College football is full of heated and hated rivals. More than any other sport, college football fans embrace the tradition and pageantry involved with the typical college football game day.
But during Rivalry Week, that passion is palpable. The games are more stressful, the hits are harder, the victories more sweet, and the losses harder to swallow. For many teams, their season hinges on how they perform against their rival.
While there are many great rivalries in college football, there are a handful of teams that truly hate each other. And for them this one game, above all else, is the most important on their schedule every season.
With Rivalry Week upon us, let's take a closer look at the five greatest college football rivalries. For these ten teams, loving thy neighbor is not an option.
Honorable Mentions
THE FLORIDA STATE-MIAMI RIVALRY Florida State vs. Miami
All-time record: Miami leads 30-23
The series originated in 1951 and neither school has really dominated. Both the Seminoles and the Hurricanes have gone on streaks of five plus victories against their opponent. Wins are usually traded away year in and year out with the home team usually falling to the visitors.
Since the late 1980s, one or both squads have often been highly ranked coming into the game, adding national championship implications to an already heated rivalry. Kicks have played an important role in the series with many wide right, wide left, blocks, and muffs that would have won the game for the fallen.
THE CIVIL WAR Oregon vs. Oregon State
All-time record: Oregon leads 55-46-10
The first game between these in-state rivals was played in 1894. Though the game doesn't usually carry national implications, the rivalry divides the state and is hotly contested.
From 1997 through 2006 the winner of the game was the home team. The streak was snapped in 2007, when Oregon State University beat the University of Oregon at Autzen Stadium 38-31 in double overtime.
From 1959 to 1961, the Platypus Trophy was awarded to the winning school. The trophy was lost for 40 years and found in 2005, and beginning with the 2007 game, is to be awarded to the winning school's alumni association.
The 2008 meeting has Pac-10 championship and Rose bowl implications.
THE BORDER WAR Kansas vs. Missouri
All-time record: Missouri leads 54-53-9
The intense rivalry between the two universities can be traced to the open violence involving anti-slavery and pro-slavery elements that took place in the Kansas Territory and the western frontier towns of Missouri throughout the 1850s. These incidents were attempts by Missouri (a slave state) to influence whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state.
Often referred to as one of the bitterest and most hateful rivalries in college sports, the 2007 football season brought the origins of the rivalry between the two states back into the spotlight. A t-shirt created by a Missouri alumnus gained national attention with its reference to Quantrill's Raid of 1863.
The shirt depicted the burning of Lawrence in 1863 following the raid of William Quantrill and his Bushwhackers against the Jayhawkers of Kansas. The image of Lawrence burning was paired with the word “Scoreboard” and a Mizzou logo. On the back of the shirts, William Quantrill was quoted, "Our cause is just."
Some Kansas fans interpreted these shirts as supporting slavery. KU supporters returned fire with a shirt depicting abolitionist John Brown with the words, “Kansas: Protecting America from Missouri since 1854.”
THE NOTRE DAME-USC RIVALRY GAME Notre Dame vs. USC
All-time record: Notre Dame leads 42-32-5
The Irish and the Trojans rivalry is widely regarded as the best inter-sectional rivalry in college football. The two teams first met in 1926.
Quite often, the winner of this series has gone on to win or play for the college football national title. Both schools combined have produced the most national titles (22), Heisman trophy winners (14), All-Americans, College Football Hall of Famers and future NFL Hall of Famers (21) than any other collegiate series. Also of note is that ND and USC games count for five of the ten most-watched college football games in television history.
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