10 Most Underrated Rivalries in College Football
Rivalries are a part of what makes college football so great. The history and the hatred between two rival schools set up must-watch games each year with unique names and even more unique trophies.
Fans all over the country know about the annual Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn. They recognize how huge The Game between Ohio State and Michigan is every year. The Golden Hat for Oklahoma and Texas' Red River Rivalry and UCLA-USC's Victory Bell are iconic sights.
But all rivalries aren't created equal on a national scale, and the spotlight doesn't always shine on some of the most passionate series in college football. Whether it's a lack of name recognition or title stakes, plenty of great rivalries aren't the first ones that come to mind for the average fan.
Here are 10 of the most underrated rivalries in FBS college football. You won't find these games on your average list of "best college football rivalries," but they each deserve attention for their close contests, long histories and—most importantly—the amount of bad blood that drips from each meeting.
Which rivalry do you think is the most underrated in college football on a national scale, and what are some other overlooked jewels of the annual schedule? Let us know in the comments below.
Air Force vs. Navy
1 of 10
First off, the Army-Navy Game is nowhere near an "underrated" rivalry. The game consistently makes favorite rivalry lists and is televised nationally on CBS every year on a Saturday when it's the only game of the day.
But with Navy winning the last 13 over Army, let's shift to the game that has determined the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy every season since 1997—Air Force vs. Navy.
This matchup doesn't get the spotlight of the Army-Navy game, but it has made better football over the last two decades. Five of the last seven games have been decided by single digits, and three of them went into overtime.
Last season's game went down to the wire as the Falcons sealed the 30-21 win on a fourth-down touchdown pass with 35 seconds left. While Army-Navy gets all the love, Air Force-Navy is usually a close rivalry that's played at the two schools' home stadiums and decides which team gets to go see the president at the White House.
Next Meeting: Oct. 3 at Navy
Arizona vs. Arizona State
2 of 10
This heated in-state rivalry has featured dancing on logos, uniform fiascos and a particularly nasty bench-clearing brawl. But nothing matches the amount of hate between Arizona and Arizona State in 1958—when the state's "Proposition 200" decided whether Arizona State would become an official state university.
"Before ASU was to play its first-ever game in [the new Sun Devil Stadium], UA students or alumni (who were never apprehended) broke into the stadium and burned 'No. 200' into the field grass," Arizona Sports' Shane Dale wrote. "ASU earned payback in November, as Prop 200 passed by a 2-1 margin, and a couple of weeks later, first-year head coach Frank Kush and the Sun Devils put a 47-0 shellacking on the Wildcats in Tucson."
Last season, the rivalry game was the first meeting between two ranked teams since 1986. Arizona held off Arizona State in front of its home fans to win 42-35, reclaim the Territorial Cup and book its spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
With both the Wildcats and the Sun Devils on the rise in the Pac-12 South, the stakes of this annual rivalry game will continue to grow as the hatred continues to flow in the Arizona desert.
Next Meeting: Nov. 21 at Arizona State
Baylor vs. TCU
3 of 10
"The Revivalry" won't be underrated for long, as both Baylor and TCU look to be major contenders for the Big 12 and the national titles in 2015 and beyond. But even before the big stakes of ranked matchups between the Bears and the Horned Frogs, this was a close rivalry in a geographical and football sense.
From 1895 to 1910, both schools were located in Waco, Texas, and the rivalry began on the football field in 1899. TCU later moved back to its original home in Fort Worth, which is only 90 miles away from Waco.
Baylor's wild 61-58 victory last season in its new stadium gave the Bears the all-time series lead at 52-51-7. In this series' long history, 42 of those games have been decided by seven or fewer points, including Baylor's last three wins over TCU.
The 2015 matchup between these two Texas rivals has the potential to be the biggest one yet. If the teams can string together more games like the one from last season, the Baylor-TCU rivalry will start to become one of the most notable in college football.
Next Meeting: Nov. 27 at TCU
Bowling Green vs. Toledo
4 of 10
Bowling Green and Toledo are almost as close as two rivals can get without being inside the same city limits. "The Battle of I-75" is one of the best Group of Five rivalries in college football, and a lot of that has to do with the 25-mile separation between the two campuses.
"We probably had more kids from Toledo than anywhere else, at least when I was coach," former Bowling Green coach Doyt Perry said, according to SB Nation's Hustle Belt. "Some of these kids played with or against some of the Toledo players while in high school. So there was no real problem in getting the kids up for the game."
This modern-day #MACtion specialty has been downright nasty over the years. In 1935, Toledo won 63-0 and caused a riot that led to this series' 13-year hiatus. The rivalry's Peace Pipe Trophy was stolen in the late 1960s, ending what was supposed to be a calming tradition between these two close rivals.
Toledo broke a tie in the all-time series record in 2010 and has rattled off five straight wins over Bowling Green—three of which have been decided by a touchdown or less. But with back-to-back MAC Championship Game appearances, Bowling Green is a top conference team that will look to break the streak this fall.
Next Meeting: Nov. 17 at Bowling Green
BYU vs. Utah
5 of 10
"The Holy War" in Utah has some unreal levels of animosity—most of it due to religious tension—between Mormon school BYU, state university Utah and both sets of fans. One could fill a book on all the wild moments and memorable quotes that have fueled this hated rivalry over the years.
In 1977, after BYU quarterback Marc Wilson broke the NCAA single-game passing record in a rout, Utah coach Wayne Howard said, "It will be a crusade to beat BYU from now on." Former BYU receiver Austin Collie's "the Lord stepped in" comment after a 2007 comeback win angered many Utes fans. Cougars quarterback Max Hall ripped Utah after their 2009 victory, and then the Utes went on to win the next four games in the series.
