GREATEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL RIVALS
ALABAMA-AUBURN The Iron Bowl has one of the common ingredients found in great rivalries: Heaping helpings of hatred. Year-round, supporters on both sides -- and there is no in-between -- are consumed by this religious war, er, game. 'Bama is Bear Bryant, the favorite son, multiple national championships, smug and superior. Auburn is the step-child with the chip on its shoulder, underappreciated and somewhat bitter. Within Alabama state lines, nothing matters as much as Alabama-Auburn.
HISTORY: Started in 1893, Alabama holds a 37-26-1 advantage. The schools didn't play regularly until 1948.
GREATEST GAME: Crimson Tide fans might say it was in 1981, when Bryant, the symbol of Alabama football, passed Amos Alonzo Stagg as college football's all-time winningest coach with a come-from-behind 28-17 win over Auburn. It also was the first meeting between Bryant and Pat Dye, his former assistant. Tigers fans might say it was in 1972, when Bill Newton blocked two punts in the final 5:30 and David Langer ran both in for touchdowns as Auburn overcame a 16-3 deficit to win 17-16.
ARMY-NAVY Like Harvard-Yale, but to a lesser extent, its meaning has diminished with regard to its impact on the national college football landscape. However, Army-Navy is the most tradition-laden game in America, perhaps in any sport. For decades it was contested between top-notch teams, and to tens of thousands of American military personnel around the globe it is the only game each year that matters. The games are so intense, if the Cadets and Midshipmen could play with such passion in the rest of their games, they might be nationally ranked.
HISTORY: Started in 1890, Army holds a 48-45-7 advantage. Navy won last season in the 100th edition, 19-9. Philadelphia has been the site of 75 Army-Navy games. Just three games apiece have been played in Annapolis and West Point. The Cadets are 0-3 at West Point.
GREATEST GAME: The notion of football as war is time-honored metaphor, and it certainly carried extra meaning when Army played Navy in 1945, just a few months after the end of World War II. Army was ranked No. 1, Navy No. 2. The Cadets' Heisman Trophy backfield of Felix "Doc" Blanchard and Glenn Davis, Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside, led Army to a 32-13 win and its second consecutive national title.
HARVARD-YALE So you think this game, now played between Division I-AA teams, isn't important anymore? Well, the outcome matters a little bit to a couple of guys named Gore (Harvard, Class of 1969) and Bush (Yale, '68). True story: Last month a Yale graduate living in Geneva traveled overseas to Baltimore for a wedding. Someone mentioned college football, and the first words out of her mouth were, "We better beat Harvard this year!" Many are called "The Game." This is the original.
HISTORY: Vast. Started in 1875, Yale holds a 63-45-8 advantage. Today is the 117th edition.
GREATEST GAME: 1968, at Harvard. Yale, featuring future NFL All-Pro running back Calvin Hill and legendary quarterback Brian Dowling, had won 16 in a row and was ranked No. 19 in the nation. Harvard, featuring All-Ivy League offensive lineman Tommy Lee Jones (yes, that Tommy Lee Jones), was 8-0. Trailing 29-13 with less than a minute to go, Harvard scored a touchdown, made the 2-point conversion, recovered the onside kick, scored again on the game's final play and made the 2-point conversion with no time remaining to tie the score at 29. The headline of the Harvard school paper, the Harvard Crimson, said, "Harvard beats Yale 29-29."
OHIO STATE-MICHIGAN The Big Game has been the premier rivalry in the Midwest seemingly forever. The Wolverines and Buckeyes always seem to have highly ranked teams and be playing for a berth in the Rose Bowl. This year the winner will need some help, mainly a loss by Purdue, to get there. In recent years this has been a particularly sour experience for Ohio State. Under coach John Cooper, the Buckeyes are 2-9-1 against Michigan and have had multiple sterling seasons soiled by the Wolverines. This series long epitomized the phrase, "Three yards and a cloud of dust."
HISTORY: Started in 1897, Michigan holds a 55-35-6 advantage.
GREATEST GAME: 1973. A 10-10 tie between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan created co-Big Ten champions, with the league sending Ohio State to the Rose Bowl and angering volatile Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler.
TEXAS-TEXAS A&M This rivalry has parallels to Alabama-Auburn, one of them being Bear Bryant, who coached the Aggies from 1954 to 1957. Texas is the elite state university, A&M the hard-working agricultural school. Or, depending on your perspective, Texas is insufferably snotty and self-absorbed, and A&M is for simpletons who couldn't get in to UT. It's been said football is larger than life in Texas, but a few million Texans think this game is much bigger than that. Last season, tragedy brought the schools together. A towering bonfire built by students on the Texas A&M campus each year during the week of the Texas game collapsed during construction, killing 12 people. Flags were at half-staff throughout the state, and the visiting Texas band played an unforgettable rendition of Amazing Grace at halftime in tribute. The Aggies won, 20-16.
HISTORY: Started in 1894, Texas holds a 67-34-5 advantage. Traditionally played Thanksgiving weekend, it is the third-most played rivalry in Division I-A history, behind Minnesota-Wisconsin and Missouri-Kansas.
GREATEST GAME: For old-time Aggies fans, 1939 was special, as A&M's 20-0 win kept it undefeated, and the Aggies then beat Tulane in the Sugar Bowl for the national title. For old-time Longhorns fans, 1940 ranks right near the top, as Texas beat the defending national champions 7-0, ending the Aggies' 19-game winning streak.
Honorable Mention
Oklahoma-Nebraska This farily young rivalry reached this high on the list because when these to teams meet national title implecations are nearly always on the line. The teams have meet 17 times with both teams ranked in the Top 10 nationally, since the inception of the rivalry in 1912, and have met 13 times with one team being rated as the best team in the nation. Oklahoma leads 40-37-3
Georgia-Florida "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" This game is now played on a neutral site in Jacksonville, Florida where tickets are split evenly between the schools, this creates a unique feel during the game which is also called "The House Divided." Georgia leads 45-33-2
Florida State-Miami The close outcomes of the math-up between these two teams (see Wide Right 1&2 and Wide Left) compells many fans to match this mathup, this increases the significance of the rivarly that has plaeyd a role in determining the national champion several times during the last 25 years. The rivalry is young, only slightly over 50 meetings old but is already one of the nations greatest. Miami leads 25-20
Stanford-Cal "Big Game" Played for the Stanford Ax. The first meeting between these teams was in 1892 and the rivalry is highlghted by "The Play" which concluded the 1980 contest between the teams. Stanford leads 54-39-11.
Oregon-Oregon State "The Civil War" The sixth oldest rivalry played between the ducks and the beavers is one of the most hotly contested rivalries in the nation, as one can see by the nickname. The first meeting was 1894 and became an annual event in 1912. in Oregon leads 53-42-1.