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Rivalry

College football is better at rivalries than any other sport is. Period. Not even sure where the argument would begin. Does your sport have 120-year-old rivalry trophies that disappeared for a century before emerging in a church basement, then immediately being sent back into battle? I thought not.

The Tennessee-Georgia Series Is Bad. Let’s Fix That.

On the creation of the Cool Wet Kiss Of Friendship Classic

The hidden rule of Army and Navy football seasons

One team will almost always be good. As for the other?

Why did it take complete upheaval to get Louisiana Tech and ULM to play?

The false promise of upward mobility isn’t good for the local rivalries that make college football wonderful.

An Egg Bowl Guide to the Mississippi State Flag Finalists

A good flag should evoke the mix of hate, joy, and fatalism that is Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State.

The Minimalist Schedule: SEC Edition

Let’s make the Egg Bowl somehow more important to Mississippi!

The Minimalist Schedule: ACC Edition

Because two losses are sufficient for Miami fans to demand a coaching change.

The Minimalist Schedule: Pac-12 Edition

Plus a special bonus appearance from an FBS Independent!

The Minimalist Schedule: Big Ten Edition

Choose one Legend and one Leader to fill out your year.

The Minimalist Schedule: Big 12 Edition

Who are you playing if you only have two slots?

Five times Kansas screwed up a Mizzou football season

Pantsing your rival is college football’s highest purpose.

Bad Idea Time: The State Champs System

Can’t travel? Time to play all the nearby schools you’ve been ducking!

College football scheduling has always been this dumb

Rivals ducking each other because of fear, greed, accusations, bad manners, and inequity? Yep, we’ve been yelling at each other about this for well over a century.

What if Louisiana had two SEC teams all along?

Tulane had a path to remaining something like LSU’s football peer. Why didn’t that happen, and what could’ve been?

College football’s STATE CHAMPS OF THE 2010s, mapped

College football is massive and doesn’t lend itself to state championships, but we can do our best to fill that void.

15 Bama games rank in the top 10 games of the 2010s, somehow

The Tide co-starred in most of the decade’s biggest moments.

The weight of Army-Navy

What’s it’s like to prepare for the greatest rivalry in college football amid a 14-year losing streak

What Army-Navy’s disjointed history says about college football

The biggest military clashes in history usually didn’t stop Army-Navy from getting played. Here’s what was more damaging to their relationship.

156 rivalry trophies, ranked by a merchant in a role-playing game

We love all these objects. But what if we had to depend on them in order to defeat a horde of level 50 mutant capybaras?

Improve rivalry games with 12 kinds of flexible scheduling

Spice up your relationship with your rival by agreeing to play in April instead, then showing up in March.

Explaining Malzahn’s deviously simple trick that ruined Saban’s day

Now we wait for Saban to try this against somebody else.

178 of CFB’s amazing rivalry nicknames, sort of ranked

Soooo many bizarre Battles, Brawls, Wars, and Cups, all with local bragging rights on the line.

Michigan-Ohio State, understood as an academic phobia

The Game is designed to stir up every test anxiety a Michigan fan can experience.

What is CFB’s most Thanksgiving Day rivalry? I looked into it

College football has a waning but deep Thanksgiving history. Its many rivalries demand superlatives.

Virginia-Virginia Tech: A nightmare journal

UVA is in the midst of a 15-year losing streak to the Hokies. This is that journey, as it exists in dreams.

6 things every rivalry can learn from great Thanksgiving rivalries

Let’s apply some semi-science to figure out what makes a great Rivalry Week battle, then try to apply it to every game.

The Auburn Tigers, college football’s greatest ruiner of things

A short history of a long story: Auburn’s crimes against football.

College football’s many GAMES OF THE CENTURY, somewhat ranked

Every few years, we get a game of the century. Let’s codify that a little bit and see which GAMES OF THE CENTURY are truly OF THE CENTURY.

The 2012-18 guide to talking yourself into LSU beating Alabama

We’re all in this together.

Bad Idea Time: Move Notre Dame to the SEC

Let’s walk through many reasons this is a bad — and therefore good — idea.

College football’s most chaotic major rivalry is ...

A semi-scientific review finds Red River racks up more ruckus than any other big-time classic.

The history of GameDay hosts getting their doors blown off

Hosting ESPN’s flagship college football show is a big deal. The visitors do not always cooperate.

Pitt’s history as the Death Star of silly football upsets

When the Panthers beat a top-20 team, they somehow always do so without themselves looking like a top-20 team.