College Football 2011: 18 Best Feuds in the Game

The best feuds in sports, let alone college football, are the ones that make the fan react with such disdain, such disgust and such vile anger that it makes them want to throw the closest thing that is not bolted down through something.

A great feud makes the fan hurl expletive after expletive toward that person, team or even mascot.

There have been great feuds in history. For example: Red Sox fans and Yankee fans, the Steelers and the Browns/Ravens, the Montague’s and the Capulet’s (that's right, Romeo and Juliet reference!) and of course the cast of the Jersey Shore and Angelina.

In the tiny world that is college football, there are hundreds of feuds that get the blood boiling. Today we just take a look at 18 of these feuds.

Did I miss a feud here or there? Of course I did. There are only 18 here in this piece.

Give a click through and enjoy the ones that made the cut. And after you're done go over to Twitter and give me a follow @tjmcaloon. And if you are going to tweet this story out, be sure to mention that I wrote it.

University of Pittsburgh vs West Virginia University

These two schools are separated by about 90 miles of highway. In those 90 miles, there are two schools that hate each other with every single ounce in their bodies.

So the picture in this slide might not resonate with these two schools and their hate for each other. However, in this picture you'll see the sign that promotes a national title trip for the Mountaineers; except that they had to play Pitt at home in the last game of the season.

This Pitt team was 5-6 entering the game and was a double-digit underdog.

Pitt won the game and ruined any chance of WVU earning their first ever college football national title.

This, along with countless of other stories of players having to wear their helmets on the sideline due to fans pelting them with batteries, make this a much hated rivalry.

Nick Saban vs the LSU Fanbase

At one time, Nick Saban was the man who seemed to walk on water on the campus of LSU. He brought them their second national title, he won a lot of football games, he recruited the best players and pretty much did it all.

What's that you say? There's no chance that he would ever leave a place that would treat him so kindly?

Well, the NFL, in the form of the Miami Dolphins, called for Nick to become their head coach of their team. Saban at first said there was no chance he was ever leaving LSU. Then he did the exact opposite and left for South Beach.

Since taking his talents to South Beach did not work out so well for Nick, he returned to the college ranks as the head coach of Alabama. There he's won another national title, while LSU has won a lot with Saban's replacement, Les Miles.

However, Saban's first trip back to "Death Valley" was eventful to say the least. Extra police were brought in to make sure no one let Mike the Tiger out of his cage and sic him on Saban.

OK, that probably wouldn't have happened, but I'm sure a Tigers fan dreamed that up.

Rich Rodriguez vs WVU (Part 1)

Rich Rodriguez follows a continuing trend in this slideshow. The first bridge he torched was at West Virginia.

He brought the program to new heights with his spread offense. He had them as a national title favorite and a Big East champion with his run-first offense. He should have had them in the national title (see the first slide). He said he was NEVER leaving Morgantown....NEVER!

Except he did, for Michigan.

Rich Rodriguez vs Michigan (Part 2)

It's never easy to replace a legend. The season after Michigan coach Lloyd Carr was forced out of his position by Michigan they brought in former West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez (remember from the last slide?).

He, to put it nicely, did not fill up to those expectations that were set for him.

He was an epic failure at Michigan. So much so that he took out the power running game that helped Carr win Rose Bowls and a national championship while at Michigan.

His spread offense did not translate well at Michigan, and the fans/alumni now hate him for it.

It's never easy to replace a legend, but it sure as hell is easy to replace a failure.

Jim Harbaugh vs Pete Carroll

This started out as two coaches with two different programs. One coach had a program that was on the downhill portion of a great run (Pete Carrol). The other was with a program that was on the verge of greatness (Jim Harbaugh).

These two met on a Saturday night at USC with Harbaugh's Stanford team pulling off a major upset over Carroll's USC team. Sure, one year is one thing but the following victory sent Carroll off the deep end.

The victory that sent Carroll on a tirade after Stanford's win was two years later when Stanford again beat USC at their home.

This game, Stanford made sure to let every team in the Pac-10 know they were the new top program by running up the score.

Carroll called Harbaugh's actions "classless." Now these two coaches have moved on from the college ranks to the pros. Let's see if the feud continues this year.

