College Football Predictions 2011: Predicting Who Will Win the Top 25 Rivalries
For many fans, there is no other game that matters.
It's the game of the year. If your team is 11-0, it could be that emotional win that leads to a BCS berth. If the other team is 11-0, it could be time to really anger the opposition. If your team is 0-11, that one win could salvage at least a moral victory on the year.
Regardless of the circumstances, rivalry games in college football mean more to more people than in any sport anywhere.
But who will have the inside track leading into 2011?
Will the Irish fall for more Sparty shenanigans?
Will someone get flattened in the Iron Bowl?
Is the fire finally back in the Florida-Florida State series?
Can the Black Knights finally sink the Midshipmen?
Will Michigan ever beat Ohio State again?
All burning questions. Now, some answers.
25. Harvard-Yale
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Let's start with a nod to one of the truly great, old-time college football rivalries.
"The Game" began in 1875, and Harvard leads the series 65-54-8.
In addition, the two combatants have a combined 26 national championships between them (eight for Harvard and 18 for Yale). Can any other rivalry say that?
Harvard has won the last four meetings, and nine of the last 10.
The Crimson lose some key starters, including quarterback Andrew Hutch (transfer from LSU, who missed significant time in 2010 due to lingering injury issues). Because of his injuries, and injuries to primary backup, junior Collier Winters, Harvard has some fairly decent experience to tap at the quarterback position. Collier should be healthy heading into 2011, and was 2010's Ivy League preseason offensive POTY. If Collier stays healthy, it's doubtful the sway that the ten thousand men have had over Eli will change in 2011.
Harvard wins. Again.
24. Washington-Washington State
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It's fair to say that 2011's UW-WSU game will look quite a bit different game.
For one, Jake Locker is gone.
If people want to know how important a talented, smart quarterback is to a team, watch Washington in 2011.
That being said, Washington State is still pretty bad. The talent level just isn't there, and it's doubtful the Cougars will be able to keep up with the vastly more talented Huskies.
Washington wins for the third straight year.
23. Ole Miss-Mississippi State
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This one is a no-brainer.
Mississippi State is coming off of an impressive year in 2010. And 2011 is shaping up to be another Top 25 season for the Bulldogs.
Ole Miss is likely to be just another also ran in the SEC this year, coming off of a 4-8 season. Losing to the likes of Vanderbilt and FCS Jacksonville State aren't going to earn you many picks in head-to-head matchups against anyone.
Mississippi State wins fairly easily.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
22. South Carolina-Clemson
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This great, heated cross-conference rivalry is always difficult to predict.
The Battle of the Palmetto State has seen some great and awful moments over the years from last second heroics to shameful idiotic brawls.
Either way, this game promises to provide some fireworks.
South Carolina is coming off a 2010 season that saw the Gamecocks claim their first ever divisional title in the SEC. They'll be looking to build on that in 2011, and Clemson is just one more obstacle in their way.
Gamecocks win a nail biter.
21. Georgia-Georgia Tech
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This heated rivalry has been the traditional state bragging rights game for over a century.
Georgia holds a commanding lead in the series (61-39-5), and has won the last two, including spoiling the end to Georgia Tech's impressive 2009 run (Tech was 11-1 coming into the game, and finished the season 11-3).
The game is nicknamed "Good Old Fashioned Hate." And for good reason. The dispute is so ingrained into the social fabric of the two schools, there's even disagreements over the origination of each schools colors.
While many good-natured rivalries exist around the nation (and on this list), this isn't one of them.
Expect 2011 to deliver some important season-ending information. Both teams are looking to rebound from disappointing 6-7 seasons. If one, or both of them do, the 2011 edition of Hate could be one of the biggest in years.
Georgia wins behind great play from Aaron Murray.
20. Virginia-Virginia Tech
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Every Cavaliers fan got a decent chuckle out of Tech starting 2010 with a loss to Boise State and FCS James Madison.
Problem is, Tech has had the last laugh. For about seven years now.
In fact, since joining the ACC, Virginia Tech has never lost to Virginia. And the last two years weren't even close.
The way Tech's talent is shaping up for 2011, especially compared to Virginia's, there's absolutely no reason to be betting against the Hokies.
Shocking no one, Tech wins.
19. Wisconsin-Minnesota
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With some many great rivalries in the Big Ten, it's sometimes hard to keep track of them all. Especially when one of the two teams has been dominant for quite some time in the series.
These two teams on the western fringe of the conference have had a long, 120-year history of battling on the football field. In fact, it's the most-played rivalry in the FBS.
Today, the game is played for Paul Bunyon's Axe (one of two Paul Bunyon trophies in the Big Ten, the other being the Paul Bunyon Trophy between Michigan and Michigan State).
