In an era of change, never has college football needed to lean more into its roots — when it can — than on rivalry weekend. As conferences change membership and familiarity wanes, it’s important for the sport to maintain tradition. Enhancing rivalry weekend is the best way to do that.
Many of the sport’s Thanksgiving weekend series surpass 100 games played and several debuted in the 1890s. History and proximity play a role in series that pit family members, friends and neighborhoods against one another. At times, relief usurps happiness as the immediate emotion after a win.
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Rivalry weekend is about teams clinching conference title berths — or losing them. Traveling trophies provide programs with symbols of victory or exclamation points of heartbreak. Victories aid programs toward bowl eligibility while losses cost them recruits. Coaches earn extensions or pink strips based on outcomes. Players receive lifelong adoration for game-changing plays.
For rivalry weekend to matter, everyone needs the right kind of foe. For many leagues, these games are in place and untouchable. Others, especially those in the midst of realignment, need tweaks or date changes. A few require smoothed-over hard feelings. The conferences should work together in the sport’s best interest.
Starting with league-only games, let’s take a look at how major college football should position rivalry weekend. Games already scheduled for rivalry weekend in 2024 are in bold.
Big Ten
- Michigan–Ohio State
- Minnesota-Wisconsin
- Illinois-Northwestern
- Indiana-Purdue
- Nebraska-Iowa
- Maryland–Rutgers
- Penn State–Michigan State
- USC-UCLA
The first four are historic rivalries that form the backbone of Big Ten football. The only time Michigan and Ohio State fans ever united in a common cause was in 2010 when the Big Ten briefly considered bumping “The Game” off the final weekend. As for the bottom four, Nebraska–Iowa has built equity on Black Friday amid the fans’ growing disdain for one another. Maryland-Rutgers has little history other than entering the league together, but their proximity makes the series worth returning to rivalry weekend.
Penn State fancies itself as unrivaled but you can’t have rivalry weekend without a dedicated game. During the pre-Legends and Leaders era, the Nittany Lions ended their season against Michigan State. The teams regularly were paired on Thanksgiving weekend as East Division rivals, too. Although neither program classifies the other as a major rival, they do share the Land Grant Trophy.
USC-UCLA has challenges, beginning with the Trojans facing Notre Dame every other year on Thanksgiving Saturday. In the past, UCLA would face either Cal or Stanford opposite USC-Notre Dame. But that was under the Pac-12 umbrella. In this case, keep USC-UCLA on Thanksgiving weekend and shift USC-Notre Dame one week earlier.
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SEC
- Alabama–Auburn
- Texas-Texas A&M
- Ole Miss–Mississippi State
- Tennessee-Vanderbilt
- Arkansas-LSU
Losing Texas-Texas A&M arguably was the biggest casualty during realignment in 2012, so it’s fantastic the rivals are back on the field where they belong. It needs to stay that way permanently. The Iron Bowl and Egg Bowl are sacrosanct. Tennessee finished SEC play against Vanderbilt from 1946-2000 then the in-state foes returned to rivalry weekend as an annual staple in 2014.
Arkansas–LSU feels a little like Michigan State-Penn State. They had some great games against one another, especially on Black Friday, but there are mixed reviews on whether the Golden Boot is a primary or secondary series.
Big 12
Keeping the Territorial Cup (Arizona-Arizona State) and returning The Holy War (Utah-BYU) to rivalry weekend is essential. Farmageddon (Iowa State-Kansas State) has become one of the league’s best rivalries, and the universities have played annually since 1917. They are scheduled to cycle off their schedules in 2027, which would be a shame.
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The Texas schools have jagged communal histories coinciding with their entrances into the old Southwest Conference. That makes rivalry weekend problematic. Baylor-TCU qualifies as probably the state’s second-best college football rivalry (outside of Texas-Texas A&M) but TCU-SMU also is a long-standing Metroplex clash. Although Texas Tech was a later SWC entry (1956), the Red Raiders and Baylor have played 82 times. They entered the Big 12 together, so it’s a valued series.
