Traditional football rivalries take a bow, then bow out

Three of the oldest, most passionate college football rivalries may have waved their final farewells last weekend through clenched teeth and doubled-up fists.

Kansas-Missouri, the most-played major-conference football series west of the Mississippi River, is set to expire with the Tigers heading to the Southeastern Conference next season. Texas and Texas A&M, which met for the 118th time, completed their series on Thanksgiving night. Texas A&M, like Missouri, will join the SEC next season.

Pittsburgh and West Virginia competed in their “Backyard Brawl” for the 104th and likely final time as Big East members Friday. West Virginia will join the Big 12, while Pittsburgh is headed for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

There's potential for the schools to meet as non-conference foes, but bruised egos and full schedules may prevent any of the three from reigniting their rivalries any time soon.

“There's got to be a way to work that out,” Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel said after the game. “Iowa and Iowa State work it out. I could go around the country and name different places that try to maintain this kind of (rivalry) game. I think, without question, this thing could continue if the schools decide they want to. It's not real complex, I don't think. You can make it work. I know we're certainly willing to do that and we'd like to keep this rivalry going. Hopefully people get together and do what' right. I think that can happen.”

The Missouri-Kansas rivalry dates to the 1850s when border skirmishes turned into an 11-year war. The states' contempt for one another simmered over time but their passions remained strong. In 1891, the rivalry shifted from the battlefield to the football field. Through 120 meetings the schools often measured their football season more by the standard of beating one another rather than appearing in a bowl game.

But last Saturday the codependent schools played their final scheduled game at Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium. Missouri won 24-10, clinching the trophy drum and an infinity's worth of bragging rights. The Tigers move to the Southeastern Conference perhaps as early as next season. Kansas, the jilted rival, has vowed not to continue the rivalry beyond the league boundary.

“Missouri divorced our family, and we're loyal to our family,” Kansas Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger told the Kansas City Star. “That pretty much summarizes it all. At this point, the coaches at the University of Kansas, the administrators and major stakeholders just don't have an appetite for continuing this competition in wake of what's transpired over the last couple of years, and certainly the last couple of months and what that means for our conference.”

Texas' non-conference slate is filled through 2018 with no wiggle room, Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds told the Austin American-Statesman.

Officials at both Missouri and Texas A&M want to continue their rivalries in a non-conference setting. In a joint statement released last week, Missouri officials wrote, “This historic rivalry, which MU is committed to continuing, stirs the emotions and spirit of our fans like no other.”

“I hate to see the end of anything that has such rich history and tradition come to an end,” Texas A&M Coach Mike Sherman told reporters after the game. “I wasn't here when the (Southwest Conference) was disbanded, but that was a lot of gnashing of teeth and giving up on something that had so much history and tradition ... and this is somewhat similar to that. We're not playing it in the future, as it looks right now, but it'll be a game you think about and a game you miss.”

Conference realignment has wrecked traditional rivalries in the past, beginning with early 1990s expansion. Pittsburgh and Penn State have played 96 times, but only four since Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993. Arkansas and Texas were bitter Southwest Conference opponents, but have played just four of their 77 games since Arkansas joined the SEC in 1992.

Top 10 most-played college football rivalries

• 121 – Wisconsin-Minnesota
• 120 – Kansas-Missouri*
• 118 – Texas-Texas A&M*
• 117 – Nebraska-Kansas*
• 116 – North Carolina-Virginia
• 116 – Cincinnati-Miami (Ohio)
• 115 – Auburn-Georgia
• 115 – Oregon-Oregon State
• 114 – Purdue-Indiana
• 114 – Stanford-California

• 105 – Minnesota
• 86 – Wisconsin*
• 82 – Purdue

• 105 – Nebraska*
• 104 – Missouri*
• 95 – Kansas State
• 91 – Kansas

• 121 – Wisconsin-Minnesota
• 120 – Kansas-Missouri*
• 118 – Texas-Texas A&M*
• 117 – Nebraska-Kansas*
• 116 – North Carolina-Virginia
• 116 – Cincinnati-Miami (Ohio)
• 115 – Auburn-Georgia
• 115 – Oregon-Oregon State
• 114 – Purdue-Indiana
• 114 – Stanford-California

Iowa's most-played rivalries

• 105 – Minnesota
• 86 – Wisconsin*
• 82 – Purdue

Iowa State's most-played rivalries

• 105 – Nebraska*
• 104 – Missouri*
• 95 – Kansas State
• 91 – Kansas

* Not scheduled for 2012

Divisional realignment can uproot traditional rivalries nearly as much as changing conferences. Iowa and Wisconsin had played 73 of 75 seasons before the schools were split into opposite Big Ten divisions and now are scheduled to meet only six times over a 10-year period. Nebraska and Oklahoma have played 86 times, including 71 consecutive years, before they were divided into Big 12 North and South divisions and rotated off one another's schedule.

Nebraska athletics director and former coach Tom Osborne said the loss of the Cornhuskers' annual rivalry with Oklahoma contributed to his school's souring on the Big 12.

“We sought to maintain the annual game with Oklahoma,” Osborne said. “Oklahoma, since the league was split into North-South divisions, there didn't seem to be any appetite for cross-division games like in the Big Ten.

“Oklahoma said they preferred to stay in the South Division and not play Nebraska every year. When you play only two out of every four years, to say, ‘Well, this is the same rivalry,' it's really difficult to substantiate. So I think it certainly lost some of its luster. It was maybe a little of the reason why it wasn't so attractive for us to stay in the Big 12 Conference.”

Nebraska still competed in a division with long-standing conference opponents like Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Missouri - all of which Nebraska has played at least 95 times. In fact, Kansas and Nebraska have played 117 times - the nation's fourth most-played rivalry - and 105 consecutive seasons until Nebraska joined the Big Ten this year. But playing those schools, which historically Nebraska had defeated with regularity, wasn't like playing Oklahoma every year.

Osborne said when the Big 12 shifted Nebraska's season-ending game from Oklahoma to Colorado it wasn't well received.

“Colorado, it was sort of a self-proclaimed rivalry on their part,” Osborne said. “We didn't have much say about it one way or the other. The Big 12 gave us the schedule so we went ahead and did it that way.

“The so-called rivalry with Colorado; that was one that was declared primarily by Colorado. They said we are their rival. Rivalries usually develop over a number of years and usually there's a shared excellence.”

Today, three of the four most-played rivalries have little chance of extending regularly beyond this season. Only the oldest - Minnesota-Wisconsin - is within a conference, as is No. 5, North Carolina-Virginia. The rest are set to become faded sacrifices to the alter of conference realignment.

“Now it's all about the money,” said ESPN analyst Lee Corso, a former coach at Indiana and player at Florida State. “I'm disappointed. I've said that before. I'm a traditionalist. I want those natural rivalries to stay, not involved with money and going to other conference. It makes me sad, very said to see some of those games disappear.”