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This is a list of rivalry games in college football. The list also shows any trophy awarded to the winner of the rivalry between the teams.[a]
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Rivalries involving more than two teams
| Series | Trophy | Teams | First meeting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beehive Boot | BYU, Utah, Utah State (previously Weber State) | 1971 | |
| Commander-in-Chief's Trophy | Air Force, Army, Navy | 1972 | |
| Florida Cup | Florida, Florida State, Miami (FL) | 2002 | |
| Michigan MAC Trophy | Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan | 2005 | |
| Northwest Championship | Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State | 1903 | |
| Tri-State Big Three | Old Ironsides | Penn State, Pittsburgh, West Virginia | 1900 |
| Sacred Cod Trophy | Boston College, Boston University, Holy Cross | 1954 | |
| Tobacco Road | Duke, North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest | 1924 |
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Rivalries involving more than two teams
| Series | Trophy | Teams | First meeting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Three | Harvard, Princeton, Yale | 1877 | |
| Sgt. York Trophy | Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech, UT Martin (previously Austin Peay) | 2007 |
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This list is restricted to rivalries whose participants are currently in different Division I football subdivisions, and have played one another while in different subdivisions. Most of these began when both teams competed in the same (sub)division.
In this list, the FCS team is in italics.
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| Game | Trophy | Team | Team | First Year | Latest Year | Meetings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Academic Bowl | Academic Bowl | Carnegie Mellon | Case Western Reserve | 1986 | 2024 | 38 |
| Admiral's Cup | Admiral's Cup[28] | Maine Maritime[i] | Mass Maritime | 1946 | 2019 | 59 |
| Backyard Brawl | Millsaps | Mississippi College | 1920 | 2013[j] | 52 | |
| Baird Brothers Trophy | Case Western Reserve | Wooster | 1984 | 2012[30] | 25 | |
| Battle for the Border Claw | Border Claw Trophy | East Texas Baptist | Louisiana ChristianNAIA | 1947[31] | 2019 | 22 |
| Battle for the Drum | The Drum[32] | Occidental | Pomona–Pitzer | 1895[k] | 2019 | 112 |
| Battle for the Wagon | Conestoga Wagon[33] | Dickinson | Franklin & Marshall | 1889 | 2023 | 114 |
| Battle of Sixth Street | Battle of Sixth Street Trophy[34][35] | Claremont–Mudd–Scripps | Pomona–Pitzer | 1959[l] | 2019 | |
| Biggest Little Game In America | Amherst | Williams | 1884 | 2024 | 138 | |
| The Book of Knowledge[36] | Carleton | Macalester | 1898 | 2019 | 67 | |
| The Bridge Bowl | Bridge Bowl Trophy | Mount St. Joseph | Thomas More (KY)NAIA | 1990 | 2013[37][m] | 18 |
| Bronze Ball | Anderson (IN) | Manchester (IN) | 1945 | 2019 | ||
| The Bronze Turkey Game or Turkey Bowl | The Bronze Turkey Trophy[38] | Knox (IL) | Monmouth (IL) | 1888 | 2023 | 134 |
| Centennial Cup[39] | Hobart | Rochester | 1892 | 2019 | 112 | |
| Cereal Bowl | Goat Trophy | Carleton | St. Olaf | 1919[40] | 2019 | 100 |
| The Chowder Bowl | Mass Maritime | SUNY Maritime | 2007 | 2024 | 16 | |
| Cortaca Jug | Ithaca | SUNY Cortland | 1930 | 2024 | 82 | |
| Cranberry Bowl | The Scoop[41] | Bridgewater State | Mass Maritime | 1974 | 2019 | 46 |
| Cuyahoga Gold Bowl Game | Cuyahoga Gold Bowl Trophy | Baldwin Wallace | John Carroll | 1923[42] | 2019 | 59 |
| Doehling–Heselton Memorial Trophy | Lawrence | Ripon | 1893 | 2024 | 122 | |