Lane Kiffin vs Urban Meyer

The start of the Lane Kiffin year in Tennessee was interesting. He came in and immediately set his sights on pissing off almost everyone in the SEC. There was one man in particular that he set his sights on.

Urban Meyer.

From the beginning, Lane accused Urban of cheating during recruiting. He said that he couldn't wait until their game in Gainesville to kick Urban's ass and sing Rocky Top all night back home in Knoxville. He built the game up so much that his feud with Urban became bigger than the game itself.

The game you may ask? How did it go?

Florida 23, Tennessee 13. Meyer is on record for holding back his offense in the fourth quarter because he knew that the Tennessee offense didn't pose a threat.

Lane Kiffin vs Tennessee

So about that one year with Tennessee; yeah that ONE YEAR with UT before being "lured" out to Southern California to his "dream job" at USC.

This was one year after he said he landed his "dream job" of coaching with his father at Tennessee. This was one year after saying all that crap about Urban Meyer and Florida. This was one year after giving the Volunteer fan base the thought that he was the next Phil Fullmer.

One year was all that it took for Lane to do enough damage that when it was announced he was leaving the program, his family received a good number of death threats.

It's one thing to say one thing and do another. It's a whole different level of hate when you leave a program with the NCAA about to sanction the holy hell out of it.

Alabama vs Auburn

Ah the good ole' Iron Bowl. I cannot do this feud justice as it's one of the best in the game. These two teams, for the last few years, have both put on the field championship caliber rosters. Heck, the last two champions in college football came from these two teams.

But every year the state of Alabama is divided by these schools.

But it was this past year that the feud took to another level with the poising of Auburn's famous Toomer's Corner Trees.

Do yourself a favor and YouTube the call that led to an arrest of the man accused of poisoning these trees. It shows how much hatred Alabama has for Auburn.

Michigan vs Ohio State

Much like the last slide with Auburn vs Alabama, this is the rivalry of the north.

If either of these teams had an 0-10 season heading into this game, a win for either Michigan or Ohio State would make the fans of that school feel good about their season.

It's said that if Rich Rod could have beaten Ohio State just once, his tenure with the team would have lasted longer.

Buckeye fans have loved torturing Michigan fans about Rodriguez and his NCAA sanctions against him. Now the shoe is on the other foot, with this year’s Ohio State's controversies stemming from Jim Tressel and Terrell Pryor.

With the sanctions against Ohio State, this may be Michigan's first win in quite a long time this year.

USC Fans and UCLA Fans

This feud is more about everything that has nothing to do with football. Yes, in years past these two programs were a lot closer. But in the last, what, 10 years, these teams have been on two different successes.

But, the fans, the cheerleaders, the celebrities that come to these games. For the longest time UCLA had the Los Angeles market all to their own. They were Hollywood, they were LA's football team and they were the school that people cheered for.

But at the turn of the century, all that changed.

USC is now LA's football team. Everyone made a point to align themselves with the Trojans. They had the celebs coming to their games. They had the hotter cheerleaders.

And, they were the school that kids in Southern California were choosing to go to first.

Texas and Oklahoma

It's a football game unlike any other; not just in college, but in the NFL as well. Yes, the Super Bowl is played on a neutral field, but this game is the only one that divides the entire stadium down the middle.

When these two universities meet every October in Dallas during the Texas State Fair at the Cotton Bowl, the stadium is split at the 50-yard line between the Oklahoma fans and the Texas fans.

It's one thing to play a competitive game in front of 70,000 fans. But it's another thing when this game will decide which school will more than likely go on to a BCS game. And this is in the middle of each school's season too!

This game draws the best college football talent in the Big 12 and the best fans all to one place. It's a game and a feud that will hopefully never die out.

Mike Leach and Texas Tech University

This one has been brought to life by recent activities by Leach and a book that was written about his life. During his tenure at Texas Tech, Leach brought the program into a level of success that it never was at before.

He had the team as the No. 1 team in the country in both football polls. He had them playing for a chance at a Big 12 title, and possibly a BCS Championship game birth as well.

Then allegations of mistreatment of players came out against Leach. It led to his downfall at Tech.

