TEAMS THAT SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO PLAY EVERY YEAR
BACK-IN-TIME: Knee Injury Kept Darrell "Lectron" Williams from Becoming One of Auburn's Great RBs.
HAPPY TAX DAY!
According to Tom Dienhart of The Sporting News, these college football teams should be required to play each other every season:
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** PITTSBURGH vs. PENN STATE (The Panthers are ready and willing to resume a series that has been dormant since 2000. The Nittany Lions? Not interested. JoePa has his "reasons" for not playing Pitt, which trails the series 42-50-4. But, I like to call them "excuses.")
** CLEMSON vs. GEORGIA (I got a chance to see one of these tilts up close in 2002. And it's a dynamite rivalry, which the Bulldogs lead, 41-17-4. The schools, located about 90 miles apart, are slated to play in 2013 and 2014.)
** NEBRASKA vs. OKLAHOMA (Since the advent of the Big 12 in 1996, this classic rivalry hasn't been guaranteed each season thanks to divisional alignments. It's shameful, considering the schools have had some epic battles, highlighted by the 1971 "Game of the Century.")
** SOUTHERN MISS vs. MISSISSIPPI STATE and OLE MISS (The Bulldogs last played the Golden Eagles in 1990. The Rebels haven't played USM since 1984. It's not like the schools don't have history, MSU having played Southern Miss 27 times (12-14-1) and Ole Miss doing so 24 times (18-6).
** FLORIDA STATE vs. AUBURN (I know these schools already have fairly full plates, but they are close enough in proximity to fuel a good old-fashioned rivalry against two classic football powers that haven't met since 1990. In case you're wondering, Auburn leads the series, 13-4-1.)
** MARYLAND vs. WEST VIRGINIA (They only recently opted to discontinue this border battle of states that share the Mason-Dixon Line. Too bad. The Terps have opted out of the series, which WVU leads 23-21-2.)
** TEXAS vs. ARKANSAS (These schools boast a rich and lustrous history that dates to their battles in the old Southwest Conference in a series Texas leads, 55-21. But since the Hogs went to the SEC in 1992 and the Longhorns landed in the Big 12 in 1996, the rivals haven't seen much of each other, last playing in 2004.)
