10 College Football Rivalries So Intense They Divide Fans Across Regions
Most sports allow fans to support their team and move on, but college football rivalries often carry over into everyday life. They shape identity, divide communities, and turn games into long-standing arguments.
The rivalries below have continued to divide fan bases across regions for decades, and in some cases for more than a century.
The Iron Bowl (Alabama vs. Auburn)
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This rivalry dates back to 1893 and grew out of tensions between Alabama’s two major schools over which institution would become the state’s land-grant college. The resentment carried into football and helped turn the Alabama-Auburn matchup into one of the most intense rivalries in college sports. One of its most famous moments came in 2013, when Auburn’s Chris Davis returned a missed field goal 109 yards for a game-winning touchdown. The rivalry has also crossed dangerous lines at times. An Alabama fan reportedly died after the 2013 loss, and four years later, an argument between rival fans ended in a shooting.
Bedlam (University of Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State University)
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College football carries extra importance in Oklahoma because the state has no NFL team. That pressure has long fueled the rivalry between the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, two schools that compete for the same recruits, fan support, and statewide attention. The series has been heavily dominated by Oklahoma, which holds a 91-20-7 record against Oklahoma State. The rivalry was put on hold after Oklahoma moved to the SEC in 2024, leaving the state without one of its biggest annual sports events until at least 2031.
The Palmetto Bowl (Clemson vs. South Carolina)
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For decades, until 1959, the game between these teams was played on “Big Thursday,” a day so significant that government offices closed statewide. The 1902 game ended in a riot after Clemson cadets armed with sabers and rifles marched on the South Carolina campus over a taunting poster. In 2004, a bench-clearing brawl broke out, and both programs voluntarily forfeited their bowl bids as punishment, costing South Carolina more than $1 million.
The Sunshine Showdown (Florida vs. Florida State)
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Florida resisted scheduling Florida State for years until Governor LeRoy Collins stepped in and urged the state’s two universities to stop avoiding each other. That forced politeness barely lasted. In 1998, Florida cornerback Tony George and FSU defensive lineman Ronald Boldin were ejected after both teams exchanged punches. Five years later, the game ended with both teams brawling after FSU players jumped on Florida’s logo, and Seminole players walked off carrying a Gator head.
The Victory Bell (UCLA vs. USC)
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With both campuses located about 12 miles apart, the UCLA-USC rivalry has long doubled as a competition over which side of Los Angeles comes out on top. The rivalry trophy is the Victory Bell, a 295-pound brass bell originally taken from a Southern Pacific freight locomotive and gifted to UCLA in 1939. In 1941, USC students stole the bell and hid it for more than a year, moving it between several locations, including a fraternity basement and the Hollywood Hills.
Oregon vs. Oregon State
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In 1937, after Oregon State beat Oregon, nearly 1,800 OSU students caravanned to the losing school’s campus the next day to celebrate. Oregon students pelted them with tomatoes and water balloons, and some OSU students were stripped and forced to repaint the hillside “O” yellow before sliding down it. An earlier postgame brawl in 1910 was so bad that the schools refused to play each other the following year.
The Egg Bowl (Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State)
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In 1926, a postgame brawl between these teams ended with Ole Miss fans storming the field while the home supporters responded with wooden folding chairs. Ole Miss fans have been known to frame the rivalry as “culture versus agriculture,” while Mississippi State supporters ring cowbells loudly. The in-state hatred between Oxford and Starkville has hardly needed external interference.
Wide Right (Florida State vs. Miami)
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The animosity between these two is hardly ever short on drama, as police once detained Miami’s mascot, who tried to put out the flaming spear used by FSU’s mascot. Both schools are on opposite ends of Florida, splitting the state geographically between north and south. The “Wide Right” games, which featured multiple missed kicks by Florida State across the 1990s and into 2000, gave FSU fans a curse to nurse and Miami fans a taunt they have never stopped using.
The Sunflower Showdown (Kansas vs. Kansas State)
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When Kansas achieved statehood in 1861, Lawrence and Manhattan competed to host the state university, and the former ultimately secured it through a series of legislative decisions. Manhattan got a land-grant college instead, and that resentment has never fully departed. Kansas State fans have torn down goalposts in Kansas’s own stadium more than once, including after ending an 11-game losing streak in Lawrence in 1994.
The Lone Star Showdown (Texas vs. Texas A&M)
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In both 1933 and 1948, University of Texas students rented a plane and attempted to drop firebombs onto the Aggie Bonfire stack before the annual game. Despite A&M leaving the Big 12 for the SEC in 2012, Aggie students continued to use the “horns down” hand signal. The football rivalry resumed in 2024, and a “Texas Monthly” piece even tackled how divided Longhorn-Aggie families could keep the peace at Thanksgiving now that the game was back.