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Realignment season is in full swing in college athletics, and this recent round has been the most absurd yet. Regionality officially matters not, the Pac-12 is a shell of its former self, and conferences are so bloated that even those that share a league might spend the better half of a decade apart.
When these schools switch allegiances in 2024, long-standing series and rivalries that have lasted lifetimes will die. With 16 and 18-team conferences, eight and nine-game conference slates are likely to expand, further squeezing non-conference scheduling. And that doesn’t delve into the resentment some schools feel toward their abandoners, adding extra fuel to the divorce fire.
The 2023 college football season will be the last time some of these incredible matchups will be played for a very long time, maybe ever. At the very least, we have no way of knowing when they’ll return. It took eight years for Nebraska and Colorado to share a field again, 11 years for Pitt and West Virginia to renew the Backyard Brawl, Missouri and Kansas will finally get together for the first time in 14 years for a home-and-home in 2025 and 2026, and Texas and Texas A&M seemed steadfast in indefinitely avoiding one another before the Longhorns decided to join the league in which the Aggies just to happen to belong. The point is: cherish what we have while it’s still here.
All records courtesy of Winsipedia.com.
Oregon-Oregon State
2023 Game Date: Nov. 24 in Eugene
Series Start: 1894
Series Record: Oregon leads, 67-49-10 (126 meetings)
With 126 meetings all-time, the Civil War is the fifth-most played series in the FBS and the 11th-most played in all of Division I college football history, but 2023’s edition of the in-state rivalry will be its last for the foreseeable future. In 2024, Oregon will join the Big Ten, while Oregon State’s future home is unknown. Perhaps the Beavers will still live in some version of what was the Pac-12, or maybe they’ll join the Mountain West or AAC. But they won’t be in the Big Ten – that much we know for certain.
Each program has had long periods of success over the other. From 1936 through 1974, Oregon State went 28-8-2 against its in-state adversary. The Ducks responded immediately with 13-straight undefeated outcomes versus the Beavers and have mostly had the better end of the rivalry since. But Oregon State currently holds bragging rights, defeating the Ducks, 38-34, in Corvallis in an unforgettable comeback last season.
Only World Wars have kept the Ducks and Beavers from their annual get-togethers since 1902. Apparently, $40 million carries comparable gravity in modern college athletics.
Washington-Washington State
2023 Game Date: Nov. 25 in Seattle
Series Start: 1900
Series Record: Washington leads, 75-33-6 (114 meetings)
The Apple Cup dates back to the very start of the 20th century and has been held every year since 1945. That streak will likely end in 2024, though, when the Huskies enter the Big Ten and the Cougars end up somewhere else.
One of the greatest in-state rivalries in all of college athletics, the Washington-Washington State divide runs deep. Even though both schools exist within the same state borders, they strongly contrast culturally. In one corner, you have the metropolitan, Seattle-based Huskies. In the other are farm hills, Palouse-based Cougars. They don’t have much in common.
They won’t have a conference in common soon, either. Like Oregon State, Washington State’s future is unknown. It might remain in whatever the Pac-12 becomes, or the conference could cease to exist and it could find itself in the Mountain West or AAC. But we know the Cougars won’t share a league with the Huskies moving forward, and the Apple Cup looks dead in the short-term at a minimum.
Oklahoma-Oklahoma State
2023 Game Date: Nov. 4 in Stillwater
Series Start: 1904
Series Record: Oklahoma leads, 91-19-7 (117 meetings)
Is Bedlam lopsided? Unquestionably. Does it still consistently produce must-watch games with some of the most absurd twists in the sport? It’s known as Bedlam for a reason.
It’s impossible to ignore how much the Sooners have dominated the Cowboys throughout the long history of this rivalry, but it’s equally impossible to ignore how insane many of the games have been, particularly since the turn of the century. Defense is notoriously optional when these two meet up, which is how you regularly get score lines like 2012’s 51-48, 2017’s 62-52, and 2018’s 48-47. It’s weirder if the combined score doesn’t hover around triple digits than otherwise.
