Texas Longhorns Play in Two of College Football's Greatest Rivalries

To many, rivalries are what make college football so special. The sheer intensity and hatred on display is something that's only seen at the collegiate level due to how much more connected fans are with their teams/schools.

As one of the sport's winningest programs, the Texas Longhorns are no strangers to fierce rivalries.

The Longhorns have been so prominent and successful for so long that it feels like most college football fans don't like them, at least to some extent. For a few teams and their fanbases, however, that goes into full-on hatred.

Texas Longhorns' Rivalries With Oklahoma, Texas A&M Among Best in College Football

The Athletic's Scott Dochterman took on the gargantuan task of ranking the top 100 rivalries in college football, and two involving the Longhorns made the top 15. The first is, unsurprisingly, the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma.

"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," Dochterman wrote. "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."

These two teams are essentially inseparable, and with them now in the SEC, their rivalry is under an even bigger spotlight than it already was. Texas leads the all-time series 64-51-5.

The second of the Longhorns' two top-15 rivalries is the Lone Star Showdown against the Texas A&M Aggies, which finally returned last season with the former joining the SEC.

"When it comes to pure passion, few can match this one," Dochterman wrote. "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."

This rivalry is far more one-sided, with the Longhorns boasting a 77-37-5 advantage. However, there's no less hate between the two teams, as shown by their meeting last season getting very chippy very quickly.

Texas also has one more rivalry in this rnaking, that being its feud with Arkansas at No. 38. This rivalry, which the Longhorns boasts a 57-23 advantage in all-time, has also been restored due to their recent move, and should heat up more as they re-familiarize themselves with each other.

It's a shame that some of the Longhorns' other rivlaries - such as their feuds with Texas Tech, Baylor and TCU - have been lost to realignment, but at the very least, it's nice that the main ones are still intact.