10 juicy college football revenge games we can’t wait to see in 2020: LSU-Alabama, Notre Dame-Clemson, more
By John Buhler
The 10 best college football revenge games to mark on your calendar.
The best part of college football is every single game matters. There is a crashing sense of urgency every fall Saturday. You drop one game, maybe your season isn’t over? You drop two, then you can kiss your chances of reaching the College Football Playoff goodbye. Though most teams don’t have a shot of getting there, they will have their opportunities to avenge a recent crushing loss.
Whether it is an annual rival or one that just so happens to pop up on the schedule again, there are always those games the losing team from last time ends up circling on the calendar with bright red ink. Winning this game will mean a little more than the others for reasons few people outside of that program or fan base can truly understand.
Looking at the season schedules for some of the best teams in college football, there’s almost always a game that stands out. The fanbase remembers how the last time they played a particular opponent went, whether that was only last year or even two years prior. Revenge is a dish best served cold and there will be no love lost when these two teams take the field this fall.
Here are the 10 best revenge games on the college football calendar for the 2020 season.
10. BYU Cougars at Utah Utes (Thursday, Sept. 3)
Will this year’s rendition of the Holy War go any different? The BYU Cougars sure hope so, as the national independent hasn’t beaten the in-state rival Utah Utes since 2009. Utah joined the Pac-12 and has had good success in its new conference since the last time the Utes fell to the Cougars. This year, the game will be at Rice-Eccles in Salt Lake City. Will the Cougars play spoiler on Sept. 3?
Though the Utes have won the last nine games on this annual rivalry series, seven of the Cougars’ nine defeats have been by one score. Last year was a more lopsided affair in the Utes’ favor, as they went into Provo to hand BYU an 18-point loss at LaVell Edwards. The last time the Cougars were blown out in Salt Lake came back in 2008 when both teams were ranked in the top 25.
What could make this year different is Utah lost a ton of players to the NFL. The Hollandale Trio is no more in Salt Lake. While Utah remains a serious contender to win the Pac-12 South again and be in a position to win its first conference title since going Power 5, overlooking the Cougars on a sleepy Thursday night could serve as one of the biggest upsets in the early part of the season.
9. Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Memphis Tigers (Saturday, Oct. 31)
The Cincinnati Bearcats and the Memphis Tigers have emerged as two of the strongest Group of 5 programs in the country. Memphis won The American last year, punching its first ticket to the New Year’s Six in program history. Cincinnati could be in line to be this year’s representative from the Group of 5 if the Bearcats take care of business vs. the Tigers at Nippert on Halloween.
Since being reunited as conference rivals in 2013, this series has belonged to Memphis, as Justin Fuente and Mike Norvell’s team has dominated the Bearcats in the last four meetings. But with Fuente long gone to Virginia Tech and Norvell too joining the ACC at Florida State, this is the game Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell will need to win to land a good Power 5 job in 2020.
We can expect The American to have around four ranked teams throughout the season. Cincinnati and Memphis will be two of them. With Memphis handing Cincinnati two heartbreaking losses at the Liberty Bowl, Fickell and his Bearcats must use their home-field advantage wisely. This is the year the Bearcats need to beat the Tigers and win The American. Will they be ready, though?