This is a rivalry older than the state of Oklahoma itself, which was admitted to the Union in 1907, three years after these universities agreed to their first football fight. In 2024, the Sooners will exit the Big 12 for the SEC, jeopardizing the future of a series that hasn’t skipped a beat since 1910. Not World War II nor a global pandemic could keep the two biggest universities in the state of Oklahoma from competing on the football field, but the almighty dollar will.
USC-Stanford
2023 Game Date: Sept. 9 in Los Angeles
Series Start: 1905
Series Record: USC leads, 63-34-3 (101 meetings)
Two of the most prominent private universities in the United States, let alone the West Coast, have been at it for some time. When these two come together in 2023, it will be their 102nd time competing (including USC’s vacated 2005 victory). Unless Stanford can find a way to follow USC into the Big Ten, it will stay at 102 for some time.
The Cardinal are USC’s oldest rival – the Trojans began their series with Stanford 10 years before facing off with Cal, 21 years ahead of their inaugural showdown with Notre Dame, and 24 years prior to pitting itself against UCLA. After the initial contest in 1905, Stanford and USC didn’t meet again until 1919, but since 1925, only World War II and the pandemic kept them separate.
The Trojans have been better the majority of the time, but Stanford has found ways to be a thorn in their side. In 2007, USC was riding a 35-game winning streak and sat at No. 2 in the AP Poll when it welcomed Stanford to the LA Memorial Coliseum. Despite entering as 41-point underdogs, the Cardinal stunned the home crowd, 24-23, in a victory that remains one of the sport’s greatest-ever upsets. Two years later, Stanford upset No. 9 USC in Los Angeles again, this time with Cardinal head coach Jim Harbaugh deciding to go for two when the scoreline absolutely did not require it. That led to a post-game confrontation between Harbaugh and USC head coach Pete Carroll in which Carroll famously prodded to his foe, “What’s your deal?”
With USC off to the Big Ten and Stanford presently unsure where it will be come 2024, there’s no way to know what will happen to this series. But we do know that the previous guarantee of annual matchups is gone.
Texas-Baylor
2023 Game Date: Sept. 23 in Waco
Series Start: 1901
Series Record: Texas leads, 80-28-4 (112 meetings)
Since co-founding the Southwest Conference in 1915, Texas and Baylor have shared a conference. That run will cease in 2024 when the Longhorns move to the SEC while the Bears persist in the Big 12, and the likelihood that we’ll get to see these teams share a field again for a while afterward is slim to none.
Austin has enjoyed the last laugh much more often than Waco over the decades, but that doesn’t negate the long-standing history between these programs, nor does it mean it’s always been that way. From 1974 through 1992, Baylor narrowly outpaced Texas in the series, 10-9, and the Longhorns have only just outdone the Bears, 7-6, from 2010 to present. There have also been some very long Texas winning streaks, but Baylor fans would probably prefer to not discuss those.
Baylor is physically the closest major program to Texas – only about 100 miles separating the two campuses. Their proximity, the relationship’s longevity, and the intensity of football in the state of Texas means that even when there aren’t conference or national implications on the line, it means something every time these teams are in the same stadium. After 2023, it’s unclear when that will happen next.
UCLA-Cal
2023 Game Date: Nov. 25 in Pasadena
Series Start: 1933
Series Record: UCLA leads, 57-34-1 (92 meetings)
Since their gridiron introduction in 1933, nothing has stopped UCLA and Cal from annual clashes – not even World War II or the pandemic could do it. That has made it the second-longest uninterrupted series in the sport. That streak is now under serious threat. UCLA will move to the Big Ten in 2024, while it’s anyone’s guess where Cal will be by then.
The relationship between the Bruins and Bears is an interesting one. Both schools hold more hatred in their hearts for USC – and to a lesser extent, Stanford – and their feelings toward one another are more sibling-like than adversarial as their games act as celebrations of the UC System’s successes. It’s more wholesome than most historic college football series, but that doesn’t diminish its importance or mean the love is infinite.
