Posted on 11/25/2009 6:11:57 PM PST by bobjam
Ten Rivalries to Witness
College football passion covers the width and breadth of the many social, economic, racial, regional and religious subcultures in America. From Boston Brahmins (Harvard) to Hollywood fashion (USC), from Southern tradition (Alabama) to California progressives (Stanford), from Catholics (Notre Dame) to Mormons (BYU) to hippies (Cal), everyone has a team to cheer for. Below are 10 games that highlight that spectrum of passion, pageantry and pride (listed in approximate order of occurance during the season):
Texas vs Oklahoma: The Longhorns, the Sooners and the Texas State Fair recall how so much of our culture is derived from agricultural society.
Florida vs Georgia: Football should be celebrated, and nowhere is it celebrated more than at the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party in Jacksonville.
Michigan vs Ohio State: two industrial belt universities fight it out- just like their state militias once did.
Notre Dame vs BYU: this game is not played every year, but it is not infrequent. No universities mix religion and football more than these two.
Harvard vs Yale: Tailgating with wine, cheese, gin, caviar and all of the trappings of northeastern high society.
California vs Stanford: Tree huggers, hippies, techno geeks, peaceniks- even they love football. And who can forget Cal’s famous kickoff return against both Stanford and its band?
USC vs UCLA: The home of a famous film school and the alma mater of George Lucas vs everyone else in southern California.
Southern vs Grambling: The football teams work just as hard as any other; the marching bands work harder. Bands are as much a part of college football as cheerleaders and boosters, and these two universities have two of the best.
Alabama vs Auburn: beneath the polite society, manners, hospitality and accents lurks a hatred that divides a state more than any Jim Crow law ever could.
Army vs Navy: Not just Cadets vs Midshipmen, but anyone even remotely associated with the Army vs anyone even remotely associated with the Navy- officers, enlisted, civil service, relative in the service, or even people who simply live near a base.
These games are not necessarily the ten biggest, oldest, most passionate or most important rivalries in America. They are, however, an attempt to cover the grandeur and glory of an institution that brings so many different groups together in one passion.
vs.
FSU (Where the women are women and the men are too) From the late 70's or early 80's when FSU elected a man as homecoming queen.
Washington’s Apple Cup. Huskies and Cougars
Sure did, they got stuck with Toledo!
Game of the Century.
“Man, woman and child...that knocked them in the isles!!!”
Big 12 killed that rivalry.
The Sporting News named the 1971 Cornhusker team the greatest team of the Twentieth Century in 1988.
ESPN.com has named the 1971 Nebraska Cornhusker team the greatest team of all time.
Tiger roar!
I think a budding rivalry is USC Stanford.
2 years ago, a 41 point underdog Stanford beat USC, probably costing them a National championship in the process. If USC wins that game, they have only 1 loss and probably leap frog 2 loss LSU and probably beat Ohio State in the championship game.
1 year ago, USC beats Stanford at Stanford. USC is way ahead late in the game. They keep the starters in, run the 2 min. offense and end up kicking a late field goal. After the kick off, Stanford drives down to the USC 20 and set up for a field goal on the last play of the game. Then USC calls time out to ice the kicker. Stanford pulls the field goal unit and scores a touchdown and still loses.
2 weeks ago. Stanford is ahead of USC late in the game by 2 or 3 touchdowns and goes for a two point conversion which fails. The loss mathematically eliminates USC from the Rose Bowl.
This may be a really nasty rivalry in years to come.
Oh and ‘GO CARDINAL”
Please - none of these mere competitions can compare to the blood and guts of Army-Navy. 100+ years.
Admirals have requested navy footballers specifically.
Yes we respect one another - being we owe allegiance to the same constitution. But the enemy of my enemy is my friend applies only whilst off the field of play.
Go Navy - Beat Army!
USNA ‘89
Hampden-Sydney vs Randolph-Macon. The oldest small college rivalry in the South. Not division 1 but a great game.
But who has the axe? Go Bears!
“Missouri/Kansas BORDER WAR.”
There is NO college rivalry better than this one. Shortly after the War of Northern Aggression when this game started, people actually killed each other in the stands because of the hatred that still was there because of the war.
I say again, no rivalry is more heated or an opponent more hated, than in this one.
But seriously, the Iron Bowl is probably the most intense rivalry for a college football game, one that divides the state of Alabama and lights up the sports talk shows in the South for a weeks before the game.
Well considering that as a fan of UConn or CT, the one team that took Notre Dame down last Saturday, this is still new to me.
Man50, any UConn Huskies football fans out there, does UConn in the football world have a rivalry or a version of a rivalry in the area of football? Thanks!:)=^..^=
Happy Thanksgiving Day GOP_Raider from Biggirl!
Please see post and I hope it is the correct post, number 57. Thanks!
I dream of UConn football having its own rivalry just like the lady Huskies had at one time with TN Lady Vols. Boy do I miss that rivalry BIGTIME. Pat Summit must be kicking her butt BIGTIME because she ended that rivalry and now that the Lady Huskies have another championship under their belts.
Michigan v Ohio State. The oldest and still the best. Go Blue.
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