College Football Realignment Took Our Rivalries: This Weekend Gives Some of Them Back

You ever think to yourself, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you actually left them.”

It’s something I think about quite often and it can apply to many things. For me, when I see that quote the first thing that comes to mind is college football.

Remember when schools from the same region were in the same conference? And remember when they would all play each other every year? Yeah, me too. Unfortunately that has been taken away from us over the years thanks to conference realignment.

Conferences are no longer regional, they are nationwide and when it comes to rivalries, there appears to be fewer of them every single year due to scheduling issues. It’s not uncommon for rivalries that were over 100 years old to suddenly go away.

Luckily for the Big 12 this weekend, we get a taste of what the old college football was like before realignment got crazy. Iowa State hosts Iowa in the annual Cy-Hawk game. That rivalry dates back to the late 1800’s and has been played every year (minus the 2020 COVID season) since 1977.

Also, one that will fly under the radar is Houston and Rice in the battle for the Bayou Bucket. Despite the two not playing every year, they have met over the last few seasons but unfortunately due to schedule conflicts, it will have to wait at least five years to resume after this season.

It’s not often we get rivalry games back but that is exactly what will happen when Kansas takes on Missouri for the first time since 2011. The last time these two teams met, Missouri was still a part of the Big 12 before their move to the SEC. That is a shame because the Border War was always a classic Big 12 rivalry back in the day.

As great as these rivalry games are, it’s a shame that some of them can’t be played every single year like they should. The Cy-Hawk game isn’t scheduled past 2027 and as I mentioned earlier, the Houston/Rice rivalry is going to take a break for a bit.

And while the Border War will have some future matchups, it also will not be played every single year after 2025. While I am glad to get some of these rivalries back, the college football fan in me wants to have all of them come back. Everyone loves to act like they want to do what is best for college football, but I will tell you what is best for the sport we all love. It’s playing rivalry games that date back to long before you and I were born.