College football fans are known to be among the most passionate in all of sports. That is indisputable.
But for sports fans, passion is not a one-way street. As much love as they have for their favorite teams and players, there are matching (or sometimes greater) feelings of vitriol, bad blood and sports hate for their adversaries. It's a sort of corollary to Newton's third law of motion, which states that for every action in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Given that many of college football's rivalries go back more than a century, it's no wonder emotions run high and deep. And every team has someone or something in particular that really sticks in their craw, that gets their temper going from 0 to 90 in a millisecond.
Maybe it's a coach who always had their team's number -- and smugly pranced on the sidelines after every victory. Or the coach who left their school for a blue-blood job days after pledging his allegiance to State U. A player who came out of nowhere to put a dagger in their heart in a critical game. An official who somehow threw a flag when it was clear their team's DB was just going for the ball.
Not that a college football fan would hold a grudge ...
We compiled a list of the archenemies of every school in the Power 4 and the stories that make them public enemy No. 1 on campus. Be sure to have your antacid or blood pressure medication handy before reading on.
Jump to a conference:
SEC | Big Ten
Notre Dame | ACC | Big 12
SEC
Alabama Crimson Tide
Cam Newton. Newton played only one season at Auburn, but he left a lasting legacy by leading the Tigers to an undefeated season and winning the Heisman Trophy in 2010. Many Alabama fans still believe Newton shouldn't have been eligible to play for the Tigers after his father allegedly shopped him around to schools out of junior college. Auburn ruled Newton ineligible following an NCAA investigation, but he was reinstated less than 24 hours later. In that season's Iron Bowl against Alabama, Newton led the Tigers to the greatest comeback in the program's 117-year history. Auburn trailed 24-0 in the second quarter before Newton passed for three touchdowns and ran for another in a stunning 28-27 victory that is known as the "Camback." -- Mark Schlabach
Arkansas Razorbacks
Texas Longhorns. Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian was introduced to Arkansas fans in his second game at Texas in 2021, a 40-21 Razorbacks win. After the Longhorns moved to the SEC and the Arkansas rivalry was renewed as a conference game, Sarkisian quipped that he realized "they hate Texas more than they like themselves," and Arkansas coach Sam Pittman responded, "He's probably right." The old Southwest Conference rivalry had its darkest moment for the Hogs in the 1969 Big Shootout between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Arkansas, with the Razorbacks taking a 14-0 lead into the fourth quarter, before losing 15-14, after James Street's heroics led Texas back and Arkansas' Bill Montgomery threw two interceptions. President Richard Nixon presented Texas with a national title plaque in Razorbacks Stadium. In 1977, Lou Holtz's Razorbacks finished No. 3 in the country with one loss -- to Texas. -- Dave Wilson
Auburn Tigers
Harvey Updyke. About a month after Cam Newton led Auburn to a 22-19 victory over Oregon in the BCS National Championship Game following the 2010 season, "Al from Dadeville" called into Paul Finebaum's nationally syndicated radio show and bragged about poisoning the iconic oak trees at Toomer's Corner near the Auburn campus. The caller ended up being Harvey Updyke, a retired Texas state trooper. He later pleaded guilty to applying herbicide to the trees and was sentenced to 70 days in jail and $800,000 in restitution. Updyke had a son named Bear (in honor of legendary Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant) and a daughter named Crimson. He later told Finebaum, "I just had too much Bama in me." Updyke died in 2020. He was 71. -- Schlabach
Florida Gators
Lindsay Scott. "Run, Lindsay, Run" happened 46 years ago, but the play will never be forgotten. On Nov. 8, 1980, Florida led rival Georgia 21-20 with 90 seconds left when quarterback Buck Belue dropped back to pass on third down from the 8-yard line and found a wide-open Lindsay Scott across the middle. Scott ran 92 yards for the improbable touchdown, giving the Bulldogs a 26-21 victory. That win not only cost Florida the SEC title, it led to the first national championship in Georgia history. In 2020, former Georgia coach Vince Dooley told The Athens Banner-Herald, "I still believe that it is the greatest play in Georgia football history." Winning a title at Florida's expense surely had something to do with that. -- Andrea Adelson
Georgia Bulldogs
Steve Spurrier. Nobody loved beating the Bulldogs -- and then bragging about it -- more than Spurrier, the former Florida and South Carolina coach. From 1990 to 2001, Spurrier flipped the script at the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party, leading the Gators to an 11-1 record against their rivals. In 1995, when the game was played in Athens, Georgia, because of construction at the stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, the Gators became the first team to hang "half a hundred" on the Bulldogs at Sanford Stadium in a 52-17 victory. The next season, Spurrier handed Georgia the most lopsided loss in the series with a 47-7 rout. Then, as South Carolina's coach from 2005 to 2015, Spurrier knocked off four ranked Georgia teams. He famously told reporters, "I sort of always liked playing them that second game because you could always count on them having two or three key players suspended." -- Schlabach
Kentucky Wildcats
Steve Spurrier. Few, if any, SEC foes have tormented Kentucky quite like Florida over the past 40 years. That reality is underscored by the Wildcats' 31-game losing streak to the Gators from 1987 to 2017, the fourth longest in an uninterrupted series in NCAA history, highlighted by Danny Wuerffel and Chris Doering's late rally in the 1993 matchup. No one, seemingly, savored Florida's dominance more than former Gators coach Steve Spurrier, who routinely jabbed the Wildcats in the media and ran up the score when he ran into Kentucky on the field from 1990 to 2001. That disdain never faded. In 2006, Clemson lost to Spurrier's South Carolina team, then fell to Kentucky in the Music City Bowl a month later. The following summer, Spurrier quipped, "We thought we had done something good beating Clemson. And then Kentucky beat 'em." -- Eli Lederman
LSU Tigers
