30 bucket list items college football fans need to experience

TAMPA, FL - JANUARY 09: Linebacker Ben Boulware #10 of the Clemson Tigers celebrates after defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide 35-31 to win the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Raymond James Stadium on January 9, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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NEW HAVEN, CT – NOVEMBER 21: Seitu Smith II #2 of the Harvard Crimson runs by Hayden Carlson #26 of the Yale Bulldogs in the first half on November 21, 2015 in New Haven, Connecticut. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images) /

27. The Game: Harvard vs. Yale

You may know another major college football rivalry as “The Game,” but the annual end of season contest between Harvard and Yale is nearly as intense for those on the field and in the stands. Whether hosted at Harvard Stadium or the Yale Bowl, and whether or not either the Crimson or Bulldogs are still in the running for the Ivy League title (though often at least one will be), expect a full crowd – one of the biggest of the year at the FCS level. Also expect innovative chants by the two students sections, and potentially a prank or two carried out by students from MIT.

Though the game dates back to 1875, and has been played every year since 1897, with the exception of 1917-18 and 1943-44 for World War I and World War II, respectively, it is not the oldest in college football – or even the Ivy League. Yale has played Princeton 139 times, and Harvard 133.

Nevertheless, the two oldest universities in the United States actually invented the concept of intercollegiate competition in this country, which gives the pair bragging rights as the oldest rivals in college sports. Harvard and Yale first met for the Harvard-Yale Boat Race in New London, CT in 1852. The first edition of The Race was held 17 years before the first college football game and 23 years before Harvard and Yale met on the gridiron.

Yale holds a 66-59-8 lead in the all-time series, and ended a nine-year Harvard winning streak with a 21-14 win in Cambridge in 2016.

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