Wisconsin has had the better of Minnesota for the past seven years, and with Wisconsin again stacked with talent and poised to make another run at the Big Ten championship, the overmatched Gophers don't have much of a chance.
Wisconsin for the eighth year running.
18. Kansas-Missouri
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During the conference realignments that happened over the past year, one big fear was that Missouri would depart the Big 12 for the Big Ten.
That hasn't happened, and that means one of the great mid-American rivalry games will be preserved, for now.
Kansas and Missouri first met in 1891. Just forty years prior, the Border War was actually a little bit more of a war. In the decade leading up to the Civil War, settlers from Missouri tried to violently force Kansas to enter the Union as a slave state. When the Civil War finally broke out, some of the bloodiest civilian battles took place between these two western frontier states.
Thankfully, today's rivalry isn't bloody, but it helps to understand the deep-seeded roots of the conflict.
There have been 119 meetings between Kansas and Missouri, and depending on who you ask, Missouri either leads the series 55-54-9, or it's tied 55-55-9 (the 1960 game being the sticking point). One player was ruled ineligible by the Big Eight, but not by the NCAA.
Controversies like that only serve to add fuel to the already hot fire of a rivalry.
Missouri has won the last two, and four of the last five in the series. While Missouri is sure to be on most 2011 Top 25 preseason polls, Kansas probably isn't in anyone's Top 50.
Missouri is hoping for another year and possible run at the Big 12. And Kansas probably won't be one of the opponents Mizzou worries about most.
Missouri by a couple scores.
17. Auburn-Georgia
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Auburn and Georgia. The two teams could not have had more opposite years in 2010. Auburn beat every team they faced.
Georgia started the year 1-4, and limped in with a 6-7 finish.
But Auburn will be an entirely different team in 2011. Georgia will definitely not be the same team it was in 2010. As Auburn moves down the talent list, and Georgia moves up, will the Bulldogs have enough to return to their winning ways over Auburn?
Georgia has won four of the last five (2010 being the only Auburn win), and it's possible that UGA will push back to the winning side in the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry.
Georgia wins, but not by much.
16. Utah-BYU
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This was easily one of the best non-AQ rivalries in the nation.
Now that BYU is no longer a member of the MWC, and Utah has moved to the Pac-12, some wonder if the rivalry will keep its heat. But fans of the rivalry take heart. With the role that religion plays in this rivalry, the Holy War probably won't be cooling any time soon.
The series has been streaky, to say the least. Utah dominated much of the first 40 years, and BYU dominated much of the next thirty. Only recently has the series been fairly evenly contested.
Utah clearly wasn't quite as advertised in 2010, and was a huge disappointment for Utes fans who were hoping for another BCS crashing.
The Utes still had enough to get past BYU, 17-16, in Salt Lake City.
In 2011, the question becomes whether or not Utah will slip any further.
BYU edges past Utah late in the fourth quarter.
15. USC-UCLA
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Being the only football in the nation's second-largest city does nothing but add intensity to the rivalry. Los Angelinos, even though they have no real connection to either school, grow up rooting for either one or the other.
USC has certainly had the better of things in this rivalry, but UCLA stakes its claim to basketball supremacy.
As USC continues through their NCAA probationary years, UCLA has a good opportunity to land a few haymakers before USC gets back to the business of handing out a full slate of scholarships to the nation's top high school football talent.
While neither team is likely to crack the Top 25 in 2011, it's difficult to tell which of these two teams will end up on top. Both had down seasons in 2010, and things aren't looking particularly bright for 2011.
UCLA gets out early, and the Trojans can't make up the difference in time.
14. Oregon-Oregon State
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Here's another Pac-12 rivalry that at first glance you may only care about if you're from Oregon.
Even though Oregon is the much better team as of late, and has won the past three. But those pesky Beavers at Oregon State have a habit of winning games that no one thinks they should win.
This game also provides so good emotion for Oregonians.
After all, what else is there to do in Oregon?
The Ducks are pretty well stacked again for 2011, and LaMichael James will run all over the Beaver defense.
The Ducks in a LaMichael James-sized landslide.
13. Michigan State-Notre Dame
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If anyone missed the 2010 edition of this game, you missed a classic.
From the back-and-forth to the amazing "Little Giants" fake field goal play call by Mark Dantonio in overtime to give the Spartans an inspiring win, to Dantonio's heart attack minutes after the game concluded, it was one for the ages.
The battle for the Megaphone usually turns out some pretty dramatic football, and 2011 won't disappoint.
With MSU trying to build on a Big Ten championship season and Notre Dame looking to get back to that old Irish form, both teams will be looking for an early-season signature win, and whichever team comes out on top in 2011 will have just that.