Nick Saban. Between 1988 and 1998, LSU football had eight losing seasons before hiring Michigan State coach Nick Saban, who immediately returned the Tigers to contention, including a 13-1 season with a Sugar Bowl win and BCS national championship after the 2003 season. A year later, Saban left for the Miami Dolphins, intent on a long NFL career. But after that didn't go as planned, Saban returned to college at Alabama, and built the greatest dynasty in the modern era. He beat LSU 21-0 for the national title after the 2011 season, then won the next seven games in the series. Saban, who went 4-1 against Alabama at LSU, finished 12-5 against LSU after joining the Crimson Tide, and even plucked Heisman winner DeVonta Smith from Louisiana. -- Wilson
Mississippi State Bulldogs
Jaylen Walton and Jordan Wilkins. Even after a loss to Alabama, Dan Mullen's fourth-ranked Bulldogs were well positioned to reach the first College Football Playoff in 2014 -- all they had to do was beat No. 19 Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl. The Egg Bowl always turns out reliably and predictably, right? Mississippi State led in the third quarter in Oxford, but it was 17-10 Rebels when Walton raced 91 yards to give the underdogs a two-touchdown lead heading into the fourth quarter. MSU cut the deficit to seven, but Wilkins ripped off a 41-yard run, then found Cody Core for a 31-yard touchdown that put the game out of reach. MSU's best season since World War II still featured a loss to a hated rival. -- Bill Connelly
Missouri Tigers
Curtis Lofton. The 2007 season was a glorious one for Ol' Mizzou, as Gary Pinkel's Tigers recorded their first top-five finish in nearly 50 years. But Mizzou lost twice to Oklahoma that season, and in both games Lofton, OU's star linebacker, played a key role. In Norman in October, OU had just taken a 29-24 lead when Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin botched an exchange. Lofton scooped up the loose ball and basically carried both players into the end zone for a game-clinching touchdown. In the Big 12 championship game two months later, with the Tigers one win from a spot in the national title game, Mizzou was driving to take the lead in the third quarter when Lofton tripped Daniel up to force a punt. Barely three minutes later, with OU up 21-14, Lofton picked off a pass and returned it inside the Tigers' 10. OU quickly put the game away. One player foiled two games in an otherwise spotless season. -- Connelly
Oklahoma Sooners
Darrell Royal. Royal's story began with Sooners stardom. Texas' all-time winningest head coach was an All-America quarterback at Oklahoma from 1946 to '49. But his legacy flipped when the Hollis, Oklahoma, native took charge of the Longhorns in 1957. Royal lost his debut Red River Rivalry game that fall, then took wins from 12 of his next 13 meetings with the Sooners, effectively ending legendary coach Bud Wilkinson's dynasty at Oklahoma. Royal took the temperature of the rivalry up a few notches in the 1970s, most infamously when he accused Sooners coach Barry Switzer of spying on his team's practices ahead of the 1976 game, going so far as to challenge Switzer and an assistant to take lie-detector tests. The battles with Switzer changed the rivalry forever, and Royal's relationship with his home state and alma mater were never the same after he crossed the Red River for Texas glory. -- Lederman
Ole Miss Rebels
Lane Kiffin. Kiffin had the greatest coaching tenure in Ole Miss' modern era, guiding the Rebels to a 55-19 record and three bowl victories from 2020 to 2025. But after Kiffin abandoned the Rebels before their surprising College Football Playoff run last season to become head coach at SEC rival LSU, he became public enemy No. 1 in Oxford, Mississippi. When Kiffin's flirtations with Florida and LSU became clear -- his family members visited both campuses during the regular season -- the distractions threatened to sabotage the Rebels' historic season. When Kiffin finally accepted the LSU job, hundreds of Ole Miss fans gathered at the Oxford airport to give him a not-so-friendly sendoff. LSU's Sept. 19 trip to Ole Miss will be one of the most anticipated games of the season. -- Schlabach
South Carolina Gamecocks
Marquez North. South Carolina has enjoyed three top-10 finishes in its history; they happened back-to-back-to-back, from 2011 to '13, at the peak of Steve Spurrier's tenure. With top-level performances from quarterback Connor Shaw, running back Mike Davis and defensive end Jadeveon Clowney, the 2013 team had particularly high upside, and if the Gamecocks had taken care of business as 7.5-point favorites against Tennessee, they would have landed in the SEC championship game with a shot at the national title. But North, a Tennessee freshman receiver, made an incredible, one-handed catch on third-and-10 with 2:32 left, setting up Michael Palardy's winning field goal for the Vols. Tennessee's 23-21 victory left South Carolina one win short of the promised land. -- Connelly
Tennessee Volunteers
Steve Spurrier. Spurrier, who grew up in Johnson City, Tennessee, delighted in tormenting the Vols. He went 8-4 against Tennessee while he was coaching Florida, including five straight wins from 1993 to 1997, one of the best stretches in Tennessee football history. Peyton Manning was 32-5 as the Vols' starter, but three of those losses came to Spurrier and the Gators, including a 62-37 rout in 1995, the Vols' only defeat of the season. And it wasn't just that Spurrier beat them, it was the way he did it and the pride he took in it. After Tennessee played in the Citrus Bowl following the 1993, 1995 and 1996 seasons -- the consolation prize for the SEC's second-place team -- Spurrier famously told a Gator Club booster group in the summer of '97, "You can't spell 'Citrus' without 'U-T.'" -- Wilson
Texas Longhorns
Barry Switzer. Switzer and legendary Texas coach Darrell Royal were a stylistic contrast in one of the most vicious rivalries in sports. Royal was about discipline and order, and didn't allow facial hair or long hair for his players. Switzer was brash, flashy and wore fur coats, and allowed players such as Joe Washington to wear silver shoes. But on the field, they had one thing in common: Switzer learned Texas' Wishbone offense with input from its creator, Emory Bellard, then perfected it, and built the Sooners into a machine. Switzer pried many of his best recruits, including Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims, from Texas and gloated about it, even wearing a "Beat Texas" hat on the sideline at one of their games. Royal accused Switzer's coaches of spying on practices, and Switzer later said he was right. Switzer never lost to Royal, going 3-0-1 against him, with a 6-6 tie in 1976, their last meeting. Switzer finished with a 9-5-2 record against Texas. -- Wilson
Texas A&M Aggies
