Top 25 College Football Rivalries 
 
1. Ohio State vs Michigan
Series Record: Michigan leads 58-40-6.
Award: Ohio State players get a gold charm in the shape of a pair of pants if they win.
No rivalry has a better combination of history and championship implications than Michigan vs Ohio State.  Since 1913, the two teams have combined for all or part of 70 Big Ten titles and the have finished 1-2 in the standings 15 times since 1968. 

2. Oklahoma vs Texas
Series Record: Texas leads 57-39-5.
Trophy: The Golden Hat
Known as: "The Red River Shootout". The winning team's state is  supposed to get ownership of the Red River for one year until the next game. It's one the few rivalries that are played on a neutral field. These two teams play in Dallas, Texas which is is exactly halfway between the two schools, Austin, Texas, and Norman, Oklahoma.

3. Alabama vs Auburn
Series Record: Alabama leads 38-32-1  
Trophy: Omicron Delta Kappa-James E. Foy V Sportsmanship Trophy
This college football rivalry is number one as the fire, passion and hate between the two schools is unlike any other. This game literally stops a state. The teams didn't play from 1907 to 1948 because after the 1907 game, they couldn’t decide which referees to use. The trophy for this game isn't as important as the ownership of the state that comes with a win.

4. USC vs Notre Dame
Series Record: Notre Dame leads 42-31-5 
Trophy: The Jeweled Shillelagh
The winner of this game has gone on to win the national title 19 times, plus these two schools have produced 11 Heisman winners.

5. Army vs Navy
Series Record: Series tied 49-50-7
Award: Gold cloth stars to put on their letter sweaters for victories
Notes: This game probably has more history and tradition than any other rivalry in the country. This game is also part of the Commander-In-Chief trophy(Army, Navy, & Air Force) 

6. Lafayette vs Lehigh
Series Record: Lafayette leads 73-62-5 
Known as: "The Game"
This is the most-played rivalry in college football history.

7. Florida State vs Miami
Series Record: Miami leads 29-21
Since the 1987, Florida State has lost out on playing for the national championship five times because of losses to Miami. The two teams have met 13 times in the last 18 years when both were ranked in the top ten. Since 1983, these two teams have combined for more national titles  than any other two rivals in the country.


8. Texas vs Texas A&M
Series Record: Texas leads the series, 70-34-5.
This was voted the top college football rivalry in a USA Today online poll. 

9. Florida vs Georgia
Series Record: Georgia leads the series, 45-35-2.
Known as:  "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party"
Georgia may hold the series lead, but Florida has had Georgia's number since 1992. This rivalry is one of only a few that is played on a neutral site, Jacksonville, FL.

10.  Nebraska vs Oklahoma
Oklahoma leads the series, 41-37-3.
The 1971 game was considered by many, the greatest college football game of all-time. 19 times during this series, one of these two teams have been rated #1.

 

11. Harvard vs Yale
Series Record: Yale leads 64-49-8
Known as: "The Game"
This game is the third most-played in history; only Layafette-Lehigh and Princeton-Yale have been played more often.

12. Auburn vs Georgia
Series Record: Auburn leads 52-48-8
"The Oldest Rivalry in the Deep South" . Like many other games, these two even argue about the overall record between the two teams. The schools played the first SEC overtime game in 1996. Both teams played their first College Football game against each other in 1892 in Atlanta, which Auburn won 10-0.

13. USC vs UCLA
Series Record: USC leads the series, 38-27-7
Known as: The battle for the Victory Bell
The winning team paints the bell in their color to match the gold: blue for UCLA, cardinal for USC.

14. California vs Stanford
Stanford leads the series, 54-40-11.
Known as:  "The Big Game"
The rivalry has a history of tight scoring games, with 50 having been decided by 7 points or less.  

15. Minnesota vs Wisconsin
Series Record: Minnesota leads 59-48-8
Trophy: Paul Bunyan's Axe
This is the oldest rivalry in NCAA Division I-A. The teams have met every year since 1907. Before Paul Bunyan's Axe, the teams played for the "Slab of Bacon", a piece of wood with the word "BACON". The idea was that the winning team "brought home the bacon".

16. Kansas vs Missouri
Series Record: Series tied 52-52-9
Known as: "The Border Showdown"
Trophy: The Indian War Drum
Notes: It's the second-oldest rivalry in Division I-A.The war drum has a picture of a Jayhawk on one side and the MU logo on another. This game was known as the "Border War", but after 9/11, two schools changed the official name to the "Border Showdown".

17. Florida vs Florida State
Series Record: Florida leads 28-19-2 
In the 1990's, these programs were two of the best in the country.

18. Alabama vs Tennessee
Series Record: Alabama leads 43-37-7 
Trophy: The winning team gets victory cigars
The victory cigar tradition for Alabama was started in the Bear Bryant era; Tennessee took up the tradition for themselves in the 1990's.

19. Virginia vs Virginia Tech
Series Record: Virginia Tech leads 44-37-5
Trophy: The Commonwealth Cup

20. Washington vs Washington State
Series Record: Washington leads 63-28-6 
Trophy: The Apple Cup

21. Arizona vs Arizona State
Series Record: Arizona leads 44-33-1
Trophy: The Territorial Championship Cup
Known as "The Big Game". The Territorial Cup is the oldest prize given as part of a rivalry series. First given in 1899, the cup had been missing for fifty years until being recently discovered.

22. Mississippi State vs Ole Miss
Series Record: Ole Miss leads 58-37-6
Trophy: The Golden Egg trophy
The "Golden Egg" trophy is in the shape of an old-time football. Because of its ovalesque shape, it resembles an egg.

23. Indiana vs Purdue
Series Record: Purdue leads 66-35-6 
Trophy: The Old Oaken Bucket

24. Georgia vs Georgia Tech
Series Record: Georgia leads 56-38-5 
Known as: "Clean, Old-fashioned Hate"
 

25. Clemson vs South Carolina
Series Record: Clemson leads 62-36-4 
Known as: "Battle of the Palmetto State"