College football’s pettiest rivals (and why we love them)

Rivalry Week is upon us: That very special time of year when many of the best and saltiest matchups from around the country get packed into one holiday weekend. But while this is pound for pound probably the best few days the sport has to offer, the real college football connoisseurs among us know that true rivalry cannot be contained to one week a year. As long as your arch rival is out there somewhere, playing football or recruiting or simply breathing, there is hating to be done.

Which is why we set out to determine exactly which fanbases are the pettiest in the country. Know Rivalry surveyed thousands of fans across every FBS program to find out which rivals they hate most — and just how much joy they get from seeing them suffer. The result is a “schadenfreude score,” a perfect measure of college football pettiness. Which fan bases are truly about this life? We've got answers.

Want more rivalries? Explore FanSided’s Rivalry Week Hub, our interactive deep dive into the traditions, history and moments that define college football’s fiercest matchups.

Georgia Tech

Rival: Georgia
Schadenfreude score: 4.9

As you might expect, considering how much more national success Georgia has had in recent years, this sense of schadenfreude mostly runs in one direction (the Dawgs had a score of just 4 for Georgia Tech). But this is a rivalry built on clean, old-fashioned hate — the Yellow Jackets are known as the Ramblin' Wreck because of the time Georgia fans trashed their train on the way back to Atlanta — and so it should be no surprise that Tech is eager to exercise that hate at every opportunity.

Case in point: When Georgia fell to Alabama in overtime of the 2018 national title game, costing the Bulldogs their first championship since 1980, Tech fans were taking victory laps all over social media.

NC State

Rival: UNC
Schadenfreude score: 4.9

If this one surprises you, it really shouldn't. Sure, like Georgia-Georgia Tech, the spite mostly runs in one direction (Carolina fans only gave State a schadenfreude score of 3.7). But this rivalry is less about sports than it is about class warfare: The more wine-and-cheese (their term, not mine) crowd from Chapel Hill against the ag school down the road in Raleigh. And so, while beating UNC is always fun, the Wolfpack will be sure to take pleasure in their rival spitting the bit.

But don't take my word for it. Ask NC State head coach Dave Doeren, whose message was short and sweet after his team beat Carolina for a third straight time: "It's been 1,460 days since those pieces of s--- beat us."

Of course, when the spitting of said bit also involves the repeated public humiliation of a future Pro Football Hall of Famer like Bill Belichick? That's just the cherry on top:

Washington

Rival: Oregon
Schadenfreude score: 4.9

It might not come with a catchy name or feature a centuries-old in-state grudge, but underestimate this rivalry at your own risk. Washington and Oregon have been hated rivals dating way back, and Huskies fans have resented the Ducks' new-money rise to the top of the sport.

It's hard when your Pac-12 peer starts posturing like it's leaving you behind, especially when there's billions in Nike money behind it. (It's not a coincidence that Duck fans only gave Washington a schadenfreude score of 3.8.) No one wants Oregon's effort to finally get to the top of the mountain to fall short more than Washington does: "I wanted the Ducks to go down, and to go down hard," a fan post on the UW Dawg Pound blog read after Oregon's national title game loss to Ohio State in 2015. "They did. And I'm loving it."

The fact that Washington cost the Ducks another Playoff shot in 2023, beating them not just in the regular season but in the Pac-12 title game as well, was all the sweeter.

Kansas

Rival: Missouri
Schadenfreude score: 4.8

It feels oddly fitting that a rivalry named after a literal war once fought between these two neighbors should place pretty highly on this list. Whether it's in football, basketball or anything else, it's not enough for either Kansas or Mizzou to win — they need their border foe to suffer.

And this isn't just about wins and losses, either. Longtime Missouri basketball coach Norm Stewart refused to let his team stay in Kansas hotels or even refuel across state lines, lest he contribute a single dollar to the local economy. KU football coach Don Fambrough once said he'd rather die than seek medical attention from a doctor in Missouri. When you think you're committed to hating your rival, take a long look in the mirror.

