Five college football rivalries that should be played annually

There was some pretty awesome college football news last week. Clemson and Notre Dame announced a 12-year scheduling agreement starting in 2027. That’s big for Notre Dame because it locks in one marquee opponent for years to come, which it needs as an independent in order to continue to generate revenue.

From Clemson’s perspective, you might be thinking that it already plays Notre Dame thanks to the ACC’s scheduling arrangement with the Fighting Irish. But if Clemson didn’t set up this agreement with Notre Dame, the two schools would’ve only faced each other five times during that 12-year stretch. Clemson is using its leverage as a big-time program to get ahead of the new revenue structure in the ACC, locking in arguably the biggest possible TV draw to earn the rewards of a system that will benefit teams that draw ratings. 

This is a really cool thing that these two programs decided to do. I’m still not sure if it’s a good thing for these two programs and the ACC, though, because the more we allow teams to make individual decisions, the more we’re going to get away from a universal scheduling model. 

However, there are more games like Clemson-Notre Dame that need to be scheduled on an annual basis in college football. Other programs should take their lead to lock in games we want to see that drive value, particularly on a regional basis, that we might have lost in recent years due to conference realignment.

So, here are the five rivalry games that we’ve lost that I want see played on an annual basis again. 

5. Notre Dame vs. USC

Did you know that there aren’t any Notre Dame-USC games scheduled after 2026? This has been a series since 1926, so we’ve had this rivalry for 100 years. USC coach Lincoln Riley admitted there was some uncertainty about the future of this rivalry last year, saying that there should still be a way to lock this game in as an annual rivalry. This is definitely one of the games we need to have on our annual college football slate.

This game is actually one of the most historic in the sport. In fact, prior to Missouri’s move to the SEC in 2012, this game had been played more than any other rivalry game in the country. I know this might not be the first game that comes to mind when people think of dream matchups, but this matchup represents the fabric of college football. I want to see the “Border War” get played on an annual basis again. The good news is that there is a home-and-home scheduled between the two programs for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, but they won’t play again after that until 2031.

Two of the top programs in the state of Florida will play again in 2025, with the Gators taking on the Hurricanes in Miami in Week 4. But after that, there isn’t anything on the books between these two teams. They played each other on an annual basis from 1938-1987, with a few ranked matchups between the two schools occurring in the ‘80s. More recently, this rivalry has reemerged in spurts, with their matchup this upcoming season being the second year of a two-year scheduling agreement. They also met up in the 2001 Sugar Bowl. But the kids who go to Florida and Miami play each other their entire lives and then they go to these schools and don’t play each other again. 

Klatt applauds Clemson & ND schedule agreement & rivalries that need to come back

Sure, there might be some bias of proximity and personal bias, but Colorado and Nebraska have to play each other every year. I grew up on this rivalry and it really made me fall in love with college football. If you looked from the mid-1980s through roughly 2005, this matchup determined either the Big Eight champion or the Big 12 North division winner. Of course, there were a few years when Kansas State outmatched those two, but the stakes were high in this rivalry for a long time. The two programs have tried to bring it back here and there ever since they stopped playing in the same conference in 2011. They played each other in a home-and-home in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, but there aren’t any games scheduled in the foreseeable future.

I want Bedlam back! You talk about no love lost, this rivalry has that. Sadly, there aren’t any games between these two in-state rivals scheduled. Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione said that it won’t be well into the 2030s that we could see this game happen again as well. That’s a bummer, and we should be better than that in college football. It’s a shame that we aren’t playing games that represent the true fabric of college football, and Bedlam is definitely one of those games.

Honorable mentions

• Penn State vs. Pittsburgh
• Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia (“Backyard Brawl”)
• Washington vs. Washington State (“Apple Cup”)
• Oregon vs. Oregon State (“Civil War”)
• Oklahoma vs. Nebraska
• Texas vs. Texas Tech

Joel Klatt is FOX Sports’ lead college football game analyst and the host of the podcast “The Joel Klatt Show.” Follow him at @joelklatt and subscribe to the “Joel Klatt Show” on YouTube.

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