Initial reacts to College Football 26, plus CFB's hardest rivalry to rank

New York Times

08-07-2025

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Today in college football news, this week's audio fixation is 'To Someone Else' by Kacy Hill.
Last night at 1 a.m., my daughter was semi-sarcastically cheering her heart out for a two-star center from Hawaii to finally agree to take his talents to the University of Delaware for the next 10 months or so.
Why was she so invested? Because his name is 'Junior Mama.' We simply couldn't miss on a guy with that name.
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And why just 10 months or so? Because on default settings, College Football 26's transfer portal is absolutely merciless toward small schools — making Dynasty mode feel like a Dark Souls-ass challenge for the first time in series history, pleasing those of us who want roster management to deliver fighting-for-my-life panic sweats. (You can tone down the max number of players who can leave each school per season.)
My other favorite stuff so far in the game that releases on Thursday:
And the stuff I hope can be fixed, in this life or the next:
Overall, this game made a thousand little improvements, and for now, I'd end this mini-review by giving it a A-. Oh right, that includes the gameplay itself. The actual football parts are noticeably better in just about every way, from having much fuller control over substitutions to RECEIVERS ACTUALLY COMING BACK TO THE BALL 🍾🙌📈. Almost forgot about those parts.
This week, Scott Dochterman took on the difficult challenge — both in terms of the studying required beforehand and the inevitable internet hollering afterward — of ranking college football's 100 best rivalries.
I think Scott's top five is as close to indisputable as can be, with the only potential disputes in this opening cluster being the order of its middle three:
It might seem odd to include that No. 5 game among the other no-doubters, considering it's been mostly skippable for a while now. But the OG interregional rivalry has altered so much CFB lore. On that note: One of the coolest things about Scott's list is how it mixes history (former Game of the Year machine Nebraska-Oklahoma at No. 6 even though they've barely met since 2010) with recency (Alabama-LSU at No. 13 despite that series being nothing special until Nick Saban coached each side).
It's after that obvious top five when the fun really begins. That's when all the quibbles happen! Everybody's gonna have a few!
In a followup explainer, Scott addressed both his detailed research process — and the hardest snubs, led by the frequently lopsided Michigan State-Ohio State.
As for the feuds that made the cut, I had one question for him: What was the hardest rivalry to rank?
'No. 25 Bedlam, by far. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were ranked in 19 of their matchups and three times battled in the top 10. They played for 114 consecutive years. Those numbers are almost identical to Michigan-Michigan State. But Bedlam's win-loss disparity was shocking. Oklahoma owns a 71-win advantage (91-20-7) and has gone 55-10 when at least one side has been ranked.'
It's true. For a long time, all Bedlam had to offer as a supposed top-shelf rivalry was a cool name (more on that name below). But then in 2023, the Cowboys won what might be the final edition, so now it's retroactively a great rivalry. Regardless, here's Scott's full list again.
Now it's your turn. Proclaim your No. 1 rivalry, and list your top 10. Here's my top 10 as of today — and I think I'm mostly good with this order, too:
😡 More rivalry! Chris Vannini explains his 25 picks for the best rivalry names in all of college football.
💰 Texas Tech's lengthy NIL splurge has gone from fodder for 'yeehaw oil money' jokes to 'OK, hang on, everybody pay attention to this.'
🐏 'Travis Burgess, the 17-year-old son of a retired U.S. Army captain.' As soon as I saw those words in Bruce Feldman's profile of Bill Belichick's QB prospect, I felt pretty good about the young man's chances.
🍀 Speaking of sons, prepare to feel old: Notre Dame's list of a million sons of former players now includes a commitment from three-star WR Devin Fitzgerald, son of Larry. Oh, and there's more:
🅾️ 'Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione will retire this upcoming school year, he announced Monday, ending the longest active tenure for an AD in major college sports. It will also end the run for one of the most successful and respected administrative voices in college sports.'
That's it. Email me at [e-mail] to tell me which new rivalry has the most potential to become great in this (currently) post-realignment era. Last week, your emails informed me Billy Napier will be this season's first head coach to be fired, and reader Lance argued the Big Ten is actually a somewhat accurate conference name, since it is indeed 'Big.'
Last week's most-clicked: Seth Emerson on why Georgia Tech is good again.
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