playDavid HaleOct 15, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseCollege football reporter.Joined ESPN in 2012.Graduate of the University of Delaware.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsAmong the litany of problems college football has created for itself in recent years, the demise of a number of once-proud rivalries doesn’t engender the same frustration that myriad court cases and rampant transfers have, but it’s no less problematic when it comes to undermining the things fans love most about the sport.In the pursuit of money, realignment bloated conferences and split apart once bitter rivals. Bedlam is on hiatus. The quality of the Apple Cup has gone from Honeycrisp to Red Delicious since the Pac-12 fell apart. The Civil ConFLiCT trophy is probably just holding up a broken coffee table in Bob Diaco’s man cave.And that’s perhaps the tip of the iceberg.Imagine a year or two from now, when the seemingly inevitable 24-team playoff has taken hold, and we reach the final weekend of the regular season, when the most intensely fought rivalry games are traditionally played, and Ohio State is left with a choice: sit its starters against Michigan or risk injuries before a playoff run.The idea seems preposterous now, but again, how many rivalries have we already sacrificed in pursuit of supposed progress?So as we enter Week 7, it’s worth appreciating the matchups on the docket in what might be considered a midseason dress rehearsal for rivalry week, smaller in scale but still full of the essentials.<\/p>\n
It’s the Sammy Hagar to Rivalry Week’s David Lee Roth.The third Saturday in October always gives us Alabama-Tennessee. This year, it’s a showdown between two top-20 teams, with victory cigars and playoff hopes on the line. The Tide were dealt a blow by Georgia a week ago, but Keelon Russell’s hot start and a surprisingly dynamic run game have Alabama looking like one of the best teams in the country. Tennessee’s offense has been spinning its wheels the past few weeks, but Xavier Gilliam & Co. have the Vols’ defense playing elite football.The Deep South’s oldest rivalry also kicks off between the hedges.<\/p>\n
Georgia hosts an Auburn team looking to end a nine-game losing streak to the Bulldogs. Auburn has scored only 60 total points in its past seven visits to Sanford Stadium, hasn’t topped 13 in a game there since 2009, and hasn’t won in Athens since 2005. Think how many times Mark Richt lost control of the program, Mike Bobo forgot to run the dang ball, and how many players with names such as Ladd or Cash or Lucky have scored for the Dawgs since then.Florida State heads south to visit Miami, and the Seminoles are three-touchdown underdogs after their latest drubbing at the hands of Louisville last week. Meanwhile, Mike Norvell keeps hanging around, like one of those inflatable clowns that keeps popping back up no matter how hard you punch it.<\/p>\n
Now Mark Fletcher & Co. get to feast on a Florida State defense that just coughed up nearly 400 yards on the ground to the Cardinals.In his first post on X, Bill Belichick said his first words as a child were “Beat Duke.” This certainly contradicts the popular assumption that his first words followed a controversial game of patty cake in which he explained to his mother he had already put it behind him and was “on to object permanence.” Regardless, the narrative underscores the intensity of the North Carolina-Duke rivalry, where Manny Diaz has hidden the Victory Bell trophy as a reminder to his team that it has to earn it again this year.Then there’s Kansas-Kansas State, where the Wildcats have won 17 straight Sunflower Showdowns, dating to 2009. The Jayhawks’ last win came during Kansas State coach Collin Klein’s freshman season in Manhattan.But the biggest game of the week features two teams facing off for the 100th time in a series that dates to 1901 — only, it’s really not much of a rivalry.Ohio State travels to Indiana for what, until two years ago, was little more than a speed bump on Ohio State’s annual race to the top of the Big Ten. Indiana lost 31 straight (plus one tie) to Ohio State dating to 1988, with only two games since 1994 decided by seven points or fewer.Until last year.In last season’s Big Ten championship game, the entire reality of college football was upended, as Indiana handed Ohio State a 13-10 defeat before embarking on a trip through the College Football Playoff that ended with Curt Cignetti holding up the national championship trophy.Suddenly, Ohio State-Indiana matters.It’s fitting this game comes a week after Georgia bested Alabama in a game that included ample hostilities but can’t exactly be quantified as a rivalry. Instead, it has been a decade-long litmus test for SEC — and often, nationwide — supremacy.That’s also how Ohio State-Indiana feels now.<\/p>\n
Ohio State remains one of the most well-funded, dynamic and successful programs in the country, but the Buckeyes aren’t at the mountaintop anymore. Cignetti has staked out that space, staring down at the rest of the Big Ten with a look that suggests he’s not mad, he’s just disappointed in them. Now, for the first time in series history, the Buckeyes are looking for revenge in a game in which both programs are ranked in the top 25.None of that is to suggest this game will suddenly supersede the showdown with that team up north at season’s end, but in this ever-changing era of college football, when even the most sacred of objects might be sold for the right price, Ohio State-Indiana — and Week 7 as a whole — offers us something worth cherishing.You don’t have to love all that has happened in the sport lately, but you have to savor every moment you have to truly hate another team.Jump to: Top games | Under-the-radar Upset alert | Power rankings Heisman five | Two-minute drillBest of the rest of Week 7Florida at TexasThree weeks ago, these were two of the hottest teams in the country. Now, this is effectively an elimination game for both.<\/p>\n
Florida is reeling after back-to-back losses, including last week’s shocker against South Carolina. Texas flubbed the Red River Rivalry game, handing a win to Oklahoma in a game in which 17 of the Sooners’ 27 points came off turnovers and a blocked punt. Meanwhile, Arch Manning has been frustratingly mediocre all season, and his two picks last week were egregious missteps.play1:44What Stephen A. wants to bring up about Arch ManningIn fact, compare Manning’s output through five games this season to what he had done at the same point last year and it’s stunningly similar — and in some areas, worse.2025: 53.4 QBR, 60% completions, 8.5 yards-per-dropback, 11 TD passes, five interceptions 2026: 58.2 QBR, 63% completions, 7.7 yards-per-dropback, 10 TD passes, five interceptionsSo, now we can all suggest Manning is cooked, move on to better stories, and then look up at the end of the year and realize he still threw 35 touchdowns.Mississippi State at LSUAfter last week’s overtime loss to Kentucky, Lane Kiffin complained that an official had told him a delay in blowing dead a Wildcats’ fourth-down run from the 1-yard line was because there was “too much at stake,” and frankly, Kiffin does not condone anyone stretching the boundaries of the rules because there’s a lot on the line. Kamario Taylor’s status for the game is uncertain for Mississippi State.<\/p>\n
Sam Leavitt’s eight interceptions lead the country. The quality of QB play for this game could vary wildly. Most notably though, this is a must-win for an LSU team that already has two losses, or Kiffin could be opting out of coaching in the playoff much earlier than usual.Notre Dame at BYUIndiana has the best record in college football since the start of the 2024 season. But Nos. 2 and 3?<\/p>\n
They’ll face off in Provo, Utah, on Saturday as Notre Dame (30-4 over the past three seasons) visits BYU (28-4) with obvious playoff implications on the line. The Irish have finally found a spark in their running game behind freshman Jonaz Walton, who has run for 301 yards — and nearly 9 yards per carry —<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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