What are college football’s best rivalries? Readers share top 10 and favorite moments

What’s the best rivalry in college football? There’s been a lot of debate about The Athletic’s top 100 by Scott Dochterman earlier this week, so it’s time for readers to have their say, too.

Nearly 3,000 people responded to our college football rivalry survey, voting for the best rivalry and the top 10, in addition to offering their favorite memories from rivalry games. It turns out there’s a lot of common ground to be found with our list.

Here’s what our readers — and some of our staff members — had to say.

College football’s best rivalry?

Though Michigan-Ohio State failed to get a majority of votes, it was still the runaway winner when readers were asked to name their No. 1 rivalry. Forty percent of reader respondents voted for The Game, easily besting the Iron Bowl’s 11 percent.

The top five in the poll for No. 1 actually matched The Athletic’s top five, in order.

Nobody else got more than 2 percent, though 73 series received at least one vote for No. 1 — all the way down to one vote each for Notre Dame-Purdue, Pitt-Syracuse and Richmond-William & Mary, among other curious choices.

Fans’ top 10

We also asked readers to submit their top 10 rivalries, in any order. Here’s who appeared on the most lists and how they compare to Dochterman’s top 100:

Again, Michigan-Ohio State led the way, appearing on 85 percent of ballots. The Iron Bowl, Army-Navy, Red River, USC-Notre Dame and Florida-Georgia were the only other rivalries to reach the 50 percent threshold.

Readers vaulted Florida-Georgia, Texas-Texas A&M and Harvard-Yale into their top 10, while they are lower on Nebraska-Oklahoma, Ohio State-Penn State and Minnesota-Wisconsin.

Our staff weighs in

We informally surveyed a dozen staff members at The Athletic for their takes on some of the most underrated and overrated rivalries and more.

Nine series got at least one vote for most underrated:

• Mississippi State-Ole Miss (Mitch Light)
• BYU-Utah (Stewart Mandel, Antonio Morales)
• New Mexico-New Mexico State (Chris Vannini)
• Montana-Montana State (Matt Baker)
• Kansas-Missouri (Jill Thaw)
• Oregon-Oregon State (Austin Meek)
• Oregon-Washington (Scott Dochterman)
• Pitt-West Virginia (Ralph Russo, Daniel Shirley)
• Texas-Texas A&M (Mitch Sherman)

Bruce Feldman chose a different route: Brian Kelly vs. Lane Kiffin.

The overrated picks were more condensed, including three for Florida-Georgia and two for Notre Dame-USC, both of which are in the readers’ top six.

• Notre Dame-USC (Light, Shirley)
• Iowa-Minnesota (Vannini)
• UCLA-USC (Feldman)
• Illinois-Northwestern (Baker)
• Florida-Georgia (Thaw, Meek, Russo)
• Cal-Stanford (Dochterman)
• Alabama-LSU (Morales, Sherman)

Mandel, however, says: “There is no such thing.”

When asked what dormant (or semi-dormant) rivalry needs to be brought back annually the most, only four series received votes: Four for Nebraska-Oklahoma, four for Oklahoma-Oklahoma State, two for Kansas-Missouri (which returns for a home-and-home this year) and one for Miami-Notre Dame (which is played occasionally, including this year, as part of the Irish’s ACC affiliation).

How are rivalries changing?

So what about the future of rivalries amid so much change in the sport? When asked what rivalry could emerge in the coming years, several staffers were bullish on Ohio State-Oregon growing into a true rivalry in the Big Ten. Here are some other thoughts on where rivalries are heading:

“I’m worried that expanded postseasons will lessen the aura of a rivalry game over time, either because of a rematch or because a loss doesn’t mean as much.” — Vannini

“Maybe I’m naive, but I think many disrupted rivals will come back together as a bigger CFP gives more margin for error with tough nonconference games.” — Mandel

“The expanded Playoff and superconferences will continue to diminish the impact of rivalry games, unless they’re part of the postseason. I look forward to one day watching Michigan-Ohio State or USC-Notre Dame in January.” — Sherman

“The farther the sport gets away from rivalries, the more it risks alienating fans. That’s obvious, but it’s true. As we move to bigger conferences with fan bases that don’t intersect, it’s easy for longtime fans to feel left behind and give up. That’s the biggest risk for the sport’s popularity moving forward. Not NIL. Not the portal. Not paying players. Losing rivalries and axing games that mean the most.” — Baker