Texas Longhorns. Starting in the 1940s, the Longhorns ruled college football in Texas while A&M was an all-male military school. It took years for the Aggies to catch up, but in the 1980s and 1990s under Jackie Sherrill and R.C. Slocum, A&M started consistently beating the Longhorns. Mack Brown tilted the series back in the Horns' favor, and the Aggies departed for the SEC in 2012, right after Texas kicker Justin Tucker hit a walk-off field goal for a 27-25 win, the last game of the series for the foreseeable future. Texas AD DeLoss Dodds, whom the Aggies loved to hate, started the standoff by saying, "They left. They're the ones that decided not to play us. We get to decide when we play again." After years of deriding the Aggies' decision, the Longhorns joined them in the SEC in 2024 and have won the first two games of the rekindled rivalry. -- Wilson
Vanderbilt Commodores
Institutional apathy. Vanderbilt has always taken pride in being the elite academic school of the SEC. But it also took pride in keeping the rest of the SEC athletics industrial complex in check. In 2003, chancellor Gordon Gee eliminated the entire Vandy athletic department, saying there was a "wrong culture in athletics, and I'm declaring war on it." After 94 years in the SEC, Vanderbilt's FirstBank Stadium still seats only about 40,000 (five SEC stadiums seat more than 100,000). But the Commodores are turning things around under coach Clark Lea and reinvesting in football. They were 0-60 all time against AP top-5 teams until Lea's 40-35 win over No. 1 Alabama in 2024 and finished with a 10-win campaign last season for the first time in 122 years. -- Wilson
Big Ten
Illinois Fighting Illini
Hayden Fry. Due to accusations of illegal basketball recruiting, the tension between the Illinois and Iowa fan bases reached a boil in 1990. The Illini were ranked No. 5 and had their sights set on the Rose Bowl. But Fry owned the day. With his team up three touchdowns, the Iowa coach called for a fake field goal, leading to another score. The Hawkeyes won 54-28 and ultimately advanced to the Rose Bowl instead. In 1985, Fry and Iowa humiliated Illinois 59-0. And don't forget about Fry's irritating pink visitors locker room, which the Illini had to endure as much as anyone. -- Jake Trotter
Indiana Hoosiers
Joe Tiller. Indiana had been a consistent bowl team through most of coach Bill Mallory's tenure, and went 7-3 against rival Purdue between 1987 and 1996. But things shifted in 1997, as Tiller arrived with his "Basketball on Grass" spread offense. Tiller would go 10-2 against IU, which went to only one bowl game during Tiller's time with the Boilermakers. Tiller delivered Curt Cignetti-like beatings to the Hoosiers, winning the first two Bucket games by a combined score of 108-14, with a 62-10 rout in his final game in 2008. He changed how offenses play in the Big Ten and led Purdue to a league title and 10 bowl appearances, while Indiana went 45-93 during his tenure. -- Adam Rittenberg
Iowa Hawkeyes
Eric Ball. In 1985, the Hawkeyes held the No. 1 ranking for five weeks, won the Big Ten and carried national championship hopes into the Rose Bowl against UCLA. Instead, Ball, a second-string freshman, rushed for 227 yards and tied a Rose Bowl record with four rushing touchdowns, as the Bruins stunned Iowa 45-28. Compounding things for Iowa, All-America rusher Ronnie Harmon lost four fumbles in the first half alone -- entering the game, he had fumbled just once all year. -- Trotter
Maryland Terrapins
Joe Paterno. Paterno's first game at Penn State came against Maryland in 1966. The Nittany Lions won 15-7, an omen of Penn State's coming dominance in the series. In 26 meetings, Paterno never lost to Maryland. The best the Terrapins could muster was a 13-13 tie in 1989. Paterno won their final meeting in 1993 at College Park 70-7. The tension remained when the series resumed in 2014. Maryland beat Penn State on a last-minute field goal, but the Terrapins' team captains had refused to shake hands with Penn State's captains during the pregame coin toss, prompting Terps coach Randy Edsall to apologize. -- Trotter
Michigan State Spartans
Bo Schembechler. Michigan State was a perennial national contender through the 1950s and 1960s. Then Schembechler arrived in Ann Arbor. He would go 17-4 against the Spartans. And Michigan State would finish in the top 10 of the polls only once during the Schembechler era -- in 1987, following one of the Spartans' few wins in the series. Schembechler won the final meeting in 1989 10-7 on a game-ending interception. The Wolverines went on to capture the Big Ten title, a regular occurrence under Schembechler, and advance to the Rose Bowl. The Spartans lost only one more game the rest of the season but had to settle for the Aloha Bowl. -- Trotter
Michigan Wolverines
Woody Hayes. Hayes hated Michigan so much he refused to fill up his car with gas in the state. In 1968, on the way to the national championship, Ohio State scored a touchdown to go up on the Wolverines 44-14. Hayes then went for 2. Why? "Because I couldn't go for 3," the coach said, according to legend. Hayes dominated the Wolverines, going 12-6 against them from 1951 through 1968. But in 1969, Hayes' former assistant Bo Schembechler took the Michigan job, launching the so-called "10-year war." Schembechler restored balance to the rivalry, beginning with the famed 24-12 upset of the top-ranked Buckeyes in 1969, robbing Hayes and Ohio State of the chance to repeat as national champs. -- Trotter
Minnesota Golden Gophers
Bret Bielema. While at Wisconsin, Bielema never lost to Minnesota, winning all seven meetings. Bielema's tenure came in the middle of the Badgers' 14-game winning streak in the rivalry, which kept Paul Bunyan's Axe in Madison from 2004 to 2017. In 2010, up 25 points, Bielema called for a 2-point conversion, prompting an angry response from Minnesota coach Tim Brewster afterward. Since taking over at Illinois, Bielema has continued beating up on the Gophers, posting a 3-1 mark. The only loss came in 2024, when the Gophers rallied in the fourth quarter for the 25-17 win in Champaign. -- Trotter
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Miami Hurricanes. If we're talking recent history, there's probably more disdain for Iowa or Colorado among Nebraska fans. But in the peak era of the Huskers competing at the absolute highest level, Miami was a frequent obstacle. It started with the epic 1984 Orange Bowl and Nebraska's failed 2-point conversion with the national championship on the line. Miami pulled off two more Orange Bowl victories over Nebraska to end the 1988 and 1991 seasons. Nebraska got its revenge with Tom Osborne's first national title in 1994, but the 2001 Hurricanes bested the Huskers yet again with a Rose Bowl rout for the BCS title. These programs agreed to meet again for a nonconference home-and-home in 2014 and '15 and split the series, bringing the all-time record of their showdowns to 6-6. -- Max Olson
Northwestern Wildcats
Keyshawn Johnson. The 1995 season is remembered for "Taking the Purple to Pasadena," the title of coach Gary Barnett's book about one of the most remarkable breakthrough seasons in college football history. But what if Northwestern had actually won in Pasadena? The Wildcats entered the Rose Bowl at No. 3, and a win against No. 17 USC could have vaulted them past the loser of the Nebraska-Florida Sugar Bowl to No. 2. But Johnson would have none of that, as the USC star wide receiver had 12 catches for a Rose Bowl-record 216 yards and a 56-yard touchdown. Northwestern had no answers for the eventual No. 1 NFL draft pick and fell 41-32. The Wildcats finished No. 8 in the AP poll and still have never had a top-five finish. -- Rittenberg
