Every Friday, the Friday Five will rank something in the world of college football -- anything and everything from the logical to the illogical. This week, we rank five rivalries we'd like to see return.
College football received some good news on Thursday when both Michigan and Notre Dame announced they'd be rekindling their rivalry with a home-and-home series in 2018 and 2019. By the time that 2018 game is played, it will have been four years since the two teams met, which certainly isn't the first time they've gone on a hiatus.
The only negative about the situation is that it's just a home-and-home.
Instead of focusing on that, however, in this week's Friday Five, I've decided to rank five other rivalries I'd like to see brought back to life. Now, like Michigan and Notre Dame, some of these old rivalries currently have games scheduled against one another in the future, but I'm approaching this from a perspective of wanting the games back permanently. Every damn year from now until the dinosaurs return to take back what they believe is rightfully theirs.
So let's get to it.
5. Texas vs. Arkansas: Conference re-alignment has destroyed quite a few rivalries in recent years, but this one was ruined by it way back in the early 1990s. Texas and Arkansas first met in in 1894, and faced off on an annual basis from 1932 to 1991. What happened in 1991?
Well, that's when Arkansas decided to change directions and move from the SWC to the SEC. Texas would join the Big 12 five years later.
The teams have met 78 times in their history, but only five of those meetings have come since Arkansas joined the SEC, with two of them being bowl games (the most recent meeting was the 2014 Texas Bowl).
4. Florida vs. Miami: The good news here is that Florida and Miami are currently scheduled to play one another in Orlando in 2019. That's a good thing, as they haven't played since 2013, and have only squared off six times since 1987. The bad part is that the game is in Orlando. This is a rivalry that should be played every season on campus. In fact, there should be a law that Florida, Miami and Florida State all have to play one another every year. I understand why it doesn't actually happen, but from a pure college football fan perspective, it's the ideal scenario.
Miami and Florida played on the reg between 1938 and 1987, and although Miami has dominated the series in this century (it's won five of six since 2001), overall it's been even, as Miami leads 29-26.
3. Pitt vs. Penn State: Pitt and Penn State are actually scheduled to play this season and next season, which is great. It needs to become an annual tradition yet again, though. With conference re-alignment, Pitt has lost its annual rivalry game with West Virginia, and while some of Pitt's old Big East pals have joined it in the ACC, I have a hard time considering Syracuse and company to be football rivals with Pitt.
As for Penn State, ever since the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten, it feels as if their rivalries have been manufactured. First with Michigan State, and now with Maryland and Rutgers. Pitt and Penn State are perfect natural rivals for one another, and there's certainly plenty of history between the two schools, with the first meeting taking place in 1893, and there being 96 total games between the two schools.
2. Texas vs. Texas A&M: Texas makes this list twice, and since it's only feasible to imagine one old rivalry becoming a regular thing, I'd clearly prefer the Longhorns and Aggies getting back together over the Razorbacks. Sure, Texas and Arkansas used to share a conference, but the Horns and A&M have, and always well, share a state. That gives the rivalry a bit more juice.
Ever since Texas A&M left the Big 12 for the SEC, there's been talk from both sides about a renewal, usually speaking out of both sides of their mouths. While some of the people at both schools who matter may want to talk tough, I can't help but believe this rivalry will return one day, I just hope it's sooner rather than later.
There's way too much history here, as the two schools have played 118 times since 1894.
1. Nebraska vs. Oklahoma: We have to wait a few more years, but these two schools will reunite eventually with a home-and-home in 2021 and 2022. The last meeting came in the Big 12 Championship Game in 2010.
This rivalry has always stood out to me, even as a kid growing up in Chicago with no real ties to either school. A big reason for this -- despite my love of the triple option at an early age -- was the fact that they not only played each other all the time (86 times from 1912 to 2010), but they played in so many huge games against one another. There was a stretch from 1971 to 1980 where both teams were ranked in the top 10 nine times in 10 games, with the sole exception being No. 3 Oklahoma playing No. 11 Nebraska in 1977.
It was the same thing during a five-year stretch from 1984 to 1988, and one of these teams has been ranked No. 1 during 13 of their 86 meetings.
There's just a ton of history and tradition behind this rivalry that we were robbed of when Nebraska left for the Big Ten. I'd like to get some of that back.
