New Rivals in a New Age

In an age full of conference realignment, rivalries and traditions have been thrown to the wasteside. As a fan of college football, I know that rivalries are forged on the playing field and not given a name and told to have fun. With that being said, I have a few ideas for teams that should be rivals that currently are not:

Oklahoma and Arkansas: With the loss of the annual Bedlam game, the Razorbacks seem like a shoo-in to replace the Cowboys on the Sooners’ schedule. As someone who lives in the Sooner State, there are plenty of people who hate the Razorbacks. As I've been told, they are considered “the doormat of the SEC”. As I've traveled throughout Arkansas the sentiment of hate for the Sooners is strong all across the board. I can't tell anyone I'm an OU fan without getting an eye-roll and various scoffs. The closeness of the two states and the limited travel time of only 3 hours and 45 minutes from Norman, OK to Fayetteville, AR make this a great opportunity to form a rivalry. Throughout history, the Sooners and the Razorbacks have only played a handful of times with the Sooners holding the all-time series lead at 10-4-1. I can't wait to see this become a full-blown rivalry and play regularly in the future.

Oregon and Penn State: Though the Nittany Lions lead the all-time series 3-1 I believe this could be a game to watch for the future. As the Ducks move into their first year in the Big 10, I fully expect them to compete for the conference crown year in and year out. With this being said, it would be amazing to see these schools form a rivalry and play every year. Since Penn State doesn't have any protected rivalries I would love the Big 10 to put these two teams on the schedule every year. Both schools are pretty similar when you account for on-field production, though historically, I would say Penn State has been the overall better program. Both schools have pushed for the top since 2000, but haven't quite been able to get over the hump. Without divisions, these programs can help push each other to better in 2024 and beyond.

Oklahoma State and Kansas State: Oklahoma State's true rivals are OU and Tulsa and since the Sooners went to the SEC, that means that the Cowboys currently play zero yearly rivals. Kansas State already has two main rivals - Iowa State and Kansas but if they adopt OSU as a rival it would in turn help both schools elevate the Big 12. Kansas State is a team that the Cowboys have owned for a good portion of history as they control the series with a 43-27 lead. However, this doesn't mean they can't be rivals, the wildcats have pushed for and won several conference titles since 2000 and looking forward the Cowboys and Wildcats look to be the two big dogs in the Big 12. For the Cowboys, K-ST may not replace Bedlam, but it can give them a team to hate until Bedlam is back on the schedule.

SMU and California: This was the hardest conference to pick two teams to create a rivalry for, but after much digging, I’ve found one! Even though SMU and Cal have only met once in 1957 they, much like Oregon and Penn State, have been eerily similar historically. The two teams combine for 8 national titles and 26 conference crowns. As these two schools enter the ACC they both lack conference rivals to hate. SMU has no conference rivals that they can claim and Cal only has one in Stanford. Considering the Mustangs have to play Cal and Stanford every year for the foreseeable future, the two make perfect sense to be rivals. With SMU seemingly on the rise this game can only help the ACC moving forward.

Lastly, some honorable mentions that popped into my brain as I was typing these out include Stanford v. Syracuse, Oklahoma v. Florida, Oregon v. Ohio State, USC v. Michigan, Oklahoma v. LSU,  Colorado v. Oklahoma State, Texas Tech v. Arizona State, and last but not least BYU v. Notre Dame. Even if these schools don't end up being rivals i can't wait to see which teams develop into rivals in the coming years. College football is changing and if we don't change with it then we will surely be left behind.