ACC
- North Carolina–NC State
- Duke–Wake Forest
- Virginia–Virginia Tech
- Syracuse–Boston College
- Stanford-Cal
No ACC team has more rivals than North Carolina and the top ones include NC State, Duke and Virginia. The Tar Heels have played the Wolfpack 113 times, the Blue Devils 110 times and the Cavaliers 128 times. Virginia-Virginia Tech prevents the Cavaliers and Tar Heels from moving here, but the other two are a coin flip. NC State-Wake Forest (117 meetings) and Duke-Wake Forest (103) also have histories befitting rivalry weekend, so any of the four North Carolina schools are good here.
Syracuse and Boston College are longtime regional foes despite only 57 games played. It’s wild to write Stanford-Cal as an ACC series but here we are. Presently, Stanford alternates with USC as Notre Dame’s Thanksgiving weekend annual journey to the West Coast. That would come to an end on Thanksgiving weekend because Cal can’t sync with UCLA every other year. That’s a consequence of realignment.
Automatic nonconference
- South Carolina-Clemson
- Kentucky-Louisville
- Florida-Florida State
- Georgia-Georgia Tech
- Washington-Washington State
- Oregon-Oregon State
- Colorado-Colorado State
- Notre Dame-Army/Navy
The first four rank among the better nonconference rivalries across the board and have no business leaving Thanksgiving weekend. The Apple Cup (Washington-Washington State) and the Civil War (Oregon-Oregon State) thankfully remain annual rivalries despite realignment, but those games will seem out of place in September. This year, Washington–Oregon and Oregon State-Washington State play on Thanksgiving weekend — which is … fine — but the Apple Cup and Civil War were scheduled conference finales all but once from 1947-2023. That’s the right move.
Notre Dame currently plays at either USC or Stanford on Thanksgiving weekend. With realignment, that tradition becomes an issue. But the Fighting Irish’s legendary series against the service academies would fit right in on rivalry weekend every year. Colorado formerly ended its regular season against Nebraska in its original Big 12 days and Utah in the Pac-12. The Buffaloes still play Colorado State so a shift from September to late November makes sense.
Challenging rivalries
- West Virginia–Pittsburgh
- TCU-SMU
- Oklahoma-Oklahoma State
- Missouri-Kansas
- Houston–Rice
- Cincinnati-Miami (Ohio)
- Miami–UCF
These are the problem areas in rivalry weekend. The Backyard Brawl (West Virginia-Pittsburgh) has resumed in recent years with six more games scheduled through 2032. Returning to Thanksgiving weekend elevates its importance.
TCU and SMU are set for a break after this season’s 103rd meeting. Outside of SMU’s two-year program suspension in 1987-88, the programs scheduled one another every year but one (2006) from 1926 through this fall. Since the Southwest Conference’s breakup, they have been on different competitive levels with TCU soaring in brand and on-field success. At least now with SMU as an ACC member, they’re both power conference teams.
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Missouri–Kansas remains one of college sports’ most bitter feuds more than a decade after the Tigers bolted the Big 12 for the SEC. Unless someone has lived through the buildup and aftermath of the Border War in football or men’s basketball, it’s difficult to comprehend the mutual disdain the sides have for one another. Bedlam is the biggest collateral damage in recent realignment, and there are hard feelings attached to the Sooners leaving for the SEC. But resetting this series takes the sting out of recent realignment.
Houston and Rice have bounced around to different conferences since the SWC disbanded in 1996 but have played 20 times in the last 25 years. They are located 4.6 miles apart and play for the Bayou Bucket. Cincinnati and Miami (Ohio) began their Victory Bell series in 1888 and have played 127 times.
Finally, UCF and Miami are the leftovers. They reside in the same state in comparable conferences. Obviously, Miami’s history dwarfs UCF’s steady climb to the Big 12. But in the College Football Playoff era, UCF has more wins (80) than Miami (73). The teams have played just twice, but there are more similarities competitively than differences.
(Top photo: Bryan Terry / USA Today)