"It's a nasty rivalry," former Utah head coach Urban Meyer, now at Ohio State, told John Henderson of the Denver Post in 2008. "I had to be educated on it. ... With Ohio State-Michigan, there's some mutual respect. But out there, I had to be tuned in. It's an ugly deal."
Unfortunately, the two teams didn't schedule their nonconference rivalry game for 2014 or 2015. But the War returns in 2016, when the Pac-12's Utes look for five straight against the independent Cougars.
Next Meeting: Sept. 10, 2016 at Utah
Clemson vs. South Carolina
6 of 10
Although it doesn't normally get the amount of attention of an Alabama-Auburn or an Ohio State-Michigan, Clemson-South Carolina has everything one would want in a rivalry.
Both schools are in the same state. They have a complicated history of hate that goes back to early state politics. The rivalry game always finishes a regular season. Both head coaches have taken verbal shots at each other. And then there was that ugly 2004 brawl.
"The second-longest uninterrupted FBS rivalry, one that dates to 1909, [has] rekindled in a way nobody in the Palmetto State could've fathomed," Sporting News' Bill Bender wrote last year. "Two extreme personalities recruited an influx of NFL-caliber talent and have shoved the game onto the national stage."
Clemson snapped a five-game losing streak against South Carolina last season with a 35-17 home victory. This season, Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks will look to reassert their control in this heated rivalry by knocking off Dabo Swinney and the rising Tigers.
Next Meeting: Nov. 28 at South Carolina
LSU vs. Ole Miss
7 of 10
While several famous rivalries dot the SEC landscape, the buzz is starting to come back in the Magnolia Bowl, the annual game between West rivals LSU and Ole Miss.
Ole Miss has its annual Egg Bowl game against Mississippi State, but LSU might be a bigger rival to Rebel fans. According to ESPN.com's Edward Aschoff, "Go to hell, LSU!" is yelled during the national anthem at Ole Miss games—even if LSU isn't the opponent. And the hate is mutual for the Tigers faithful, who don't have a dominant in-state rival in Louisiana.
The rivalry was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, when both programs were national powerhouses. Billy Cannon's "Halloween Run" in 1959 is one of the most famous plays in LSU history, and a pair of ties between the two schools in the next decade had big impacts on title races.
Ole Miss broke a three-game losing streak against LSU, which has dominated the modern era of this series, in 2013. However, the Tigers got their revenge at home last year and ended the Rebels' shot at an undefeated season. High stakes have returned to this rivalry with Ole Miss' resurgence under Hugh Freeze, making this one to watch in the seasons to come.
Next Meeting: Nov. 21 at Ole Miss
Michigan vs. Michigan State
8 of 10
Ohio State and Michigan gets most of the attention nationally as the biggest rivalry in the Big Ten. But the conference's premier in-state rivalry, Michigan-Michigan State, is constantly overlooked on a national scale.
Michigan State might be the "little brother" to Michigan fans, but the Spartans aren't so little anymore. As the Wolverines have struggled to get back to national prominence, Michigan State has won six of the last seven games in what was historically a rather one-sided rivalry.
But the hate is still there. Earlier this year, vandals painted the Spartan statue on Michigan State's campus in the Wolverines' maize and blue. That came a few months after a block M on Michigan's campus turned green and was joined by a white "SU" on the sidewalk.
This in-state rivalry should continue to increase in intensity thanks to the arrival of new Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who noted the Spartans were "the biggest guys on the block." Don't sleep on the battle in this all-Michigan affair.
Next Meeting: Oct. 17 at Michigan
Nevada vs. UNLV
9 of 10
Games between Nevada and UNLV don't usually determine conference titles. They're all about bragging rights in the state of Nevada, and that's generated some vicious conflicts over the years.
One major point of contention between the two teams is Nevada's athletic branding. While the University of Nevada, Las Vegas goes by "UNLV," the University of Nevada, Reno sticks with "Nevada." Rebels fans don't like that, and they constantly refer to the Wolfpack as "UNR" or "Reno" but never "Nevada."
On the football field, the two teams have gotten into actual fights for supremacy, most notably in 1995. According to SB Nation's Mountain West Connection, a pregame brawl and a postgame brawl that year resulted in "25 ejections, six arrests...fighting mascots and one flying helmet."
As if this rivalry wasn't already explosive enough, the winner of the game gets an actual—yet inoperable—cannon. Since 1969, the Battle for Nevada, and the Fremont Cannon, has generated tons of bad blood, and it's been known to spill over in the stands and on the field.
Next Meeting: Oct. 3 at Nevada
Oregon vs. Washington
10 of 10
The hatred overflows in the Pacific Northwest each year when Oregon and Washington go head-to-head. These two schools do not like each other at all and have a long history of trading blows on and off the field.
In 1948, Washington cost Oregon a Rose Bowl trip when it voted for Cal to be the conference's representative and persuaded Montana to do the same. Huskies fans tackled Oregon's Larry Hill in 1968 on a potential game-winning touchdown play.
Oregon turned the tide in the rivalry in 1994 with a game-winning, 97-yard interception return—a moment so memorable, the Ducks wore throwback uniforms from that game last season.
Although the Ducks have won the last 11 meetings between the two programs, Washington still holds a 14-win lead all-time. With coach Chris Petersen looking to bring Washington back to the top of the Pac-12, this series will continue to be one to watch on the West Coast.
Next Meeting: Oct. 17 at Washington
Justin Ferguson is an on-call college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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