All-Time Best College Football Rivalry Week Games

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College football Week 13: Ranking Rivalry Week's 35 best games​

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College football just gave us a nearly perfect Saturday. Each window of games gave us a dramatic center-of-gravity matchup with lots of rivalry games trying to distract us.

The early session gave us Michigan-Ohio State, with Kentucky-Louisville and Purdue-Indiana doing wild things in our peripheral vision. The afternoon window gave us another all-time Iron Bowl as the main course, with the Apple Cup, Oklahoma State-BYU and Northwestern-Illinois as incredible sides. The evening session was a bit tamer but still gave us huge and mostly close Georgia-Georgia Tech and Florida State-Florida games, mixed with the most aesthetically pleasing game of the entire day, a snowy and explosive Farmageddon battle between Iowa State and Kansas State.

Despite both Thursday's Egg Bowl and most of Friday being a dud, Saturday's perfection alone means that we just witnessed one of college football's best-ever Rivalry Weeks. (And I haven't even mentioned the incredible set of small-school playoff games we got!) Let's take stock of what we saw and what it means with the most enjoyable approach I know: ranking games!

Here are the 35 best games of Rivalry Week. (It took effort to stop at 35.)

 

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35. Rice 24, Florida Atlantic 21

Rice bowled at 5-7 last season, but the Owls scored their sixth win of the season for the first time since 2014 thanks to 255 passing yards from AJ Padgett, 141 receiving yards from Luke McCaffrey and two late defensive stops.

 

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34. San José State 37, UNLV 31

We had to wait until Sunday morning -- when formulas long ago associated with the BCS could spit out ratings to serve as a final tie-breaker -- to find out who was going to play in the Mountain West championship game after UNLV, Boise State and SJSU all finished tied at 6-2 in conference play. (The verdict: It's BSU at UNLV.)

That came after a pair of delightful weekend contests. On Friday, Boise State took a 17-3 lead on a long Ashton Jeanty catch-and-run, but Air Force cut the Broncos' lead to five before a 52-yard Jonah Dalmas field goal and a Kaonohi Kaniho interception sealed a BSU win. The Broncos will play for the title despite having fired head coach Andy Avalos two weeks ago. They'll face a UNLV team that nearly came back from two large deficits -- 17-0 in the first quarter, 37-17 early in the fourth -- but could get only to midfield on a last-minute desperation drive.

 

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33. Boise State 27, Air Force 19

 

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32. Utah 23, Colorado 17

Despite having been eliminated from bowl contention, and despite playing with backup quarterback Ryan Staub, Colorado, to its credit, showed up and fought. But Utah, starting fifth-string QB Luke Bottari, fought harder. The Utes rushed for 268 yards and rode two short Bottari touchdown runs and three field goals to a 23-10 lead. Travis Hunter scored to make it 23-17 with 7:25 left, but Utah pulled a Central Washington and never gave the ball back. Three third-and-short conversions allowed the Utes to eat up the rest of the clock.

 

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31. Sam Houston 23, Middle Tennessee State 20

Kickers don't always nail 'em at the buzzer, however. After John Gentry's 3-yard touchdown gave Sam Houston the lead with 57 seconds left in Huntsville, Nicholas Vattiato completed six passes to get MTSU within field goal range. But Zeke Rankin's 47-yard try missed wide right. (And after some SHSU players appeared to taunt Rankin, a mini-brawl ensued.) After four heartbreaking, tight losses during an 0-8 start, Sam Houston won a pair of tight ones on the way to a 3-9 finish.

 

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30. Tulsa 29, East Carolina 27

And watch Chase Meyer knock in a 37-yarder to give Tulsa its fourth win in Kevin Wilson's first year in charge.

 

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29. North Texas 45, UAB 42

Watch North Texas finish a 14-point comeback -- and a 34-point fourth quarter -- with a 32-yarder from Noah Rauschenberg.

 

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28. New Mexico State 20, Jacksonville State 17

And watch NMSU wrap up its first 10-win season since 1960.

 

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27. Hawai'i 27, Colorado State 24

Watch the field goal team charge onto the field and get this one off as time expired.