“Rivalries enter a new, but still important, phase in college football moving forward. Some will say the Playoff will devalue them, but I think the opposite is true. Instead of merely playing for bragging rights, rivalry games will impact who qualifies for the CFP or conference play-in games. Imagine the Minnesota-Wisconsin or Ole Miss-Mississippi State game determining who will advance to championship weekend. Sign me up.” — Dochterman

“Rivalries are one of the few things remaining that truly separate college and professional football and those who oversee college football would be wise to protect them as best as they can.” — Russo

Readers’ favorite rivalry moments

So what does college football lose when rivalries fade away? Let’s give the final word to readers recounting their most memorable rivalry moments:

“Great rivalry games have to have historical competition. The players have to come to an understanding of why the fans want to win this game more than they do and leave the field never being the same. There have to be moments where we pull our opponent’s still-beating heart from their chest and let them watch it beat as their hopes die. Watching Dillon Gabriel hit Nic Anderson in the corner of the end zone or the real Roy Williams go Superman on Chris Simms and Teddy Lehman walk the pick six in are just a few of my favorite memories of Oklahoma-Texas (it’s never the other way around).” — Greg W.

“I’ve attended the Oklahoma-Texas games in the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park in Dallas the second Saturday in October for 55 consecutive years now (even during the pandemic). Hard to pick one moment. Every game is a classic.”  — David S.

“The kickoff of any Texas-OU game. Both sides are going crazy — split from 50 to 50-yard line — like no other game played. Both sides know how much is at stake, regardless of the records or rankings. Wild, nothing like it. Go to the game if you are a college football fan.” — Steve C.

“Arriving at Montana State’s stadium knowing that there will be more Montanans in Bozeman than out-of-staters on this day, which only happens once every two years. We get to see friends and enemies, and they are us.” — Dale W.

“Iowa fans storming the field, dismantling and parading around the Metrodome with Minnesota’s goal post — until the goal post, finally in pieces, gets carried up the stairs and out of the indoor stadium.” — Bill G.

“As a Pitt grad, easily 13-9 over WVU in 2007. Can’t get much better than ruining your arch rival’s chances of playing in and potentially winning a national championship. For a Pitt fan base that is most certainly cursed, this result will always be cherished, even if the team that year sucked.” — Mike T.

“2007: Todd Reesing is sacked in the end zone for a safety to clinch the Border War for Mizzou. The turf hanging from the face mask of his helmet was pure art.” —Marty W.

“Illinois topping No. 1 Ohio State on the road in 2007, by simply running out the clock over eight minutes, remains one of the program’s signature victories of all time.” — Marc A.

“Mine involved the K-State marching band, a formation designed to look like a Jayhawk mascot and 48 hours worth of debate about whether it was a spaceship or part of the male anatomy attacking said Jayhawk.”— Wes M.

“It’s gotta be Elijah Moore (fake peeing) on the field during the Egg Bowl. An eternal image and perfect distillation of not only the pure, uncut, seething hatred between the Mississippi schools, but a shining, beautiful testament to what makes College Football the best damn sport on the planet.” — Sam M.

“I was a senior at Tennessee (after growing up a Vol) for Tennessee beating Alabama in 2022. Getting to share my first victory cigar on the field with some of my best friends and one in the stands with my family are both moments I’ll remember forever.” — Jack F.

“Tim Tebow’s ‘bloody’ jersey from the Florida-FSU game in 2008 stands out. He dominated the Noles in a downpour in Tallahassee, and his white uniform was stained with paint from the Doak Campbell Stadium field.”— Scott K.

“‘Trouble with the snap’ in 2015 Michigan State-Michigan. Truly a ‘where was I?’ moment in my sporting life. Lifelong memories from that evening, pure chaos.” — Grant B.

“‘Trouble with the snap’ was the biggest ‘oh s—’ moment from a rivalry I’ve seen, even though blocked punts are much more common than returning a FG.” — Dan K.

“As an LSU fan who was up in the nosebleeds of Kyle Field for the seven-OT game, it was glorious to be in Death Valley one year later to watch Joe “Burreaux” cap off the 2019 regular season with a 50-7 walloping which somehow wasn’t even as close as the score indicated.” — Cody F.