Texas

Rival: Texas A&M
Schadenfreude score: 4.7

It's not every rivalry that could withstand more than a decade off without losing any intensity. Texas A&M's departure for the SEC in 2012 put the Lone Star Showdown on ice, but if you think that Longhorns fans were about to stop thinking about their rivals over in College Station, you must be new here.

Instead, the Horns simply waged a proxy war. When Alabama dashed the Aggies' dreams of an SEC West title back in 2015, you better believe Texas fans were there.

Granted, it helped that the Charlie Strong and Tom Herman eras during this time period gave Texas plenty of reason to pay attention to someone else's misery. But hey: The Horns did manage to win a regular-season title in the conference before A&M did, thanks to a win at Kyle Field last November.

LSU

Rival: Alabama
Schadenfreude score: 4.6

Is there any doubt? As if battling for SEC West supremacy for years wasn't enough, Nick Saban winning a title at LSU only to return to the college ranks years later to kick off a dynasty at Alabama is the stuff that schadenfreude is made of.

Ever since that betrayal, simply beating the Tide wasn't enough (though it certainly helped). Tigers fans viewed the Tide's spoils as ill-gotten, whether literally (through paying players, accusations that dogged Saban throughout his time in Tuscaloosa) or more spiritually.

Florida State

Rival: Clemson
Schadenfreude score: 4.5

For decades, the ACC was Florida State's domain. But Bobby Bowden's decline and eventual retirement, coupled with Dabo Swinney's ascension at Clemson, shifted the balance of power in the conference forever — and Noles fans have neither forgiven nor forgotten.

Sure, Clemson has two national titles since FSU's most recent trophy in 2013. But if you think that was going to stop the Noles from basking in the glow of the Tigers' blowout loss at the hands of LSU in the 2019 championship game, think again. This is about much more than your rival; this is about maintaining your place in the pecking order, and making sure somebody else doesn't take what was once yours.

West Virginia

Rival: Pitt
Schadenfreude score: 4.5

The Backyard Brawl is one of the most feral rivalries in the sport, full of burning furniture and nicknames like the Garbage Game. (In 1961, West Virginia beat Pitt despite a Panthers player claiming that the winless Mountaineers had built their team with "Western Pennsylvania garbage".) There's a level of familiarity here, a fan base of steel workers and a fan base of coal miners separated by just 75 miles of Interstate, and they do not take kindly to their rival having a good time.

Case in point: In town for Pitt's marquee matchup with Notre Dame on Saturday, former WVU punter Pat McAfee used his College GameDay pulpit to take a little shot at his arch rival in a game that had absolutely nothing to do with the Mountaineers.

Michigan

Rival: Ohio State
Schadenfreude score: 4.4

I was a little bit surprised to learn that Michigan ranked Ohio State higher on the schadenfreude scale than the other way around, with Buckeye fans only scoring the Wolverines at a 4. (Hilariously, OSU's highest score was ... Florida, likely stemming from the 2006 national title game blowout.)

Speaking of 2006: There was partying in the streets watching the Buckeyes get lambasted, just weeks after No. 1 OSU had outlasted No. 2 Michigan in the Game of the Century in Columbus. And the scandal surrounding Connor Stallions has cranked up the schadenfreude factor to 11; when you find yourself pulling for the NCAA to salt the Earth on your opponent, you know you're well and truly gone.

Oklahoma

Rival: Texas
Schadenfreude score: 4.4

We'll be honest: Just about everybody had a sky-high score for Texas, which has been the team that everyone in the Big 12 (and now the SEC) has loved to beat since time immemorial. But exactly how deep does the desire for Longhorn tears go? Oklahoma was even willing to make common cause with Oklahoma State when the Cowboys upset Texas back in 2018 to boost OU's Big 12 title hopes. And if you're bigger than Bedlam, that's really saying something.