Like any great college football spat, the bands don’t particularly get along. Cal has always found it fishy that UCLA’s “Sons of Westwood” sounds eerily similar to its “Big C,” which led to a dispute that the Library of Congress had to settle in 1969 that determined the original tune had never been copyrighted. If you want an example of how this familial fight can turn negative, look no further than this 2010 preview of that year’s contest in the LA Times, which includes Cal’s band director accusing UCLA of stealing Cal’s fight song, former UCLA head coach Terry Donahue calling out the Bears for a superiority complex, and plenty of more juice that illustrates that these family members don’t always get along.
Texas-Texas Tech
2023 Game Date: Nov. 24 in Austin
Series Start: 1928
Series Record: Texas leads, 54-18-0 (72 meetings)
Texas and Texas Tech don’t have as long of a history as almost everyone else you’ll find on this list, but there are still decades between that two that have helped build up some animosity, particularly from the Red Raiders contingent.
They first played in 1928, but it wasn’t until 1960 – four years after Texas Tech joined the Southwest Conference – that the meetings turned annual. The programs competed in every season since, though that will end in 2024 when the Longhorns head for the SEC and the Red Raiders remain in the Big 12.
The Longhorns have a healthy lead in this one, and outside of a brief six-year period in the 1990s, the Red Raiders have never had much sustained success versus Texas. They did claim perhaps the biggest contest these two ever played against one another, though – “Crabtree, pulls free, and touchdown, Red Raiders, with a second to go!”
Austin and Lubbock are not close. We’re losing other series with longer, more storied histories than this one. But these programs do share a state and have called the same conference home for about seven decades. Its disappearance from the sport is not nothing.
Oregon-Stanford
2023 Game Date: Sept. 30 in Stanford
Series Start: 1900
Series Record: Stanford leads, 50-35-1 (86 meetings)
These two don’t share a state, and though they’ve shared plenty of contests as long-time members of the Pac-12, this wasn’t much of a rivalry for a lot of its earlier history. But over the last 15-or-so years, Oregon-Stanford rose to become one of, if not the most, decisive series in Pac-12 football.
Between 2009 and 2020, all but three Pac-12 titles went to the Ducks or Cardinal, and the annual showdown between them often was the distinction’s determining factor. Both teams have been ranked at the time of their coming together in nine of the games since 2007, and at least one was positioned within the top 10 in eight of them. And with a handful of upsets sprinkled in there, outcomes have been far from foregone conclusions.
The Cardinal issued the Ducks enough untimely defeats for their “Stanford problem” to become a recognized phrase, especially with shockers in 2009, 2012, and 2021. But Oregon has also dished out the pain – the Ducks won both of the top-10 matchups in 2010 and 2011, plus toppled No. 7 Stanford, 38-36, while unranked in 2015.
Oregon-Stanford is a total clash of styles and culture that illuminate everything that we love about college football. At least, everything we loved about college football. The Ducks will go to the Big Ten in 2024, and we have no idea where Stanford will be by then. Unless the Cardinal end up in the Big Ten, too, then this series is probably done.
Ohio State-Penn State
2023 Game Date: Oct. 21 in Columbus
Series Start: 1912
Series Record: Ohio State leads, 23-14-0 (37 meetings)
Yes, I know, one of these things is not like the other. Ohio State and Penn State will both still be in the Big Ten in 2024, and there’s virtually zero chance of either ditching the conference in the short-to-medium term. There will be more Ohio State-Penn State games in the future. But it won’t be the same as it has been for the last 30 years as a bloated Big Ten is likely to not allow such regular competition.
The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions didn’t play much before Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993, but there has been no break since. Penn State has been one of the main foils to Ohio State’s dominance in the conference over the last three decades, and annual meetings between the two have generated several unbelievable moments, with outcomes that have strongly shaped both Big Ten and national championship races.
The Big Ten elected against this series when it announced its protected matchups for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, a sign that the league doesn’t value OSU-PSU enough to ensure its consistently maintains. That was before the league knew Oregon and Washington would pump its membership list up to 18, further complicating the survival of an annual Ohio State-Penn State throwdown.
Perhaps priorities will change and an emphasis on maintaining continuity between Columbus and State College will emerge. But with how we already know the Big Ten intended to handle its scheduling upon the entrance of USC and UCLA, I doubt it.