“USC-Notre Dame … 1974 … 55-24. ND scored 24 points in the first half. USC scored just before halftime. The stadium stood the entire third quarter as USC scored 49 points against the No. 1 defense in the nation. I have never heard that depth of sound — loud enough to walk upon — since.” — Linda B.

“The 1977 ND-USC Green Jersey game. When the Irish came out of the tunnel dressed in green jerseys behind the Trojan horse … the stadium was already at a 10 — it went to a 15 at that moment and remained that way through the whole game.” — Kathryn T.

“The Catholics vs. Convicts game in 1988: Notre Dame’s defensive stand in the final seconds to deny Miami’s two-point conversion attempt. That game embodied college football rivalry. Both teams laid everything on the line, and fans are either basking in glory or bitter to this day. — Alyssa H.

“Back in 2012 when the refs gave a ranked BYU team multiple chances to beat the unranked Utes in the final seconds, only to have the football gods deny them each time. Final Score: 24-21. Go Utes!” — Marcus P.

“Being in Husky Stadium with my brother on Oct. 14, 2023, for the Oregon-Washington game. Seeing Michael Penix Jr. hit Rome Odunze in the corner of the end zone to take the lead against Oregon late in the fourth, followed by storming the field after Cam Lewis missed the game-tying field goal and dancing to ‘Purple Rain’ with thousands of Husky fans? Both my favorite rivalry moment and one of my favorite memories ever.” — Jacob M.

“The 1995 Army-Navy game. Army was down 13-7 and went on a 19-play, 99-yard drive to win the game. The key play was a fourth-and-24 conversion with a pass from Ronnie McAda to John Graves. What an amazing moment, and I was at the game in person.” — Anthony F.

“My dad played football for West Point in the ’70s and had a career as an Army officer. No matter where we were stationed in the world, we always made it a point to watch the Army-Navy game with other Army families. I went to a different service academy and was commissioned into the Navy while still rooting for Army in the Army-Navy game (I rationalize it as rooting for USMA, not against my service). I watched a lot of the games while deployed on the other side of the world, at sea, in the desert or wherever Uncle Sam figured to send me, and Army would always find some way to lose. In 2016, I was the aide to an admiral at the Pentagon whose wife was responsible for ordering tickets for the Army-Navy game; she was supposed to get three tickets at the club level with the other admirals and two at the regular level with other alumni/students. She got the order backward, and so she, the admiral and their daughter sat in the ‘cheap seats’ while my date and I sat with the admirals; the irony wasn’t lost on me. It was my first Army-Navy game in-person, and I got to watch Army break the streak of 14 consecutive Navy wins while surrounded by the leaders/admirals of the U.S. Navy. I did not make my rooting interests a secret to the admirals. It was an incredible game, a special experience and would only have been made better had my father been at the game with me!” — Ben C.

“My favorite moment is followed by my worst moment. It comes when Brady Quinn, as the sun sets over Notre Dame Stadium, runs in from 5 yards out, getting pulled back by his collar, and falling into the end zone to give Notre Dame the lead against USC in 2005. I was in the Air Force at the time, 21 years old, stationed at Langley AFB, wearing my green ND jersey. I jumped out of the chair in my dorm room, landed on my knees and pointed to the sky like I scored. It was incredible. I immediately called my father, my mother answered and said he was cleaning up his spilled drink, the drink he knocked over when he also jumped out of his seat when Quinn got across the goal line. The worst moment came a few moments later, when Matt Leinart completed an improbable pass on fourth down. A few moments later, the Bush Push, and that was all she wrote.” — Sean O.

“Not favorite, but most defining. I was a freshman at Notre Dame in 2005 when we prematurely stormed the field as Leinart fumbled the ball out of bounds on the penultimate play of the game and the time went to zero. I watched the ‘Bush Push’ standing on the field with my classmates in the opposite end zone of the stadium. I’ve never been more heartbroken and will never bring myself to like anything about Southern Cal.” — Keith C.

“Bush Push, when I was banished to the basement of my grandparents’ house as the sole USC fan in a ND household. The victory climb out was glorious.” — Andrew P.

“Last two minutes of Harvard-Yale game 1968. We flew in on an early-AM flight on Mohawk Airlines from Detroit to Hartford. My parents drove up from New Jersey to pick us up in Hartford and then drove all of us to Cambridge. We picked up two tickets left under a doormat at an apartment and arrived at Harvard Stadium just in time for kickoff. Tickets were on Yale’s ‘away’ side. (My husband was Harvard ’68.) Many Yalies left early because they were 16 points ahead with less than 2 minutes to go. Harvard put in its second-string quarterback. Then we witnessed the most exciting under 2 minutes of football ever!!! My husband is watching the documentary again now as I write this.” — Cindy R.