Don't expect Brian Kelly to be caught off-guard by anything Mark Dantonio pulls out of the back of the playbook this year. The 2011 meeting between the Spartans and Fighting Irish will be hard fought, and probably come down to the wire. Again.
Notre Dame in a squeaker in South Bend.
12. Cal-Stanford
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Two of the nations top academic institutions, Stanford and Berkley, meet up in this annual grudge match.
This series, however, is probably best remembered for one play during the November 20, 1982 meeting.
Even casual football fans can identify "The Play," which includes countless laterals during a kickoff as time expired, finally running down Stanford band members in the end zone for an improbable game-winning touchdown.
Ironically, that play would never happen today in the era of instant replay, but it still stands as one of the great plays in college football history. Regardless of the arguments of "his knee was down" or "that was an illegal forward pass," the play stands and Cal won.
It's probably a good thing that Cal fans can cling to that memory because 2011 won't provide them with a win.
Sure, the Bears came within a few seconds and a missed field goal of beating the Cardinal in 2010, but don't expect Stanford to let the Bears keep this year's game that close.
Stanford puts Cal away early and wins big.
11. Michigan-Notre Dame
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Michigan fans love to tell the story that it was a group of Michigan students who traveled to South Bend to team a group of Notre Dame students how to play the game of football. It was Notre Dame's first-ever football game, and Michigan beat Notre Dame.
Notre Dame fans love to tell the story that when Notre Dame beat Michigan for the first time, Michigan took their ball and went home. Literally. And refused to play the Irish for the next 30-odd years.
Until Notre Dame's recent slide in college football, the meeting between Michigan and Notre Dame was the annual meeting between the nation's top two winningest programs. Texas has since pasted Notre Dame for the No. 2 spot.
Still, Michigan-Notre Dame is one of those old rivalries that originated in the 1880's, and is filled with seemingly ancient tradition.
When Michigan and Notre Dame meet, you can almost see the ghosts of Bo Schembechler and Knute Rockne and Fielding Yost and Jesse Harper.
Unfortunately for the Irish, one of Michigan's only successes over the past couple of seasons has been their wins against Notre Dame.
While Brady Hoke hopes to keep the trend going, Brian Kelly was hired at Notre Dame for the express purpose of reversing losing trends in South Bend.
The 2011 edition of this game will be another classic in the series, as both teams will be improved over last year.
The question is, who will be more improved?
Notre Dame wins in Ann Arbor early in the season en route to a much improved season.
10. Alabama-Tennessee
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The third Saturday in October was home to this football rivalry ever year prior to the early 1990's.
This series is also another streaky series, and right now we're in the middle of an Alabama swing.
There's absolutely nothing about Tennessee's team that points to a possible win over Alabama in 2011, and the Vols will probably suffer through another resounding beat down at the hands of 'Bama.
Tide roll.
9. Florida State-Miami
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Kickers.
This series has been filled with kickers.
Wide right. Wide left. Wide right.
Florida State just doesn't have luck with kickers.
Of course, Miami has had some kicking miscues of their own.
But since 2006, the winner of this game has lost the following season..
That trend will probably reverse in 2011, as Florida State looks to be in Top 10 form for the upcoming season.
The Seminoles, by more than a field goal (thankfully).
8. Florida-Georgia
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Political correctness has done away with the nickname "the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party."
Somehow, the "Florida versus Georgia Football Classic" just doesn't have the same ring. And it doesn't sound nearly as exciting.
Florida has won the last three, and 18 of the last 21.
Georgia will be looking to rebound after last year's disappointing season, and Florida will be instituting a new coaching staff and offensive scheme.
The Bulldogs win, but not by much.
7. Florida-Florida State
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Surprisingly to many outsides, this rivalry did not begin until the 1950's. When the Florida State College for Women became co-educational in the 1940's, they immediately fielded a varsity football team.
Florida refused to play Florida State, mainly because Florida didn't wish to give Florida State any additional recognition, as FSU was its new prime competitor in state funding.
It wasn't until the 1950's and a personal appeal by the state's governor that Florida and Florida State began to play each other in football.
Since then, it's become one of the nation's top rivalries, with the teams claiming multiple national championships.
Florida has won seven of the last 10 meetings, but Florida State is returning to the form of decades past, and could easily be a Top 10 team in 2011. While Florida's future looks bright with its new coaching staff, 2011 is going to be a transition year.
Florida State wins in the Swamp.
6. USC-Notre Dame
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Given USC's recent dominance in this series, many casual observers are surprised to learn that Notre Dame still holds a 10-game lead in the series.
In fact, that lead can be traced directly to 1983-1995, when USC failed to beat the Irish once, going 0-12-1.