Ohio State Buckeyes
Jim Harbaugh. The Buckeyes once owned Harbaugh, winning the first five meetings with him as Michigan coach. But in 2021, the Wolverines reeled off the first of four consecutive victories over Ohio State in stunningly dominant fashion. The 2023 victory over the second-ranked Buckeyes, which Harbaugh missed due to a suspension, catapulted Michigan to the playoff and ultimately the national title. But those wins came under the cloud of the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal that drew the ire of Buckeyes fans and resulted in a 10-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA. Harbaugh, however, left for the NFL before the ruling, robbing Ohio State of the opportunity for on-field retribution. -- Trotter
Oregon Ducks
USC Trojans. There are perhaps more historic villains for the Ducks than USC, especially when you consider their biggest regional rival up in Seattle. But since the turn of the century, Oregon has been chasing down the Trojans. In this modern era of college football (since the College Football Playoff's inception in 2014) and especially since Pete Carroll left USC in 2010, Oregon has been the more accomplished program yet still gets perceived -- particularly by USC and its longstanding history -- as new-money winners. That's not necessarily incorrect, but while USC seems to hold on to the past glory of its teams and often prioritizes tradition, Oregon has tried to do things its own way -- sometimes with flash and speed and now, under Dan Lanning, with a kind of approach that puts the Ducks at the vanguard of the sport. That's why every time the two have faced off over the past few years, something beyond a simple victory seems to be on the line. Those in Eugene want to beat USC because, for so long, it was the paragon of the Pac-12, the bully and the giant to tumble. Now? The Ducks might find themselves in a similar position. -- Paolo Uggetti
Penn State Nittany Lions
National poll voters. The Nittany Lions had five undefeated seasons under former coach Joe Paterno -- possibly none greater than the 1994 team that finished 12-0 and won the Rose Bowl -- but was snubbed for the national title in each instance. In 1994, Penn State was voted No. 2 in the final AP and coaches' polls, while Nebraska was crowned national champ at 13-0. The same thing happened in 1968, 1969 and 1982, when the Nittany Lions were undefeated but finished No. 2 each time. In 1973, Penn State finished 12-0 but was ranked No. 5 in the final AP poll. The College Football Playoff hasn't fixed Penn State's woes with polls. Following Penn State's Big Ten title in 2016, the CFP selection committee excluded the Nittany Lions from the top four, earning Penn State the dubious distinction of becoming the first Power 4 conference champion excluded from the CFP. -- Heather Dinich
Purdue Boilermakers
Scott Starks. In 2004, Purdue was surging. Four years removed from a Big Ten title, the Boilers had thrashed Notre Dame in South Bend and outlasted Penn State in Happy Valley, rising to No. 5 nationally. Quarterback Kyle Orton was the Heisman Trophy front-runner, and "College GameDay" had come to town for a top-10 showdown against Wisconsin. Purdue led 17-7 midway through the fourth quarter and clung to a three-point lead when Orton scrambled for a first down. Starks, a speedy Badgers cornerback, jarred the ball loose, scooped it up and raced 40 yards for the winning touchdown. Purdue would finish 7-5 that season and has not finished in the Top 25 since. -- Rittenberg
Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Saquon Barkley. Born in the Bronx, Barkley once called Rutgers his dream school. But several months after committing to the Scarlet Knights in 2013, he flipped his pledge to Penn State and coach James Franklin. Barkley went on to become one of the greatest running backs in Big Ten history. He also went 3-0 against Rutgers. In the teams' first meeting, Barkley rushed for 195 yards and two touchdowns in a 28-3 victory. The next two seasons, the Nittany Lions won by a combined score of 74-6. Beginning with Barkley's freshman year in 2015, Rutgers endured eight consecutive losing seasons. -- Trotter
UCLA Bruins
Pete Carroll. Before Carroll became the head coach at USC, UCLA had stitched together the most dominant run in the history of the rivalry, winning eight games in a row. Once Carroll began patrolling the sidelines at the Coliseum, everything changed. USC's dominance under him did not discriminate between rivals and nonrivals -- the Trojans beat pretty much everyone and with authority. But in nine games against the Bruins, Carroll led USC to an 8-1 record and outscored UCLA a whopping 329-121 in the eight wins. It was a complete turning of the tide that put USC back in front in the rivalry and made Carroll public enemy No. 1 in Westwood. -- Uggetti
USC Trojans
The NCAA. The Trojans count both UCLA and Notre Dame among their most bitter rivals, yet there is no more fraught relationship than the one they have had with the NCAA. Sixteen years later, the sting surrounding the way the NCAA punished Reggie Bush and USC following an investigation into Bush receiving what it deemed improper gifts is a lingering part of the identity of Trojans fans and, to an extent, the program as a whole. As the sport has become as professionalized as it ever has been, the way Bush's missteps and the heavy punishment USC received (bowl ban and vacating wins, including a national title) look in comparison has only served to reinforce USC fans' belief that their team was unfairly punished. -- Uggetti
Washington Huskies
Kenny Wheaton. The most famous play in what is perhaps Washington's most contentious rivalry game came at Oregon's Autzen Stadium in 1994. The Huskies were inside the Ducks' 10-yard line with 1:04 to play with a chance to take the lead. Instead, Oregon's Kenny Wheaton stepped in front of a pass by Damon Huard and went 97 yards for a game-sealing touchdown. The win propelled Oregon to its first Rose Bowl in 37 years and served as a major turning point both for the Ducks on their way to becoming a national power and in the rivalry. Starting with that game, Oregon has won 22 of the past 32 games in the series with Washington, taking over as the preeminent college football program in the Pacific Northwest. -- Bonagura
Wisconsin Badgers
