Ranking CFB’s Top 100 Rivalries (Texas has three)

[Blake Munroe]

The Athletic ranked the top 100 rivalries in college football and Texas gets three on the list, including two in the top 15.

38. Texas vs Arkansas

First Meeting: Nov. 29, 1894

What to know: When Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992, this was a top-15 rivalry. It has a chance to inch upward now that they’re in the same conference again, but it’s unlikely the stakes will be as high annually as they were in the Southwest Conference. The SEC competition is too fierce and too much time has passed.

From 1925 through Arkansas’ departure, the Razorbacks were the only non-Texas team in the SWC, which added to the saltiness between the programs.

They’ve met 18 times as ranked opponents, and it was the nation’s best series from 1959-72, when both were ranked in 10 of their 14 matchups. Six of those games were top-10 matchups and four were decided by four points or less.

Arkansas’ 42-11 win against Texas in 1981 remains the largest defeat by an AP No. 1 team against an unranked opponent since 1942.

Biggest game: No. 1 Texas faced No. 2 Arkansas in a “Game of the Century” on Dec. 7, 1969, in Fayetteville, and it lived up to the hype. The schools agreed to move their game back to have a larger national platform, and the Hogs took a 14-0 lead into the fourth quarter. Texas rallied for 15 points and clinched the SWC title with an interception at its 21 with 1:13 left. President Richard Nixon attended the game and declared Texas the national champion.

 

15. Texas vs Texas A&M

First Meeting: Oct. 19, 1884

What to know: When it comes to pure passion, few can match this one. But the win-loss column is fairly uneven and there aren’t nearly as many ranked matchups as other rivalries. Its fierce competition, however, keeps it as a top-15 rivalry.

Both universities mention the other in fight songs. The opening lyric to “Texas Fight” begins “Texas fight, Texas fight, and it’s goodbye to A&M.” The second verse of “Aggie War Hymn" starts with “Good-bye to Texas University. So long to the orange and the white.” 

Their rivalry has spanned three leagues. Both competed as Southwest Conference members from 1915 until it dissolved after 1995. The Longhorns and Aggies (plus Baylor and Texas Tech) merged with the Big Eight to form the Big 12 in 1996, and their mutual association lasted until 2012, when Texas A&M left for the SEC. Texas and Texas A&M reunited in 2024 when the Longhorns joined the SEC.

Both teams have been ranked in 11 matchups, with Texas holding an 8-3 edge. They've met in the top 10 twice (1941, 1975) with each team winning one.

Biggest game: It was only fitting that No. 6 Texas and No. 16 Texas A&M met with the final Southwest Conference title at stake in 1995. Behind Ricky Williams’ 164 rushing yards and a defense forcing six turnovers, the Longhorns won 16-6 at Kyle Field to clinch their 19th outright SWC championship.
 

3. Texas vs Oklahoma

First Meeting: Oct. 10, 1900

What to know: With two of the nation’s winningest programs, the Oklahoma- Texas result regularly impacts the national title hunt and, for the last three decades, conference titles. They’ve had 10 top-five collisions (Oklahoma leads 5-4-1) in five different decades, and the No. 1 team has played 13 times in this series. “The Red River Rivalry” is a legacy-defining game and often produces unpredictable outcomes.

Oklahoma-Texas has called the Cotton Bowl in Dallas home since 1932. The seating arrangement splits at the 50-yard line with crimson and burnt orange circling opposite sides of the field.

Oklahoma-Texas has an unusual trajectory among rivalries. They briefly competed together in the Southwest Conference (1915-19), then battled as nonconference foes from 1920 until their leagues merged into the Big 12 in 1996. In 2024, they joined the SEC together. 

The rivals have played 44 times as AP-ranked foes (Oklahoma 24-17-3) and 17 times as top-10 foes (Oklahoma 9-7-1).

Biggest game: Of their 10 top-five matchups, the 1975 clash at the Cotton Bowl had the biggest national title impact. Texas rallied from a 10-point deficit to tie the score in the fourth quarter, before Oklahoma FB Horace Ivory burst up the middle for a 33-yard TD with 5:31 left to win 24-17. The Sooners finished 11-1 and claimed the AP national championship. Texas finished 10-2 and sixth in the final poll.

[Blake Munroe]

Link to article:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6469306/2025/07/07/best-college-football-rivalries-rankings-100/

[MarkInAustin]

While many of these rivalries are historic, some are so new as to be unworthy of mention.  

 

Not a strange list on the whole, of course.  What is being weighed by the reviewer is inconsistent, however.  Tradition, or competitiveness, or recency?  The top 5 all fill the bill, but putting OU vs. Nebraska at 6 when they don't play each other more than once a decade makes no sense to me.

 

I am sure there is method to the madness if not madness in the method.