“The 0-0 tie in Oregon vs. Oregon State in Eugene in 1983. It poured down rain the entire game, featuring 11 turnovers and four missed field goals between the two teams. This game was the last 0-0 tie game in college football before overtime was instituted … AKA the Toilet Bowl.” — Melvin P.

“1969 Michigan-Ohio State. This was Bo Schembechler’s first season and his first game against Woody Hayes, and Michigan was a big underdog. At the end of the first half, I was exhausted from cheering. I thought that if the players were as exhausted as I was, they would not make it through the second half. After the game, I was walking home, and there was a drive-through carwash near the Big House. Some Michigan fans were so excited that they had just driven through the carwash in a convertible with the top down.” — George H.

“‘Hello Heisman!’ When Desmond Howard struck the pose — perfect weather for football, perfect call from Keith Jackson. Ultimate college football moment. — Dan E.

“Jim Tressel, at his introductory press conference, telling everyone he was going to win against Michigan (without using those words) in order to make sure we could be proud. And then doing it.”  — Tyler B.

“The interception to seal the 2002 version of The Game and send the Buckeyes to the title game. Just absolute catharsis for the ’90s and a continuation of the magic moments from that whole season.” — Jason T.

“Storming the field and walking home amid a snow storm when Michigan finally beat Ohio State in 2021 is the greatest moment of my life — even better than watching the confetti fall in Houston for the national championship in 2024 (and that’s why Michigan-OSU is the best rivalry in sports).” — Daniel G.

“Michigan-Ohio State, 2023. It was the biggest game in the series, as it was the last where college football was still college football, and the last where everything was on the line. It was also going to decide the narrative for the whole season and recent rivalry. I’d say the game-sealing interception, but the ref took so long to confirm it was more nervous than anything. So when Zak Zinter went down, the crowd chanted his name as he was carted off, and Blake Corum took the next play to the house and signaled his number after the TD … that.” — Chris C.

“Michigan finally getting the monkey off its back and beating Ohio State in 2021. Absolute catharsis. The 2024 upset was pretty great too. Michigan had no business winning that game with zero passing game and on the road against the No. 2 team in the country. Still can’t believe it happened.” — Tyler A.

“I was deployed during the 2024 football season, so a lot of games started/ended at ridiculous hours for me. So it was hard to beat watching Michigan beat Ohio State (a surprise for all!!) at 2 a.m. yelling like a maniac in the office”. — Terra S.

“It doesn’t get much better than ‘The Play’ between Stanford and Cal. Forty-plus years later, and it is just as magical watching on YouTube as it was for fans in the stands (or the band on the field).” — Andrew B.

“Two words. Kick Six.” — Jasper S.

“Though I have no dog in this particular fight, I have to go with the Kick Six in the Bama-Auburn game. How does it get more devastating/exhilarating than that?” — Dan R.

“‘AUBURN’S GONNA WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME!’” — Haig N.

“I’m a Notre Dame fan, so it’s got to be the Kick Six. Even though we weren’t involved, watching Nick Saban whine to get that extra second put back on the clock only for it to spectacularly blow up in his face was beautiful entertainment.” — Jeff H.

“As a Georgia grad, I never like to see Auburn succeed at anything. Even so, the Kick Six against Alabama in 2013 was an all-timer in terms of sheer what-the-f$&?-did-I-just-watch madness. I have an Auburn buddy whose tombstone is probably going to feature a video screen playing that play on an infinite loop.” — Doug G.

“Auburn. Kick Six. Saw it in a sports bar and one of the Alabama fans just put his hands on his head surrender-cobra style, and with his mouth hanging open, walked out of the bar without making a sound and never came back. I like to think he’s wandering the streets in that same dumbfounded state to this day.” — Tim A.

“I don’t live in the South, but the Kick Six has to be the biggest kick in the stones any fan base has suffered at the hands of their biggest enemy. I can’t imagine my school losing in that fashion to our rivals.” — Eric A.

“‘AUBURN’S GONNA WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME!’”— Sarah D.

(Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; Kevin C. Cox, Aaron J. Thornton, David Cruz / Getty Images)