J.T. Barrett. The undefeated Badgers advanced to the 2017 Big Ten championship game and were a win away from making the College Football Playoff. Instead, six days after undergoing surgery on his right knee, Barrett threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in Ohio State's 27-21 victory. The Badgers had to settle for the Orange Bowl, where they beat Miami 34-24. Wisconsin has reached double-digit victories only once since. Barrett also defeated the Badgers in 2016 with an overtime touchdown pass in a battle of top-10 teams. -- Trotter
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
USC Trojans. Two words: Bush Push. It might be the most famous, controversial play in rivalry history and is a microcosm of the bitter relationship between the programs. In 2005, defending national champ and No. 1 USC scored a last-second touchdown to beat Notre Dame -- depending on where you sit. Trailing 31-28, USC quarterback Matt Leinart had the ball inside the 10-yard line with less than 20 seconds to play when he scrambled to his left to try and score. The ball popped out of his hands, though, as he was approaching the goal line. The clock expired and the Notre Dame faithful assumed the game was over, with some running onto the field to celebrate -- until officials determined the ball went out of bounds and the clock should have stopped. With the ball at the 1-yard line, Leinart was stuffed, but running back Reggie Bush pushed his quarterback into the end zone for one of the sport's most memorable wins. -- Dinich
ACC
Boston College Eagles
Diamond Ferri. The Eagles' final season in the Big East could have been a magical one. Matt Ryan made the first start of his career in place of an injured Paul Peterson to kick off arguably the greatest era of football in the school's history. The Eagles had stunned Notre Dame in late October and upended a highly ranked West Virginia team in mid-November. All that stood between Boston College and a BCS bowl bid as the Big East champs was a mediocre Syracuse team. Alas, Ferri had other plans. The Orange tailback ran for 141 yards and two touchdowns, and Syracuse won 43-17 over the 17th-ranked Eagles. -- David Hale
California Golden Bears
Mack Brown. In 2004, Cal seemed to be on track to reach the program's first Rose Bowl since 1959 when it finished 10-1, with the lone loss to USC, which would go on to the BCS national championship. But in the final week of the season, Brown made the case publicly that his Texas Longhorns -- which also finished 10-1 -- were deserving of a BCS bowl berth over "less deserving teams." It was widely accepted as a lobbying effort for Texas to displace Cal in Pasadena -- an act that didn't sit well in Berkeley. Cal still finished ahead of Texas in the final regular-season AP poll, but Texas moved up enough to jump Cal in the BCS standings. The controversy factored into the AP poll being dropped from the BCS formula. -- Bonagura
Clemson Tigers
Steve Spurrier. You've got to hand it to the Head Ball Coach, who is high up on the nemesis board for a lot of schools. Eventually, Dabo Swinney and Clemson overcame the Spurrier bugaboo, but from 2009 through 2013, the Tigers made it an annual tradition: Arrive at the Palmetto Bowl with a high ranking and big expectations, only for Spurrier and South Carolina to deliver a devastating blow. That Spurrier and Swinney were friendly off the field never mattered. Swinney's biggest gift in those early years was his ability to turn the perfect quote to thrill fans, but Spurrier managed to even undercut that, turning those brutal Clemson losses into an offseason of cutting -- and hilarious -- jokes that only added salt to the Tigers' wounds. How big was beating Spurrier for the Tigers? In 2014, freshman phenom DeShaun Watson played on a torn ACL -- just so Clemson could end its losing streak. So what if Spurrier had lost his fastball by then? It was the only way to exorcise the demons. -- Hale
Duke Blue Devils
Miami Hurricanes. Duke's football track record is checkered enough that few opponents have been able to engender real hatred. Except Miami. Start with the 2015 game that ended with Miami employing eight laterals to score a go-ahead touchdown to upend No. 22 Duke, which was 6-1 entering the game. That the officials completely flubbed the call in a game Duke should have won is beside the point. The rivalry exploded in the past year, however. Duke's coach, Manny Diaz, was summarily dismissed as Miami's coach after the 2022 season, lighting a fire. Then Miami swooped in to lure QB Darian Mensah into the transfer portal on the final day it was open in January, a huge blow to Duke's 2026 hopes. Add in that Miami's playoff run overshadowed Duke's 2025 ACC championship, and the Canes have been the most routine contributor to the "Duke can't have nice things" motto. -- Hale
Florida State Seminoles
Steve Spurrier. The 2023 selection committee, and specifically chair Boo Corrigan, have earned a place near the top of the villain list for Seminole faithful. But it is hard to unseat Spurrier, who trolled the Seminoles and coach Bobby Bowden at every turn during his 12-year tenure at Florida. Calling FSU "Free Shoes University" after a scandal involving players getting free merchandise from Foot Locker in the 1990s was only the tip of the iceberg. While it is true Spurrier did not have a winning record against the rival Noles, he helped keep Florida State from winning two more national titles with wins in the 1997 Sugar Bowl, and later with a two-quarterback approach to close the 1997 regular season in a game that handed the Seminoles their only loss of the season. -- Adelson
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Fifth Down. Sure, we could have gone with Georgia. After all, the name of those schools' rivalry -- "Clean Old-Fashioned Hate" -- says it all. But all rivals are considered villains, right? So we went with two words that are sure to get the blood boiling among all Yellow Jackets fans. Georgia Tech and Colorado split the 1990 national championship, and the Jackets will tell you it is all because an extra, illegal down saved the Buffaloes. To recap, referees in the Colorado-Missouri game in October of that season lost track of the downs late in the game and awarded the Buffaloes an extra down. That decision led to the winning touchdown, and perhaps the most disputed split national title of all time. To this day, nobody at Georgia Tech acknowledges a split or shared title. It is all the Yellow Jackets'. -- Adelson
Louisville Cardinals
Jeremy Ito. Well, truth be told, there were plenty of villains for Louisville in the 2006 game against Rutgers, but it'll be Ito's game-winning kick that's best remembered. The Cards entered the game ranked third in the country. Rutgers was No. 15, well into its heyday during Greg Schiano's first tenure at the school. It was a massive matchup and one that, had Louisville won, might have catapulted the school to a national championship. Louisville led 25-14 at the half, but the offense couldn't manage a point in the second half. Still, the game was tied at 25 with 21 seconds left. Ito lined up for a kick and missed. But a Louisville defender was offside, giving Ito a second bite at the apple. This time, he drilled the game winner -- 28-25 -- then stared into the camera as a way of sending a message to Louisville and the football world. Louisville had already knocked off a top-15 Miami, No. 3 West Virginia and would go on to beat No. 15 Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl to finish 12-1. Ah, what could've been. -- Hale