| Dutchman's Shoes | RPI | Union (NY) | 1886 | 2024 | 121 | |
| Edmund Orgill Trophy | Rhodes | Sewanee | 1899[n] | 2024 | 91 | |
| Founders Trophy | Chicago | Washington (MO) | 1933 | 2019 | 38 | |
| Gate City Soup Bowl | Greensboro | Guilford | 1997[43] | 2016 | 20 | |
| Gettysburg–McDaniel | Gettysburg | McDaniel | 1891 | 2019 | 73 | |
| Goal Post Trophy[44] | Juniata | Susquehanna | 1923 | 2019 | 74 | |
| The Hammer[45] | Augsburg | Hamline | 1926 | 2019 | 79 | |
| Helmet Trophy | Anna Maria | Castleton | 2009 | 2019 | 11 | |
| Tommie-Johnnie Game | The Holy Grail | Saint John's (MN) | St. Thomas (MN)FCS | 1901 | 2019[o] | 89 |
| Johns Hopkins–McDaniel | Maryland Railroad Lantern | Johns Hopkins | McDaniel | 1894 | 2024 | 102 |
| Keystone Cup[47] | Delaware Valley | Widener | 1977 | 2019 | 42 | |
| Lefse Bowl | The Troll Trophy[48] | Concordia (Moorhead) | St. Olaf | 1921 | 2019 | 70 |
| Lincoln Football Trophy[49] | Franklin & Marshall | Gettysburg | 1890 | 2023 | 108 | |
| Little Brass Bell[50] | North Central (IL) | Wheaton (IL) | 1900 | 2019 | 101 | |
| Little Brown Bucket[51] | Dickinson | Gettysburg | 1892 | 2023 | 88 | |
| Maple Sap Bucket[52] | Vermont State University – Castleton | Norwich | 2009 | 2024 | 15 | |
| Mercer County Cup | Grove City | Thiel | 1892[53] | 2019 | 106 | |
| Monon Bell Classic | Monon Bell | DePauw | Wabash | 1890 | 2024 | 130 |
| Occidental–Whittier | Myron Claxton's Shoes | Occidental | Whittier | 1901 | 2019[p] | 111 |
| Old Red Lantern[54] | Denison | Wooster | 1889 | 2019 | 88 | |
| Old Rocking Chair Classic | Mac-Jack Rocking Chair[55] | Hamilton | Middlebury | 1911 | 2019 | |
| Oldest College Rivalry West of the Mississippi[56] | Coe | Cornell (IA) | 1891 | 2019 | 129 | |
| Paint Bucket[57] | Hamline | Macalester | 1887 | 2019 | 120 | |
| Pynchon Saw Game | Pynchon Saw Trophy | Springfield College (MA) | Western New England University (MA) | 2013 | 2019 | 7 |
| Seafaring Scuffle | Merchant Marine | SUNY Maritime | 2009 | 2019 | 11 | |
| Secretaries Cup | Coast Guard | Merchant Marine | 1949 | 2023 | 52 | |
| Smudge Pot Trophy Game | The Smudge Pot | California Lutheran University | University of Redlands | 2012 | 2023 | 11[58] |
| The Little Army–Navy Game | The Mug[59] | Coast Guard | Norwich Cadet | 1929 | 2024 | 96 |
| Steven Dean Memorial Trophy | Catholic | GeorgetownFCS | 1976 | 2019 | 19 | |
| The Game (Hampden–Sydney vs. Randolph–Macon) | The Game Ball | Hampden–Sydney | Randolph–Macon | 1893 | 2024 | 128 |
| The Regents Cup | Frostburg StateD-II | Salisbury | 1973 | 2018[60] | 46 | |
| The Stagg Hat[61] | Lycoming | Susquehanna | 1949 | 2019 | 55 | |
| Transit Trophy Game | The Transit Trophy | RPI | WPI | 1894 | 2024 | 117 |
| Trinity–Wesleyan football rivalry | Trinity | Wesleyan | 1885 | 2024 | 123 | |
| The Trophy[62] | Pacific Lutheran | Puget Sound | 1931 | 2022 | 98 | |
| Victory Bell Classic | Victory Bell[63] | Franklin (IN) | Hanover | 1898 | 2019 | 89 |
| Wagon Wheel | Lewis & Clark | Willamette | 1949 | 2019 | ||
| War on I-94 Trophy[64] | Wisconsin–Eau Claire | Wisconsin–Stout | 1917 | 2019 | 97 | |
| Wilkes-Barre Mayor's Cup | King's (PA) | Wilkes | 1996[q] | 2019 | ||
| Wooden Shoes Rivalry Trophy | Hope College (MI) | Kalamazoo College (MI) | 1910 | 2019 | 95 |
- Notes
- The list only shows games that have an associated Wikipedia article for either the name of the game or the trophy. Other series have been played more times than games listed here that have no Wikipedia article. For example, in the FBS, Washington State and Oregon State have played more than 100 times, and in the FCS, Harvard and Brown have played over 100 times.
