "The Mile High Showdown"
OU-Texas "The Red River Shootout"
.....and my favorite name Arkansas-LSU "The Battle for the Golden Boot"

I could go on and one but those are some of my favorites and there are SO many more...Aug 31st we start another year...YAHOO!!!

Answer 5

Harvard v Yale
Alabama v Auburn
Miami v Florida State
Penn State v Ohio State
Texas v Nebraska

Answer 6

I've lived in various parts of the country, and I can say with conviction that no rivalry comes even close to Auburn/Alabama. Michigan/Ohio State is pretty good, as is any of the Florida rivalries. But with most of those rivalries, it is a matter of some smack talk for a couple of weeks before and after the game, with some good natured jibes the rest of the year.

With Auburn/Alabama it is war, 365 days a year. I had to see it myself to believe it. It really is a clash of cultures, between the old patrician country club set (Alabama) and their raft of backwoods Bear Bryant lovers, and the new South represented by Auburn graduates.

Case in point? I moved to Alabama from Ohio (Sorry Ohio State fans...your rivalry with Michigan pales in comparison to this one for sheer intensity) and was getting my new drivers license the week of the Auburn Alabama game. They had two lines at the drivers license bureau...one for Alabama fans, one for Auburn fans. You had to choose a side to get your license. Can you imagine that taking place anywhere else? I chose the Auburn line and, as it stood, I became an Auburn fan.

Then I went to last year's game in Auburn with a client of mine. There were easiily 30,000 fans standing at attention as the Auburn football team made the walk from the athletic building to the locker room entrance. There were women crying, men cheering, you named it. Having lived in Oregon, too, I can tell you that this is the true Civil War.

Nothing else even comes close.

Answer 7

Anything other than Notre Dame - Southern Cal is clearly not the best, because they're all in-state rivalries (or close to it). With the national following that Notre Dame has (and USC to a lesser extent), the ND-USC rivalry is THE intersectional rivalry.

Answer 8

11 answers no Ohio state- Michigan rivalry. No other rivalry is played every year with the conference or national title on the line. Can't beat OSU-michigan!

Answer 9

Pitt-West Virginia, "The Backyard Brawl"

Harvard-Yale, "The Brain Bowl"

UConn-Duke, "The We Should Be Playing Basketball Bowl"

Slippery Rock University-California of Pennsylvania, "The Stupid Names Bowl"

Answer 10

I have a personal bias...Duke-UNC. Sure, everyone thinks it's all about basketball, but actually, its for the battle of who will be last place in the ACC in terms of football!

In all seriousness though, I'd say Ohio State-Michigan.