Miami Hurricanes
Terry Porter. We could have gone with Notre Dame, Florida State or even Florida. But there is one man who will remain a villain forever in Miami fandom lore: official Terry Porter, who threw the pass interference flag in the 2003 national championship game to prevent the Hurricanes from repeating. To recap, Miami appeared to have won the Fiesta Bowl over Ohio State when quarterback Craig Krenzel threw incomplete on fourth down in overtime. Miami players started to celebrate. But a few seconds after the play, Porter threw a flag for pass interference on Glenn Sharpe. Ohio State got a first down and ultimately won the game 31-24 in double overtime. The call remains one of the most controversial in college football history, and an unforgivable offense in the minds of everyone who bleeds orange and green. -- Adelson
North Carolina Tar Heels
Bobby Bowden. If North Carolina is the "sleeping giant" of college football, credit Bowden with doling out some strong doses of ZzzQuil. From 1992, when the Noles joined the ACC, through 2000, Florida State was a perfect 9-0 vs. the Tar Heels, with every game decided by double digits. FSU's presence in the ACC likely kept UNC from reaching contender status during Mack Brown's first tenure with the Heels, with losses in 1993 (33-7 when the Heels were No. 13 nationally), 1994 (31-18 when, again, UNC was No. 13), 1996 (13-0 when UNC was No. 11) and 1997 (30-3 with the Tar Heels at No. 5, their only loss that year). Carolina finally got some revenge in 2001, upending Bowden's sixth-ranked Seminoles 41-9, but the window for the Heels to make the leap to the top of the league had closed and FSU was just beginning a downward descent, so even that victory has lost a bit of luster over time. -- Hale
NC State Wolfpack
Christian Wilkins. On the hardwood, NC State's enemies all are within the state, but for football, it's hard for Wolfpack fans to hate anyone more than Clemson. And among Clemson's most notorious instigators of villainy, none were better than Wilkins. In Wilkins' four seasons on Clemson's defense, the Tigers were 4-0 vs. NC State. That included a gutting 24-17 overtime loss when the Pack's kicker missed a late chip shot, allowing Clemson to escape en route to a national title. In 2017, with the Pack boasting a top-20 ranking, an offensive shootout ended with a 38-31 Clemson win. In 2018, NC State was 5-0 entering its matchup against Clemson, feeling like it might finally be ready to slay the giant. Nope. Wilkins & Co. dumped the Pack 41-7. NC State's only real win during that era of the Textile Bowl rivalry was Bradley Chubb's stealing of towels from Clemson's QB during the 2017 game. So what happened? Wilkins liked the gimmick and started doing it himself, admitting to stealing the idea from Chubb when the two were later teammates with the Miami Dolphins. -- Hale
Pittsburgh Panthers
Joe Paterno. The legendary coach took over at Penn State in 1966 and promptly won his first 10 matchups with Pitt. To that point, the rivalry had long been in Pitt's favor, but Paterno completely flipped the script. From 1973 through 1982, Pitt entered the game with a top-20 ranking every year and lost seven times, including a 48-14 stomping by the Nittany Lions when the Panthers were the No. 1 team in the country in November 1981. That Paterno then took Penn State to the Big Ten, leaving the rivalry on ice for all but four years between 1993 and 2016 only added to the hatred. Paterno ended his Penn State career with a record of 23-7-1 against Pitt, including an 8-3 mark when both teams were ranked. Pitt, at least, got a small bit of revenge by winning the 2000 matchup 12-0 -- the final time the Panthers would face off against Paterno. -- Hale
SMU Mustangs
The NCAA. After SMU boosters were exposed for running a pay-for-play slush fund in the 1980s, they brazenly continued fulfilling the payroll obligations despite NCAA sanctions. The NCAA responded with the first -- and only -- "death penalty" in history, shutting the program down for the 1987 season. The scandal devastated the program, and university administrators, embarrassed by the national scarlet letter, retreated from supporting it. The Mustangs would go through five coaches and have just two winning seasons over the next two decades. They wouldn't enter the AP poll until 2019, and didn't win a conference title until 2023. That year, Mustangs coach Rhett Lashlee called the NCAA's decision "one of the most unjust penalties in the history of college athletics." -- Wilson
Stanford Cardinal
Kevin Moen. Few moments in college football history are seared into the public consciousness like the time when Cal's Kevin Moen caught the last of five laterals and navigated his way through the Stanford band to score a touchdown on what is simply known as "The Play." It's not so much that Moen is villainized, personally, by Stanford fans, it's that his name is so synonymous with that moment in 1982 that he is a living, breathing reminder of, in the words of Cal radio play-by-play announcer Joe Starkey, "the most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heart-rending, exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football." -- Bonagura
Syracuse Orange
Pat Dye. Let's take a trip in the wayback machine, all the way back to Jan. 1, 1988. Syracuse went into the Sugar Bowl undefeated, hoping a win over Auburn would complete a 12-0 season and be good enough to earn a share of the national championship. Syracuse led 16-13 late, but Auburn went on a drive down to the Orange 13-yard line with four seconds left. Rather than go for the win, Auburn coach Pat Dye opted for the game-tying field goal. Syracuse fans chanted "War Chicken" and the game ended 16-16, the first tie in Sugar Bowl history. The Orange finished 11-0-1, No. 4 in the AP poll, and have not come close to a national title since. -- Adelson
Virginia Cavaliers
Frank Beamer. The former Virginia Tech coach began his career 0-3 against in-state rival Virginia, then went on to give the Hoos nightmares for the rest of his career in Blacksburg. Beamer won 16 of his final 17 games against Virginia, including his last one, a 23-20 thriller during which the Hokies overcame three deficits. It was Virginia Tech's 12th straight win in the series, and the Hall of Fame coach was swallowed up by his players and carried off the field. His first win against Virginia was also memorable, as the 1990 Cavaliers were ranked No. 1 in the AP poll when Beamer led the Hokies to a 38-13 win. -- Dinich
Virginia Tech Hokies