After eight-straight Trojan victories (or seven, if you removed the 2005 vacated win), Notre Dame finally broke through in 2010, beating USC 20-16 in Los Angeles.
It's questionable whether USC will be able to improve in 2011, while the Irish are expected to do so.
Notre Dame wins again, this time in front of the home fans.
5. Texas-Texas A&M
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Texas and Texas A&M compete in one of the oldest rivalries in college football.
The 2011 game will be the 117th meeting between the Longhorns and the Aggies. Texas holds a commanding 75-37-5 lead in the series, but everyone knows 2010 was a bad, bad year for the Longhorns.
Conversely, A&M looks to be on the upswing, with the Aggies sure to appear on everyone's preseason Top 25.
A&M in a rout.
4. Alabama-Auburn
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With one or two exceptions, Alabama-Auburn elicits some of the strongest feelings of outright hate.
After the first few years of the series around the turn of the 20th century, the series was suspended because Auburn and Alabama couldn't agree on anything, including where the officials should come from.
Eventually, the state legislature had to get involved, and the series resumed in 1948—41 years after it had been suspended.
Last year's edition didn't disappoint, as Auburn, trailing 24-0 roared back to beat the Tide 28-27.
The Tide seemed poised to take their revenge in 2011 as a much depleted Auburn team looks to defend its home field against a resurgent Tide.
Alabama big over Auburn.
3. Oklahoma-Texas
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The Red River Rivalry has one of the best college football atmospheres you can find.
Filling the Cotton Bowl to its absolute limit, the game is not only a great college football atmosphere, but provides a showcase for both programs to potential recruits and alumni alike.
With the disappearance of the Big 12 championship game, the Red River Rivalry takes on even greater significance and regular season conference records will now be the determining factor in deciding Big 12 championships.
Oklahoma is topping most preseason lists, and for a very good reason. They are absolutely stacked with talent and experience. Texas, for their part, is hoping to erase the memories of a horrible, awful, disastrous 2010 season. This game won't help those efforts.
Oklahoma. And it won't be close, either.
2. Army-Navy
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The Army-Navy game is one of the greatest rivalries that exists anywhere in the sporting world. No other rivalry game can even come close tot he spectacle that is Army-Navy.
It's always the last regular season game of the year in the country, and usually has that Saturday all to itself. Both the Corps of Cadets and the Brigade of Midshipmen march, in formation, into the stadium before taking their seats. Most years, the President of the United States attends.
During times of war, the game has come to symbolize both the patriotism of the nation and the commitment those who have served in uniform have made to the country.
Navy is currently in the midst of the longest winning streak by either team in the series—nine. During that stretch, Army hasn't even really come close to beating the Midshipmen. West Point has been sorely overmatched on the field, and the sailors and marines of Navy have been only too happy to steamroll Army.
Will 2011 be any different? Many, if not most observers say no.
We'll say different. Army finally gets a win over Navy in a back-and-forth nail biter.
1. Michigan-Ohio State
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Unquestionably the biggest rivalry in sports, the Michigan-Ohio State series has been fairly streaky over its history.
Even going back to the birth of the series, one team (Michigan) went 13-0-2 in the first 15 meetings. Fast forward about 123 years, and you have Ohio State in the midst of their longest streak in the series, seven.
There are 18 national titles between the two schools. 10 Heisman Trophy winners, 77 Big Ten championships, over 150 All-Americans, over 80 bowl games, over 1,700 combined wins...the list keeps going.
Obviously when two programs like this tangle every year, it's important. So important, that for what seems like most of the 20th century, the Big Ten was called the Big Two, Little Eight, and the Michigan-Ohio State game was basically the Rose Bowl play-in game.
With the introduction of divisional play and a championship game in the Big Ten, it's perfectly conceivable that U-M and OSU could meet twice in any given year, as they are in opposing divisions (don't worry—they're still guaranteed to play at least once).
This upcoming year, however, probably won't be one of those years. The Big Ten will be a very deep conference in 2011, and Michigan probably isn't quite back to where it needs to be in order to compete for a Big Ten title.
Stranger things have happened, though. Michigan is still Michigan, and they certainly have the talent pool to make things interesting.
The real question, though, is how long Ohio State can hang on to Big Ten dominance. For some reason, 2011 seems like a year that things could go south for the Buckeyes. Perhaps it's the suspensions coupled with an on-going NCAA investigation into improper benefits and Jim Tressel's either complete lack of oversight of the players or his inexplicable ignorance of NCAA and Ohio State rules and regulations.
Either way, things just don't seem right in Columbus.
However, they're still good enough to compete at a very high level, and Michigan, while getting closer, still isn't there. Yet.
Ohio State in a closer game than most expect.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