- Rivalry ended when Mississippi College cut its football program after finishing 2024 season.[22]
- Maine Maritime suspended its football program in 2020 due to financial impacts from COVID-19. In 2023, the football program was reinstated, due to play a full DIII schedule in 2025.[29]
- The rivalry began between Pomona and Occidental Colleges. Pomona now operates a joint athletic program with Pitzer College, both being among the five undergraduate Claremont Colleges, with the joint program known as Pomona–Pitzer.
- The rivalry began between Pomona and another Claremont College, Claremont McKenna. As noted previously, Pomona now operates a joint athletic program with another Claremont College, Pitzer College, as Pomona–Pitzer. Claremont McKenna is now part of the Claremont–Mudd–Scripps athletic program along with two other Claremont Colleges, Harvey Mudd and Scripps Colleges.
- The 2020 game, which was intended to be the last in the rivalry, was not held due to COVID-19. St. Thomas involuntarily left the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in spring 2021, joining the Division I Summit League for most non-football sports and the FCS Pioneer Football League.[46]
- Although King's had played Wilkes nine times before the establishment of the trophy, the first game for the Wilkes-Barre Mayor's Cup was in 1996, per King's College's preview of the 2009 game.
Rivalries involving more than two teams
| Series | Trophy | Teams | First meeting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium | C-B-B Trophy | Bates, Bowdoin, Colby | 1892 |
| Little Three | Amherst, Wesleyan, Williams | 1899 |
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 | This article or section possibly contains synthesis of material that does not verifiably mention or relate to the main topic. (December 2020) |
Following are the longest active continuously-played series in NCAA college football.[65][66][67][68][obsolete source] Many historic series were interrupted by World War I, the 1918 flu pandemic and World War II. More recently, other longstanding rivalries were terminated by the conference realignments of the early 2010s and early 2020s, or were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Series | Continuous since |
Series nickname / Trophy | NCAA Div. | First meeting | Series leader | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lehigh–Lafayette | 1897 | The Rivalry | FCS | 1884 | Lafayette | Most played series in college football.[66] No game played in calendar 2020 due to COVID-19, but played in April 2021 as part of the Patriot League's rescheduled spring 2021 season. |
| Minnesota–Wisconsin | 1907 | Paul Bunyan's Axe | FBS | 1890 | Wisconsin | Most played series in FBS[65] |
| North Carolina State–Wake Forest | 1910 | NC State–Wake Forest rivalry | FBS | 1895 | NC State | |
| Kansas–Kansas State[69] | 1911 | Sunflower Showdown | FBS | 1902 | Kansas | |
| Iowa State–Kansas State[70] | 1917 | Farmageddon | FBS | 1917 | Iowa State | Longest never interrupted series in FBS[71] |
| North Carolina–Virginia[72] | 1919 | South's Oldest Rivalry | FBS | 1892 | North Carolina |
- Note: The NCAA also lists as "continuous" the following rivalries interrupted by gaps during war years: North Carolina–Virginia (1910–1916, 1919–current); Mississippi–Mississippi State (1915–1942, 1944–current); Auburn–Georgia (1919–1942, 1944–current); Tennessee–Kentucky (1919–1942, 1944–current).[65] Other rivalries were also interrupted during war years, for example: Harvard–Yale (1897–1916, 1919–1943, 1945–present); Princeton–Yale (1876–1916, 1919–1943, 1945–present); Miami–Cincinnati (1909–1942, 1945–present); and Oregon-Oregon State (1912–1942, 1945–present). The NCAA does not explain how it selects only some interrupted rivalries to count as "continuous."