Replay officials. Nobody at Virginia Tech would argue if we picked Virginia or even Miami for a more recent villain, but the replay official who overturned Danny Coale's overtime TD catch against Michigan in the 2012 Sugar Bowl still sends Hokies fans spiraling. Virginia Tech had a miserable record in BCS games, but that Sugar Bowl looked like it would be a massive breakthrough. Logan Thomas lofted a ball for Coale in the corner of the end zone that was ruled a catch on the field, but the call was reversed upon review when the referee ruled Coale did not maintain control. Michigan ultimately won in overtime. A more recent replay review cost Virginia Tech a win over Miami in 2024, when a Hail Mary pass was called a touchdown on the field but overturned upon replay review. -- Adelson
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Tommy Elrod. Elrod had been an assistant on Jim Grobe's staff at Wake Forest, then transitioned to a role calling games on radio when Dave Clawson took over in 2014. That, apparently, didn't sit too well with Elrod, who used his access to practice to send inside info to Wake Forest opponents. Clawson and the Deacs discovered the scheme in 2016 when diagrams of numerous Wake plays were discovered at Louisville after the Deacons' walk-through. The scandal overlapped with national news about the website Wikileaks and was nicknamed "WakeyLeaks." Elrod was dismissed and banned from the athletic facilities, and Wake eventually blossomed into a consistent contender in the ACC under Clawson. Still, selling out your own program for a little comeuppance against a new coach is enough to ensure villain status forever. -- Hale
Big 12
Arizona State Sun Devils
1975 AP poll voters. An informal poll of Arizona State fans didn't lead to anything resembling a consensus archvillain, which led us back in time ... to 1975. That's when Arizona State finished 12-0 and was the only undefeated team in college football. The team featured one of the great defenses of all time -- never surrendering more than 21 points and only twice allowing more than 14. But the AP poll voters decided the Sun Devils were undeserving to be named national champions. Instead, they honored an Oklahoma team that -- while having secured more ranked wins than ASU -- had lost 23-3 to a mediocre Kansas team deep into the season. -- Bonagura
Arizona Wildcats
Frank Kush. For roughly 50 years, there wasn't much of a to-do over the Arizona-Arizona State series. The Wildcats won 20 of the first 22 matchups and were the preeminent program in the state. But when Frank Kush joined the staff at what was then Arizona State College in 1955, things changed in a hurry. Kush became the head coach at ASU in 1958 and presided over a reign of in-state dominance, going 16-5 against Arizona. -- Bonagura
BYU Cougars
The Bowl Alliance. BYU had long proved that teams outside the established power conferences could compete at the highest levels of college football when the Bowl Alliance was created prior to the 1995 season. And it took just the second season to show how flawed the sport's postseason was when the Cougars (13-1) were bypassed from the two at-large spots among the six teams in the Alliance despite being ranked No. 5 at the end of the year. The snub played a role in the short existence of the Bowl Alliance, which was replaced by the Bowl Championship Series in 1998. -- Bonagura
Baylor Bears
Gary Patterson. The former TCU coach, who led the Horned Frogs from Conference USA to the Mountain West and into the Big 12, immediately established dominance over the Bears, TCU's former Southwest Conference rival, winning his first four games against them. Then things got heated once Art Briles' Baylor teams became powers too as they split their matchups 3-3. Patterson added to the temperature by confronting Baylor player Ahmad Dixon on the sideline after a targeting penalty in 2013. In his postgame news conference, Patterson said, "If [Briles] has a problem with me, he can come to where I live." After Baylor players were accused of violence and sexual assault, Patterson took a shot at Briles' program in 2015 when defending a TCU player accused of robbery, saying, "It's not even close to what happened south of here." Patterson, who was fired in 2021, ended his career 9-4 against the Bears, and then, in a twist, served as a consultant to current Baylor coach Dave Aranda in 2024. -- Wilson
Cincinnati Bearcats
Ohio State Buckeyes. Given how rarely these two programs have met on a football field, the Buckeyes aren't exactly an omnipresent threat to Cincinnati. But that doesn't make the 2002 defeat in Paul Brown Stadium sting any less. The Bearcats lost the lead with 3:44 remaining and dropped two potential game-winning catches in the final minute for a heartbreaking 23-19 loss. Jim Tressel's squad went on to become undefeated BCS national champions that season, the start of a more than two-decade run as the winningest program in the sport. The Bearcats haven't defeated Ohio State since 1897 and have a 2-15 record against their in-state foe. -- Olson
Colorado Buffaloes
Mel Tucker. At an event in February 2020, Colorado coach Tucker stood before a room of people and talked about the future. The Buffs had just finished 5-7 in their first season under Tucker, but there was a feeling of optimism. There was a sense the first-time head coach could restore the once-proud winning tradition in Boulder. And then, the next day, he was gone -- off to Michigan State. His chaotic departure earned Tucker the moniker Midnight Mel, and the program has mostly remained competitively irrelevant ever since. -- Bonagura
Houston Cougars
Texas politicians. When a merger was suggested in 1996 between the Big Eight and the spiraling Southwest Conference, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor were invited into the new Big 12 while Rice, TCU and SMU, along with Houston, the only state school of the bunch, were left behind. In his biography, former Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, a Texas Tech grad who also graduated from Baylor Law School, said he told the leaders of A&M and Texas, "You're taking Tech and Baylor or you're not taking anything" and threatened to withhold state funding. He had the backing of Gov. Ann Richards, a Baylor grad. Houston, which had a Heisman winner in Andre Ware just seven years earlier, was stunned and had to start over in Conference USA and then the American before the Big 12 eventually added the program in 2023. The bad feelings toward the ringleaders, the Aggies and Longhorns, were summed up by then-Houston coach Kim Helton: "I don't wish either of them well." -- Wilson
Iowa State Cyclones
