Hate is Not Enough: The Top Five Rivalries in College Football

There is no rivalry that has as much pageantry as the annual Army-Navy Game. Played on the last Saturday of the regular season, all members of both schools march on to the field in full dress and garb on their way to their seats.

Flyovers and appearances by the Commander-in-Chief add to the nostalgia of one of the more classic matchups in the game.

The current rivalry standings have Navy winning the overall tally at 53-49-7, including every matchup since 2002, by far the longest streak in the history of the rivalry.

In addition to all the pageantry and tradition behind the game, this is one of the few rivalries in the game that is featured at a neutral site. Philadelphia is by far the most common home to the matchup, hosting 81 games, including the 2009 encounter.

The game is the final leg in the Commander-in-Chief Trophy competition, pitting all three service academies against each other throughout the season.

The state of Alabama is known as one of the traditional strong states for college football. And the season-ending clash between rivals Alabama and Auburn is one that people all throughout the state get excited about.

For every year from 1902 up until 1989, the game had been held in Birmingham, the steel and iron capital of Alabama. Henceforth, the matchup became known as the Iron Bowl.

And when the time of year rolls around, these uneasy neighbors renew their hatred and fight it out in Auburn or Tuscaloosa for bragging rights.

Alabama's win in 2008, a shutout 36-0 win, ended a six-game losing streak to the Tigers, which brought the rivalry total to 39-33-1 in favor of the Tide.

Auburn had won six straight prior to the most recent clash, cutting down the deficit built on by a nine-game losing skid during the late 1970s.

Oddly enough, because of how the Iron Bowl had been set up, Alabama's win in Tuscaloosa last year was the first time the Tide had ever beaten Auburn in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The first Saturday of November plays host to the SEC's other super-rivalry in Jacksonville. Florida and Georgia have been two of the most successful programs of the decade in the SEC, and when they get together in Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, you can expect a lot of hate going both ways.

Since 1933, and every year except 1994 and 1995 due to renovations, the game has been held in Jacksonville, providing reasonable proximity to both schools. The old name used to be the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, but the name was changed in 2006 because the SEC did not want to associate alcoholism with the game itself.

Florida has recently had the upper hand on the Dawgs, going 16-3 since 1990. That hasn't kept Georgia from having a hold on the series at 46-38-2 over the Gators.

There have been a lot of memorable matchups between the two squads, but what has revitalized the rivalry has been the previous two matchups of the Florida-Georgia Game.

No game did more to reignite the rivalry in recent memory was 2007, when after a Knowshon Moreno touchdown for UGA, the entire team ran into the end zone to celebrate on the order of coach Mark Richt.

The celebration helped ignite Georgia to a 42-30 victory, only their second since 1997. Moreno ran for 188 yards against the defending national champions, and it helped catapult Georgia into the BCS.

2008 was a different story, as Urban Meyer showed no mercy, putting a 49-10 rout on the Bulldogs. But even more of a story was Meyer calling two timeouts in the final minute for his team to celebrate and complete his revenge.

Who knows how Georgia will respond in 2009? That will have to be something we all pay attention to, regardless of who you root for.

Proximity and recent hype has made the Red River Shootout between Oklahoma and Texas in the Cotton Bowl something special.

Held during the Texas State Fair in Dallas, the game is the most anticipated matchup of the Big XII season, pitting uneasy neighbors against one another in a showdown fueled by pure hatred.

More fuel is added to the game based on the fact that multiple players from OU are from Texas. Texans call these people traitors, Sooners believe these players to be smarter than Longhorn players.

This combined with a clash of different lifestyles create such hatred on both sides, which helps both teams get up so much for this game.

In the history of the rivalry, Texas has the overall lead 57-40-5, but they have only won three times in the recent decade. Usually, this game brings both teams together while they are highly ranked, and they usually decide who plays in the Big XII title game.

During this decade, Oklahoma or Texas has played in every single Big XII Championship Game, and they've collectively won all but two matchups. And as it was with the Florida-Georgia Game, the last two showdowns have been some of the most exciting in the history of the rivalry.

2007 saw Oklahoma need a last minute defensive stand to preserve a 28-21 victory over the Longhorns, on their way to another Big XII title. 2008 pitted two undefeated teams together in Dallas, and they put on a show. The game could not have been closer at 21-20 OU at the half.

And then Texas started rolling off a 25-14 second half to take home a 45-35, the highest-scoring game in the history of the Red River Shootout.

With both Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy matching up one last time (depending on Bradford's health), 2009 could be yet another epic clash between these two Southern titans.

Quite simply, there is no game in sports that's just referred to as "The Game." To Michigan and Ohio State, these neighbors take this game as life or death, as everything. And every year, the game seems to have implications that reverberate throughout the entire college football world.

Coaches have been fired because of this game (John Cooper), and Heisman Trophies have been locked up because of the game (Desmond Howard, Troy Smith), and championships have been decided in the Big Ten seemingly every season.

Michigan still holds a pretty strong record over the Buckeyes, which currently stands at 57-42-6, including a stretch where Ohio State did not record their first win until 1919, 22 years after the first meeting.

Since then, so many memorable games have been played, from the Snow Bowl in 1950, to 2006's Game of the Century. It has also produced so many spectacular moments, from Desmond Howard's "Heisman pose" to "The Catch" by Buckeye WR Anthony Gonzalez in 2005.

Lately though, the rivalry has become one-sided, with the Buckeyes winning five straight and seven of the past eight games. Coach Jim Tressel has been ruthless against the Wolverines, coaching his team to a 42-7 blowout win in 2008, the largest margin of Buckeye victory since 50-14 in 1968 under Woody Hayes.

Books have been written about the rivalry, and even an HBO documentary was produced in 2006 about The Game. And it probably has the most exciting, tenuous period in all of college football, the 10-Year War, from 1969 to 1979, in which Michigan won the war 5-4-1 under Bo Schembechler.

History and tradition have made it the greatest rivalry in college football, and possibly in all of sports. Pride and glory make sure that the strength of the rivalry remains strong regardless of the strength of both teams.