CFB FAQs
How are college football bowl games determined?
Only bowl-eligible teams are selected for College Football Bowls. At the NCAA Division I FBS level, the standard by which teams become available for selection in bowl games varies. For example, in 2018-19 season, the team had to have at least as many wins as overall losses. Wins against non-Division I teams do not count toward the number of wins.
How do you play college football pick'em pools?
Simply pick winners from the games each week selected by the Pool Commissioner, either straight up or against the spread. Whichever member has the most points at the end of the season wins
What is a football pool?
"Football Pool" is a broad term for a group of people competitively guessing the outcome of one or more football games. There are many types of formats, each assigning winners differently. They can be played informally between friends or through a more formalized system. They are often considered a great alternative to fantasy football given the ease of playing, although there are fantasy football pools as well.
How to run a football pool?
How you decide to run a football pool varies greatly depending on the game type. In each case, however, you'll want to determine the rules and settings before you begin inviting members to join you. You'll want to clearly establish how score will be kept, how tiebreakers work, and how winners are decided before anything else.
How to play squares football pools?
Football squares are played by creating a grid, in which Team 1 takes the column and Team 2 the rows. In some cases, participants may claim as many squares as they like. In others, commissioners limit them to one. At the quarter times and end of the game, the winner is decided at the point the scores final digit intersect.
How do you setup a college football bowl pool?
To set up a college football bowl pool, you'll need to first choose if you will include all the games or specific ones. Then, you'll need to set the ground rules. As commissioner, you'll implement rules to ensure everything runs smoothly during the bowl games. Many use pool sites like RunYourPool to make the process easier.
What is a college football squares pool?
In a college football squares pool, a commissioner starts with a 10x10 grid of 100 squares (though commissioners decide to use smaller 5x5 pools). Members pick one or more squares in that grid. Winners are determined based on the score of each team after each quarter and at the end of the game.
How many squares in a football pool?
In a traditional football squares pool, a grid is sectioned off into 100 squares with 10 columns and 10 rows. This accounts for a direct relationship between each possible digit from 0 to 9 on both the X and Y axis. For smaller square grids like 5x5, multiple numbers can be assigned to each column and row.
How to read a football squares pool sheet?
In Squares formats, football pool sheets include a grid, where one team is the column and one is the row. Winners are determined at the end of each quarter when the last number in the team’s score (on each side) is matched to the numbers on the grid, and the intersecting square wins.
How do you setup a college football bowl pool?
To set up a college football bowl pool, you'll need to first choose if you will include all the games or specific ones. Then, you'll need to set the ground rules. As commissioner, you'll implement rules to ensure everything runs smoothly during the bowl games. Many use pool sites like RunYourPool to make the process easier.
How do you win college football confidence bowl pool?
The winner of a college bowl confidence pool is the member with the most points after all games have ended. Members rank each game based on how confident they are in their pick (44 points = most confident, 1 point = least confident). For each game picked correctly, members receive the number of points they assigned.
What is a college football bowl confidence pool?
Players try to pick the winner of every bowl game, assigning a point value to each game. Picks are made "straight up," not using a point spread system. Members rank each game based on how confident they are (44 points = most confident, 1 point = least confident). A winner is determined by totalling the point values assigned to correctly picked games.
How do you setup a college football bowl pool?
To set up a college football bowl pool, you'll need to first choose if you will include all the games or specific ones. Then, you'll need to set the ground rules. As commissioner, you'll implement rules to ensure everything runs smoothly during the bowl games. Many use pool sites like RunYourPool to make the process easier.
How do you win college football bowl pick'em pool?
As you might expect, the player who selects the most bowl winners will win their pick'em pool. You can win your college football bowl pick'em pool by choosing winners wisely, based on past performance, player starting status and other "intangibles."
What is a college football bowl pick'em pool?
In a College Bowl Pick'em pool members attempt to pick the winner of every College Bowl game (or a subset of games determined by the Pool Commissioner). Picks are made using the point spread system or "straight up", as assigned by the Pool Commissioner.
