What are the most-heated coaching rivalries in college football?

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College football is built on rivalries. Those between schools, conferences and even coaches can span years and even generations. Everyone knows rivalries like the Game, the Iron Bowl and Army-Navy, but the men who lead programs in some of the biggest games of the year are some of the most heated rivalries.

Some have personal beef; some just can't seem to beat the other. We're evaluating the biggest current coaching rivalries in the game.

James Franklin-Ryan Day (Penn State vs. Ohio State)

The Nittany Lions have a 27-0 record over the last three seasons against teams not named Ohio State or Michigan. Franklin in his tenure in Happy Valley has lost nine out of ten battles against the Buckeyes, six of those specifically to Ryan Day. He just simply cannot vanquish his biggest foe now that Jim Harbaugh is in the NFL. Franklin and Day appear to get along personally but it is evident the two fiercely want to beat one another, as the fate of the Big Ten conference always seemingly is in the balance when their teams meet on the gridiron.

Deion Sanders-Jay Norvell (Colorado vs. Colorado State)

Fans of college football have definitely heard and seen the beef these two coaches created over the last two seasons. Norvell made comments about Sanders wearing sunglasses during interviews and disparaged quarterback Shedeur Sanders' stats in 2023. Coach Prime responded at a practice and his team went out and beat them by a combined score of 71-44.

We've only seen these two play twice so far and given the fireworks and tense atmosphere from both instances, fans can expect this to turn into one of the best coaching rivalries of our modern era.

Josh Heupel-Brent Venables (Tennessee vs. Oklahoma)

This rivalry can somewhat be considered more of Josh Heupel v. The Sooner fanbase given how he has not returned to coach the team he quarterbacked to a national championship in 2001. However, Brent Venables — then a defensive coordinator under Bob Stoops — wasn't sold on Heupel as a recruit.

That set the table for a fiery homecoming in 2024 with Heupel ultimately leaving his former home victorious, defeating new SEC neighbors Oklahoma 25-15. As long as Venables remains in Norman and Heupel doesn't leave Knoxville any time soon, this will be one rivalry to continue to keep eyes on as the two programs battle it out in the same conference for the foreseeable future.

Kalani Sitake-Kyle Whittingham (BYU vs. Utah)

"The Holy War" has always been heated, with intra-state rivalry between BYU and Utah hitting fever pitches in the past. A new battle renewed the feud in 2024 with both programs now conference foes in the Big 12. Sitake's No. 9 Cougars escaped Salt Lake City with a controversial 22-21 victory, bringing out the worst in Whittingham and his athletic director Mark Harlan.

The 2024 win helped Sitake narrow Whittingham's lead over him in the rivalry to just 4-2, with plenty more matchups expected in the future. The Big 12 has gained and revived one of the best rivalries in college football with two of the most respected coaches in the West.

Dan Lanning-Lincoln Riley (Oregon vs. USC)

Before the demise of the Pac-12, these two began something great. They faced off just once in 2023 — a 36-27 victory for the Ducks — but now members of an expanded Big Ten conference, the two will continue to have their programs compared. However, they won't get the yearly faceoff they would've gotten in the Pac-12.

The Big Ten's scheduling provides for a rotating set of opponents each year and the two did not play in 2024. But in 2025, 2026 and 2028 the Ducks and Trojans will have their best opportunity to fully reestablish the rivalry. The heat could be turned up a notch if Lannings' No. 1 Ducks return to a third national championship game before USC can find its way to one since the last in 2005.

Lane Kiffin-Kirby Smart (Ole Miss vs. Georgia)

These two SEC foes once worked on the same staff at Alabama under Nick Saban but now they've had to pivot to being cutthroat in their battles on the gridiron and the recruiting trail. Kiffen won his first contest against Smart in 2024, the program's first against the Dawgs since 2016.

Now, the two are cordial and could even be described as friends off the field. But when they step onto the pitch, the two programs are gunning for one another because of an unspoken competition to see which Saban disciple is better. So far, Smart has more silverware but Kiffin has evened the head-to-head record at one a piece.

Dabo Swinney-Mike Norvell (Clemson vs. Florida State)

These two are more rivals in the sense that their coaching philosophies are constantly at odds with one another. Swinney continues to try and coach the game the old way by recruiting and shunning the evolution of NIL in the game. Norvell has attempted to play the transfer portal game and utilize a hefty NIL budget to build a great roster. It's hard to say who has had better success. Norvell could be on his way out of Tallahassee after a poor 2024 but since he arrived in 2020, he's only won a single game out of four matchups against Swinney's Tigers.