College Football Rivalries

Rivalries: A Celebration of the Past in Hopes of Being Remembered in the Future
The best college football rivalries intrigue us to a point that we are on the edge of our seats for the entire game, but many people do not know exactly what makes these games so unique. Many rivalries are based off of supremacy in a certain state or in a region. Factors such as trash talking, championship contention, or recruiting implications can play into these games that appear on the schedule every year. There are games in which private schools battle it out against public schools to prove that they have earned the right to go against the public school on the gridiron year in and year out. Sometimes teams play to simply win an oversized, metal stick to keep all year. All of these can contribute to the fans paying their money or tuning in to watch these games in which history is renewed and there is a chance for more history to be made.
In-state rivalries are known throughout collegiate athletics as games that can make your season if you win or break your season if you lose. This is mainly because the teams want to be known as the state’s “football school,” and winning the game against the other major football school in the state greatly contributes to this title. An example of this would be Oregon vs. Oregon State (ESPN). Oregon had gone 56-46-10, therefore winning 50% of the games played between the two schools (“All-Time Series Record”). There are games that are not so close, though, where it is obvious who is the “football team” in the state. Oklahoma has dominated Oklahoma State by winning 10 out of the last 11 games between the two (“Oklahoma State Football Spring Notes”). Also, the overall winner in this rivalry game gets many of the recrui...

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...line and will do anything in their power to defeat their rival. These games help boost the popularity of the sport of college football. Over the years, the increasing television exposure of the games and social media have given the fans almost instant access to all things college football. This has helped the sport become more and more widespread. Hopefully, the many repeating themes of rivalry games will continue to impress and amaze the fans of the game and allow the game to grow even further. While many of these games have historical implications or are related geographically, many times it just simply comes down to that we don’t like them and they don’t like us. Nevertheless, there are some things that will always be the same. The past will be remembered, the teams will focus on making the most out of the present in hope of making more history making events.