It's no secret, rivalries rule college football.  For this week’s 7 in ’07, we look at the top college football rivalries, and let you decide which one's have been left off and what team's are the best.

If you’ve been hiding under a rock, let me be the first to inform you that Ohio State plays Michigan this weekend.  The hype may not be as strong as last year when both teams were undefeated and ranked one and two, but it’s still Ohio State vs. Michigan.

I can only imagine the passion Ohio and Michigan feel as their teams head into the biggest game of the year.  Growing up in Hawaii, the one game we looked forward to every year was BYU. 

I can’t tell you why, it’s beyond me.  But every year as the game neared, the 808 got a little more antsy and a little more testy.  Even worse was BYU refusing to acknowledge Hawaii as a rival and looked to its game against Utah as its “Holy War.”  BYU dominated Hawaii from 1978-1988 and the Warriors were like the little brother who could never beat the bigger and better brother.

That all changed for two glorious years when Hawaii beat BYU in 1989 and 1990 and the memory still lives with me today.  I can recall in vivid detail how loud Aloha Stadium was and how the rusty iron stadium shook from kick-off to sun-up.  In 1989, confetti covered the field as the scoreboard flashed Hawaii 56, BYU 14. Shirts with this score popped up everywhere and for the first time the island residents believed we could do it again.

A year later, BYU was nationally ranked and Ty Detmer was the newly minted Heisman Trophy winner. Two hours after winning the award, Detmer got a “Hawaiian Congratulations” as the Warriors thumped the Cougars 59-28. 

The “rivalry” went back to normal after that with BYU winning all but one game before defecting to the Mountain West confirming Hawaii to be an afterthought.

But everything changed (again) in 2001.

Despite going 8-3, Hawaii was not invited to a bowl game.  BYU was ranked 8th and had a 12-0 record.  Everyone expected the Cougars to walk away with an easy victory, head to a BCS game and collect a major payday.  But I am Hawaiian and knew what this game meant to the players involved and proudly watched as the Warriors walked up and down the football field to a 72-45 win.

By no means is the BYU-Hawaii rivalry on the level of some of the top rivalries in the country, but the game got me thinking.  For this week’s 7 in ’07, we look at the top college football rivalries.

7) The battle of Florida – I could not differentiate between the three major Florida schools battling each other out, Miami-Florida State, Florida-Florida St., Miami-Florida.  Each time the schools meet, the tension is palpable.  Miami-Florida State brought us “wide right” and “wide left,” not to mention some of the most competitive games in history. In the mid-80’s, Florida tapped out against Miami and they still can’t seem to get back on schedule. These games holds more meaning than just the score since all three schools are always battling for the top recruits in the state and nothing makes a case like beating your in-state rival in games with national attention.

6) Notre Dame-USC - The Notre Dame-USC rivalry has been played annually since 1926, and is regarded as the greatest intersectional series in college football. The winner of the annual rivalry game is awarded the coveted Jeweled Shillelagh, a war club adorned with emerald-emblazoned clovers signifying Irish victories and Ruby-emblazoned Trojan warrior heads for Trojan wins.

According to the 2006 USC Trojan Football media guide, the USC-Notre Dame rivalry began with a conversation between wives. In 1925, USC was looking for a national rival and dispatched graduate manager Gwynn Wilson and his wife to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Notre Dame was playing Nebraska on Thanksgiving Day. On that day (Nebraska 17, Notre Dame 0) Knute Rockne was not too keen on the idea of a home-and-home series with USC because of the travel involved, but Mrs. Wilson was able to persuade Mrs. Rockne that a trip every two years to sunny Southern California was better than one to snowy, hostile Nebraska. Mrs. Rockne spoke to her husband and shortly thereafter USC became an annual fixture on Notre Dame’s schedule.

Combined, they have won nine national championships over the last 40 years and 11 Heisman Trophies.  And if you play your mind out, you become a legend. Just ask Anthony Davis who in 1972 scored six touchdowns (two on kick-off returns) en route to a 45-23 win.  Davis became a legend overnight and will be forever remembered for that one game in ’72.

5) UCLA-USC - The campuses are only ten miles apart. The sheer proximity of both alumni and students, and the likelihood of encountering each other and interacting on a daily basis make this one of the most intense college rivalries in the United States.  All you have to look at is last year, when USC was in position to clinch a BCS national championship berth heading into its game against UCLA.  The Bruins won, 13-9 (the final score) became sacred numbers in Westwood., and UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell saved his job.

UCLA-USC loses points for the non-alum and fairweather fans who continually switch sides, depending on who the better team is that year.  When teams are at their peak, however, the City of Los Angeles is more hostile than during the gang wars of the 1980s.

4) Oklahoma-Texas - Texas and Oklahoma have combined for 10 national championships since 1950. And never has the loser of this game gone on to win the national title.  The game is played against the backdrop of the Texas State Fair with the Cotton Bowl split right down the middle with the burnt orange and crimson separated by the 50 yard line. Since 1945, only five times has both teams come in not ranked among the top 25 teams in the nation. Four of the last eight showings featured one of the participants in the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game.

3) Alabama-Auburn – Any rivalry nicknamed the Iron Bowl gets extra points.  A friend from Alabama explained the phenomenon by saying, “The Iron Bowl is the state's one sport wrapped up in 3 hours of hate and contempt.  Families align on one side or the other.  They hate each other with every fiber of their soul and they always will until the end of time.  The fans on each side hate each other so much they won't even make eye contact at the game.” 

There is so much “contempt,” it took an act of the Alabama State Legislature to force the two teams to start playing again or face losing funding for their perspective schools.  The dispute centered at the turn of the century over tickets causing a more than 20-year boycott. 

Last week, Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville was asked about the Tigers’ rivalries with Alabama and Georgia.  Tuberville said the game against Georgia is controllable, the game against Auburn is not.  ‘Nuff said.

2) Army-Navy – Although this game lacks the national championship implications it once held, there is no denying the emotion wrapped up in this game.  If you ever meet members of the Army or Navy, you can feel their distaste for the other.  The world stops for this game, literally.  Many times, the bonds made on the football field translate to the battlefield, and the players involved in the game become a symbol for their respective service.

This game signifies the true essence of a rivalry.  Two teams that hate each other with a passion, have songs downgrading the other, and when the game is over, the two work together.  Just in this case, the two work to protect our country.

1) Ohio State-Michigan - 43 times in the 104 year history, the game has decided the Big Ten champion.  The game was ranked by ESPN in 2000 as the greatest North American sports rivalry. 

This rivalry is so intense, from 1969-1978, Ohio State coach Woody Hayes and Michigan skipper Bo Schembechler were involved in what is known as the “Ten-Year War,” Ohio State and Michigan shared the Big Ten title six times. Between 1976 and 1978, Michigan won the game each year, and Ohio State failed to score a touchdown in each of those contests. Woody Hayes was fired at the end of the 1978 season as a result of an incident involving a Clemson player at the Gator Bowl, which ended the "War". The 1978 game was won by Michigan, 14-3, giving Schembechler a record of 5-4-1 against Hayes.

This game means so much, in Presidential speeches the candidates mention the the Buckeyes and the Wolverines.  Coaches have been fired, despite overall records, but based solely on their rivalry records.

The year’s game may have less hype nationally than it’s used to, but in the midwest Ohio State-Michigan is on the same level as the Capulets and Montegues, Jedis vs. The Sith, Bushes vs. Husseins, and for some of us… BYU vs. Hawaii.

AccuScore's College Football Top Ten Rankings 

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