With college football just two weeks from kicking off, the sport is about to lean back into one of its best traits: rivalries that actually mean something. The NFL has its share of heated matchups, but college football’s best series tend to run deeper, with more history and more moments that stick.
That’s why the sport loses something when a rivalry goes dark. Sure, a few dormant matchups have already come back in small doses, and those returns have shown the old energy can still be there.
But some series shouldn’t be treated like special events every few years. They should be part of the calendar for good.
Nebraska and Oklahoma are the first obvious example. For decades, this was one of the sport’s heavyweight matchups, played every year for 71 straight seasons from 1927 through 1997.
The stakes were often huge, and the 1971 “Game of the Century” still stands out as one of the defining games in college football history. Oklahoma holds the all-time edge, 47-38-3.
Realignment split them up, but the schools have at least tried to keep the rivalry alive. They played again in 2021 and 2022, and another home-and-home is set for 2029 and 2030.
The issue is simple: that kind of spacing drains the matchup of its identity. If Nebraska and Oklahoma are serious about preserving what made this series special, it has to be more than a once-in-a-while reunion.
Pitt and West Virginia belong in that same permanent category. The Backyard Brawl began in 1895, was played 104 times, and then vanished for a decade after the 2011 season. Pitt leads the series 63-42-3.
When the rivalry returned in 2022, it wasted no time reminding everyone why it matters. Pitt took the first three games of the revival, West Virginia answered with a win in 2023, and Pitt won again in 2025.
That’s the kind of back-and-forth that keeps a rivalry alive. With the schools separated by about 75 miles, the case for keeping it on the schedule is obvious.
Conference labels shouldn’t get in the way.
Notre Dame and Michigan are the final matchup that belongs back for good. The series has produced some of college football’s most familiar games, but it has been absent since 2019. Michigan leads 25-17-1, and the two programs already have future meetings lined up for 2033 and 2034.
That wait is too long. These are two of the sport’s most recognizable brands, and when they meet, the game carries national weight. Both schools have other big opponents, sure, but that’s not a reason for this one to sit idle for more than a decade.
College football is at its best when it protects the games that built it. Nebraska-Oklahoma, Pitt-West Virginia and Notre Dame-Michigan all belong in that group. Bringing them back permanently would give fans more of what makes the sport worth showing up for.
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Cornerback is carrying its own share of the pressure, with Narduzzi offering updates on a competition that continues to sort itself out while other players keep making strides. He also noted the progress of several others in the room and the ways wide receiver Blue is being used on offense, a reminder that these practices are shaping more than one part of the roster at once. For Pitt, the encouraging part is the depth of the fight. The tricky part is figuring out who ends up where. [Read more 🡒]