 

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26. No. 17 Iowa 13, Nebraska 10

All you really need to know about Friday's Iowa-Nebraska game is that, when Iowa's Deacon Hill threw a dreadful and unnecessary interception near midfield with 31 seconds left in a tied game, Iowa's chances of beating Nebraska in regulation actually went up.

I don't mean that in any official sense, of course. The analytics would have told you, logically, that Nebraska's win probability was higher after the play than before, because the Huskers suddenly had the ball about 20 yards from field goal range. But in the reality Iowa football creates, in which the goal is to get the ball to the other team as quickly as possible* so your defense can take it from them in better field position, the Hawkeyes' best chance of winning was giving the ball to Nebraska so that they could force a turnover and kick a game-winning field goal.

Iowa forced a turnover and kicked a game-winning field goal. The Hawkeyes will head to the Big Ten championship game at 10-2.

 

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25. West Virginia 34, Baylor 31

WVU outgained Baylor by 185 yards and 2.5 yards per play but had to overcome two Richard Reese kick-return scores in a four-minute span, then a sudden 17-0 Baylor run in the second half. Garrett Greene and Jahiem White connected for a 29-yard score with 23 seconds left to survive.

 

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24. No. 1 Georgia 31, Georgia Tech 23

If you've watched enough Georgia football of late, you never really thought the Dawgs were in danger. But all the credit in the world goes to Tech for simply refusing to go away. Trailing 31-13 heading into the fourth quarter, the Yellow Jackets scored twice and had a third-and-3 chance to make a stop and get the ball back one last time. But Daijun Edwards' 5-yard run wrapped it up. Georgia has won 29 games in a row and has finished three straight regular seasons at 12-0.

The last team to beat the Dawgs: Alabama in the 2021 SEC championship game.

The next opponent for the Dawgs: Alabama in the 2023 SEC championship game.

 

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23. Purdue 35, Indiana 31

Purdue made its last quarter of the season its best. Trailing by 10, the Boilermakers quickly tied the game with 8:41 left, and after IU took the lead back, Hudson Card completed a five-play, 65-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. On fourth-and-1 from the Purdue 35, Nic Scourton exploded into the Hoosiers backfield to sack Brendan Sorsby and seal the comeback win.

 

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22. Northwestern 45, Illinois 43

The over/under for this one was 46.5. The teams topped that five minutes into the second half, then scored 37 more points in the fourth quarter. Down 45-37, Illinois got an 80-yard touchdown catch from Casey Washington with 55 seconds left but couldn't connect on the 2-point conversion or recover the onside kick.

 

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20. Division II: Central Washington 21, No. 21 Bemidji State 17. With all these dramatic endings, how about an anti-drama ending instead? CWU advanced to its first regional final in 14 years by overcoming a 17-0 first-quarter deficit, getting the ball back at its own 2 with 12:48 left ... and never giving the ball back. The Wildcats moved the chains six times in 19 plays, your typical 13-minute drill executed to perfection.

21. NAIA: No. T-10 College of Idaho 49, No. 8 Montana Western 42. We end the list with a track meet. The Yotes beat the Bulldogs for the second time this season by gaining 621 yards, bolting to a 28-7 lead, watching it disappear in about 12 minutes, then scoring twice late to hold on. A delightful YouTube watch.

 

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15. Division III: No. 13 Cortland 25, No. 16 Grove City 24. After watching a 14-0 lead turn into a 24-17 deficit, SUNY Cortland wanted to end this one as soon as possible. After Jaden AlfanoStJohn scored with 1:23 left, Zac Boyes and Omari Kendrick connected for the game-winning 2-point conversion. Cortland will play Alma for a spot in the semis.

16. Division II: No. 14 Valdosta State 38, No. 8 Delta State 31. Two of the South's most consistent D-II programs put on a fourth quarter for the ages. A 10-0 run gave DSU a 31-28 lead into the final three minutes, but it was 31-31 when VSU got the ball back in the final minute and got a 24-yard Sammy Edwards-to-B.K. Smith strike to win with nine seconds left.