Longest interrupted NCAA college football rivalries
Following are the NCAA Division I and II series that continued for the most consecutive seasons before being interrupted. Eight of the eighteen series on this list are defunct rivalries from the old Big Eight Conference. Six are rivalries interrupted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Series | Continuous years |
Length | NCAA Div. | First meeting | Notes / reason for interruption |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma–Oklahoma State[73][74] | 1910–2023 | 114 years | FBS | 1910 | Ended by Oklahoma's move to the Southeastern Conference.[75] |
| Clemson–South Carolina[65] | 1909–2019 | 111 years | FBS | 1896 | Interrupted in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| Wabash–DePauw[76] | 1911–2019 | 109 years | Div. III | 1890 | Interrupted in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| Nebraska–Kansas[65] | 1906–2010 | 105 years | FBS | 1892 | Longest continuous series in FBS before interruption Ended by Nebraska's move to the Big Ten |
| Michigan–Ohio State | 1918–2019 | 102 years | FBS | 1897 | Interrupted in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| Dartmouth–Cornell | 1919–2019 | 101 years | FCS | 1900 | Interrupted in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| Penn–Cornell | 1919–2019 | 101 years | FCS | 1893 | Interrupted in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| Purdue–Indiana | 1920–2019 | 100 years | FBS | 1891 | Interrupted in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| Texas–Texas A&M[65] | 1915–2011 | 97 years | FBS | 1894 | Ended by Texas A&M's move to the SEC; resuming in 2024 with Texas' move to the SEC |
| Oklahoma–Kansas[65] | 1903–1997 | 95 years | FBS | 1903 | Longest continuous series in FBS until annual play ended in 1997 Ended by advent of Big 12 divisional play Annual play resumed in 2011 with end of Big 12 divisional play, and ended again with Oklahoma's 2024 move to the SEC |
| Missouri–Kansas[65] | 1919–2011 | 93 years | FBS | 1891 | Ended by Missouri's move to the SEC |
| Missouri–Iowa State[65] | 1919–2011 | 93 years | FBS | 1896 | Ended by Missouri's move to the SEC |
| Nebraska–Iowa State[77] | 1921–2010 | 90 years | FBS | 1896 | Ended by Nebraska's move to the Big Ten |
| Duke–Georgia Tech[78] | 1933–2022 | 90 years | FBS | 1933 | Rivalry pre-dates Georgia Tech's admission into the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 1983. Ended by changes to the ACC's scheduling format effective in 2023. |
| Nebraska–Kansas State[79] | 1922–2010 | 89 years | FBS | 1911 | Ended by Nebraska's move to the Big Ten |
| Nebraska–Missouri[80] | 1922–2010 | 89 years | FBS | 1892 | Ended by Nebraska's move to the Big Ten |
| Ohio State–Illinois[81] | 1914–2002 | 89 years | FBS | 1902 | Ended by Big Ten's change to non-round robin scheduling |
| Presbyterian–Newberry[82][83] | 1919–2006 | 88 years | Div. II | 1913 | Ended by Presbyterian's move to Division I |
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