Gene Chizik. Late in his disastrous second season as the head coach at Iowa State, Chizik countered rumors that his stay at ISU might be short-lived, saying: "Anybody who knows myself, my wife, my family, they know that we are firmly entrenched here in Ames." But after the Cyclones finished their winless Big 12 season -- bringing Chizik's record to 5-19 over two seasons -- he promptly accepted the job at Auburn. When a coach leaves a program for a larger one, it's usually because they won big -- or at least improved the place they were at. But Iowa State got neither from Chizik, making him even easier to villainize. Things were compounded two years later when Auburn won the national title. -- Bonagura
Kansas Jayhawks
Chase Daniel. The best season in Kansas football featured a particularly painful rivalry loss. When 11-0 Kansas met 10-1 Missouri at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium at the end of the 2007 regular season, the stakes were ridiculously high: The winner would be No. 1 in the BCS rankings and enter the Big 12 championship game one win from a spot in the national title game. Mizzou's Chase Daniel threw three touchdown passes as the Tigers took a 28-7 lead into the fourth quarter. Kansas stormed back and got the ball back down 34-28 in the final seconds, but Todd Reesing was sacked in the end zone and KU fell short. The Jayhawks would beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl and finish seventh in the final AP rankings, but Daniel and the Tigers earned forever bragging rights. -- Connelly
Kansas State Wildcats
Tom Osborne. Bill Snyder will forever go down as one of college football's greatest coaches because of the way he turned around a perpetually downtrodden K-State program. But the Wildcats' success in the 1990s would have been even greater had they not constantly run into a Cornhusker roadblock manufactured by the legendary Osborne. From 1993 to 1999, K-State lost six games to Nebraska and eight to the rest of the nation. In 1997, it beat 11 opponents by an average score of 36-11 but fell 56-26 to the Huskers. Two years later, even after Osborne had retired, the Wildcats beat 11 teams by an average of 40-11 but again got blown out by Nebraska. Osborne built the one program K-State couldn't surpass. And the one time the Wildcats cleared the hurdle, in 1998, they tripped up against Texas A&M in the Big 12 championship instead. What-ifs abound. -- Connelly
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Mike Stoops. Former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops held a 14-4 all-time record against Oklahoma State. But it was his brother, ex-Sooners co-defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, who really seemed to relish fanning the flames of the Bedlam rivalry across two stints on Oklahoma's staff (1999-2003 and 2012-18). The younger Stoops routinely antagonized the Cowboys, often referring to the in-state rival as "Okie State," and he famously flourished a 52-9 rout of Oklahoma State in November 2003 by stepping onto the field, staring down Cowboys coach Les Miles and thrusting his palms into the air, as if to ask: "You want some more?" Those antics didn't earn Stoops many friends in Stillwater, and he took wins from nine of his 12 Bedlam battles with Oklahoma State. But the Pokes got some revenge after Stoops left to become Arizona's head coach. The Mike Gundy-led Cowboys routed Stoops' Wildcats 36-10 in the 2010 Alamo Bowl, then trounced Arizona in Stillwater the following September. Stoops was fired four weeks later. -- Lederman
TCU Horned Frogs
The 2014 College Football Playoff selection committee. The 2014 Horned Frogs went 11-1 with their only blemish a three-point road loss at No. 5 Baylor. TCU beat No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 7 Kansas State, outscored opponents 604-247 (including an 82-27 win over Texas Tech and a 48-10 win over Texas in Austin) and finished the regular season ranked No. 3 following a 55-3 win over Iowa State. But when the final CFP rankings came out, the Frogs tumbled to sixth, with committee chair Jeff Long saying the lack of a Big 12 championship game meant they lacked "the 13th data point." Ohio State, which won the Big Ten title game, jumped from sixth to fourth. Florida State got the fourth spot. And Baylor leapfrogged TCU in the final rankings as well. After the snub, TCU crushed No. 9 Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl 42-3, and fans were left to wonder "what if." -- Wilson
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Tommy Tuberville. The future U.S. senator took over Texas Tech after the controversial firing of legendary coach Mike Leach and went 20-17 over three up-and-down seasons. He'd later say in a radio interview that Lubbock "looked like Iraq," which is one of those lines West Texans don't forget. They also don't easily forgive a stunning departure like the one Tuberville made for the Cincinnati job at the end of the 2012 season. Tuberville has denied the infamous claim that he bailed during a recruiting dinner, calling it "fake news." In fairness, the longtime SEC coach was ultimately the wrong fit at the wrong time, both for a divided post-Leach fanbase and as a defensive-minded coach combating unstoppable Big 12 offenses. He preceded a more natural hire in Kliff Kingsbury. -- Olson
UCF Knights
The 2017 CFP selection committee. Oh sure, we could have gone with Bob Diaco and the Civil Conflict trophy or the "rivalry" with Houston over who really is Space U if we wanted to have some fun. USF is a worthy villain, too, even though the War on I-4 rivalry game has not been played since 2022 because of conference realignment. But if you polled anyone about what has made UCF fans angriest over the course of its history, chances are they would say it's the way the team was treated in 2017. UCF finished undefeated but was not remotely considered for the four-team playoff, finishing No. 12 on Selection Day. That outrage ultimately led to the team declaring itself champs after beating Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and putting up a 2017 national champions sign inside its home stadium, and it helped spark the move to a 12-team playoff. -- Adelson
Utah Utes
Max Hall. After leading BYU to a win against Utah in 2009, quarterback Max Hall didn't hold back his feelings about the Cougars' rival. "I don't like Utah. In fact, I hate them. I hate everything about them. I hate their program, their fans. I hate everything," Hall said. "It felt really good to send those guys home." Most neutral observers can chalk up that infamous rant as something that came in the heat of the moment, but it still stands as a singular instance to demonstrate just how vitriolic this rivalry can get. -- Bonagura
West Virginia Mountaineers
13-9. The Mountaineers were all but assured a spot in the BCS title game with a win against rival Pittsburgh in the regular-season finale in 2007. A home game as a 28.5-point favorite -- what could go wrong? The answer, of course, is everything, as the Dave Wannstedt-coached Panthers grinded out a 13-9 upset. Wannstedt is perhaps the face that represents that day, but the score on its own is what still haunts WVU fans' dreams. -- Bonagura