17. FCS: No. 19 Chattanooga 24, No. 10 Austin Peay 21. By comparison, the first round of the FCS playoffs was tame and orderly. But we still got this thriller, in which the Chattanooga Mocs earned their first-ever road playoff win after blowing a 21-7 halftime lead, then getting a 35-yard walk-off field goal from Clayton Crile.

18. Division II: Kutztown 32, No. 24 Charleston (WV) 31. In Charleston, the hometown Golden Eagles took a 31-17 lead with 4:52 left, but a long Steven Burkhardt kick return set up one Kutztown score (plus a key 2-point conversion), and Judd Novak's 14-yard run gave the Golden Bears the lead with 1:21 left. Tim McCutchen's 51-yard field goal at the buzzer fell short, and Kutztown advanced.

19. NAIA: No. 6 Indiana Wesleyan 24, No. T-10 Morningside 21. Morningside had won three of the past five NAIA national titles; make it three of six because Indiana Wesleyan got a go-ahead touchdown from Isaac Smith with 8:06 left, then blocked a 40-yard field goal with seven seconds left.

 

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12. Division III: No. 11 Alma 24, No. 2 Mount Union 20. In the past 30 seasons, Mount Union won 13 national titles and failed to reach at least the semifinals of the Division III playoffs just once. Make that twice. The mighty Alma Scots trailed 10-0 heading into the final quarter (and 20-10 with five minutes left) but scored on a 76-yard pass with 4:45 to go, then drove 96 yards in just 79 seconds to score the go-ahead touchdown with 10 seconds remaining.

13. Division II: No. 3 Harding 35, No. 6 Central Missouri 34. Unbeaten Harding led by two touchdowns with six minutes left but gave up TD passes of 87 and 6 yards to put the game on the verge of overtime. Nope! Gage Price blocked a PAT with 22 seconds left, and the Bison beat the Mules.

14. Division II: No. 2 Grand Valley State 24, No. 5 Pittsburg State 21. Thanks to a focus on regional matchups, GVSU has already beaten two of the top five teams in the country in these playoffs -- first No. 4 Ferris State, now No. 5 Pittsburg State. (Next up: No. 3 Harding. Jeez.) The Lakers trailed 21-14 into the closing minutes but got a field goal and, with 35 seconds left, an Avery Moore touchdown to get the job done.

 

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10. Kentucky 38, No. 10 Louisville 31

11. No. 5 Florida State 24, Florida 15

Rivalry games don't have to make sense. Kentucky had lost five of six, and Louisville had been mostly untouchable at home in 2023, but that didn't stop the Wildcats from going on a 24-7 run over the game's final 17 minutes, scoring the game-winning points on a 37-yard Ray Davis touchdown and intercepting a late Jack Plummer pass.

Now reeling a bit, Louisville will still meet Florida State in the ACC championship game -- after the Seminoles barely figured out how to hold on to their unbeaten record and CFP hopes in Gainesville. Tate Rodemaker, who will fill in for the injured Jordan Travis for the rest of the season, took three sacks -- including one in the end zone for a safety -- and threw for just 134 yards, and the Noles trailed 12-0 in the second quarter. But two Trey Benson touchdowns and a short field goal gave the Noles a 17-15 lead, and Benson's rugged 26-yard score with 2:48 left and a Kalen DeLoach interception sealed the deal.

 

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9. Utah State 44, New Mexico 41 (2OT)

It's obviously not true that fortune always favors the bold. But it certainly didn't favor the timid in Albuquerque.

In what turned out to be Danny Gonzales' final game as New Mexico's head coach, the Lobos erased a pair of double-digit leads and sent the game to overtime with a late field goal. But in overtime, Gonzales played things safe. He elected to go for two points and the win in the first OT ... only to change his mind after a Utah State timeout. The Lobos kicked the PAT, then kicked a field goal from about the 1.5-yard line in the second OT. Utah State scored a touchdown on its double-OT possession -- after a fumbled snap, no less -- and somehow escaped with a win and bowl eligibility.