Leach has since filed a lawsuit against Texas Tech for breach of contract and wrongful termination. His lawsuit is still pending, and since being fired, he has not been able to find a coaching position else where.

Reggie Bush and Pete Carroll vs. USC

These two men were the scapegoats for what happened at USC and the NCAA sanctions against them. They were the ones who were put in the forefront of the University and the allegations of agents paying players for performances at SC.

Since then, the dominant run of Carroll, Bush and the rest of the Trojans during '03-'05 has been wiped away from the halls of USC. For example, the Heisman trophy that Bush won in 2005, gone. The championship the Trojans won in '04, gone as well.

The fans will remember those great years, even if the people at the University of Southern California do not want them back on their campus.

Maurice Clarett and Ohio State

Maurice Clarett single-handedly won the 2003 National Championship game for Ohio State. Single-handily he ripped a turnover from a Miami's defensive back's arms and into his hands to give the possession back to Ohio State.

This was Clarett's way of capping off an incredible freshman year. It was, what Ohio State fans wanted to believe, what they could expect for two to three more years.

They thought they were going to get the next Archie Griffin, the next Eddie George. Instead they got the one and only Maurice Clarett.

That national championship game was the last game Clarette would ever play for Ohio State.

He soon was kicked off the team and out of school, infuriating a fanbase who saw wasted talent.

Tom Osbourne and the Big 12

From the very installment of the idea of the Big 12, Nebraska's then head coach and now current athletic director Tom Osbourne hated the idea.

And when I say hate I mean you could have told him he had the choice of Nebraska never winning another national title or joining the Big 12, I would believe he would have chosen Nebraska never winning another national title over the Big 12.

He hated the fact that the new conference would demolish the Big-Eight conference. He hated that his Nebraska team would no longer be the best team in the conference. He hated that Texas and Oklahoma would be stealing their rivals. He hated everything.

It was to no one's surprise that when the Big Ten made the offer for Nebraska to join their conference he accepted. And now Osbourne and Nebraska begin play in their new conference never again to align themselves with Texas.

Miami (FL) and Notre Dame

This feud has died down in recent years, but back in the late '80s into the early '90s this feud was the hottest one in football.

As you had the clean cut Notre Dame Irish against the kids from Miami who were perceived as thugs. The media dubbed this game "The Catholics versus The Convicts."

Both teams had a championship caliber team on the field and both teams had rabid fan bases. This game usually got ugly and sparked a wide national debate of who really was the better team no matter the outcome of the game.

Chris Folwer and the Tennessee Fanbase

Chris Folwer is a great television personality for ESPN. He is the perfect "quarterback" for College GameDay. So why the heck is he on this list if so many people love his work?

Case in point in the book ESPN: Those Guys Have All the Fun. 

During the 1997-98 college season, the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy was Tennessee’s Peyton Manning.

However, during one broadcast on ESPN, Folwer was so impressed by Michigan's Charles Woodson that he proclaimed, "He should win the Heisman Trophy this year!"

In the eyes of Tennessee fans, that was enough for the voters on the Heisman to switch their votes from Peyton to Howard thus awarding Woodson as the 1997 Heisman Trophy winner.

Fans in Knoxville still to this date have not forgiven or even acknowledge that Folwer had zero control or sway of the voting process.

College Football Fans and the BCS

Simply put for the last slide, until college football implements a playoff system to determine the national champion, fans will hate the BCS.

It's the biggest feud between fanbases that feel their teams are being screwed by the BCS.

Whether you're a fan of a small non-BCS school like TCU, Boise State or anyone else that gets hot or if you're a BCS school, you have a similar hatred of the BCS.

Put a playoff system in college football. You're the only sport that uses computers as one of the deciding factors as to who plays in the championship game.

Signoff

Thanks for checking out the slideshow this week. I missed a few feuds, and I'm sure you'll let me know that in the comment section below. Come back next week for some more college football fun.

As always follow me on Twitter: @tjmcaloon

Check out the podcast: T.J. McAloon and the Sports Half Hour

And enjoy the wonder and merriment that Tebow and Urban share in each other's eyes.

See yeinz next Wednesday as for now I'm out.