8. FLORIDA VS. FLORIDA STATE
First Game: 1958
Series Standings: Florida leads 33-20-2
Although the schools have been playing each other for 50 years, the rivalry didn’t pick up major steam until the ‘90s, when the game became a battle between big-time coaches Steve Spurrier (in Gainesville) and Bobby Bowden (in Tallahassee). Twice in that decade, the winner of the teams’ end-of-season confrontation went on to win the national championship. In 1993, after Florida State fought back from a 28-point 4th quarter deficit to tie the game 31-31 final (a.k.a., “The Choke at Doak”), the teams met again in the Sugar Bowl (a.k.a., “The Fifth Quarter in the French Quarter”), and the Seminoles took the tiebreaker. The Gators have dominated the series in more recent years, but Florida State won the matchup last season.
7. HARVARD VS. YALE
First Game: 1875
Series Standings: Yale leads 65-55-8
In the surprisingly compelling documentary Harvard Beats Yale 29-29, Tommy Lee Jones — yes, that Tommy Lee Jones; he started on the Crimson’s O-line for the 1969 game on which the documentary focuses — soberly reflects on the ramifications of his team’s failure to convert the extra point after its first touchdown: “I think everyone’s lives would be different today if we hadn’t missed that extra point.” Before the 1915 game, Yale coach T.A.D. Jones reportedly told his team, “Gentlemen, you are now going to play football against Harvard. Never again in your whole life will you do anything so important.” Obviously, big-time college football left the Ivy League behind a long time ago. But our present and future overlords still get up for The Game.
