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Playoff Era Turns College Football Rivalries Into Strategic Chess Moves

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  Published in Sports and Competition on Tuesday, November 25th 2025 at 7:09 GMT by The New York Times

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College Football Rivalries and Their New Meaning in the Playoff Era

In the world of college football, rivalry games have long been the emotional heartbeats that keep fans glued to their seats, the media buzzed, and the revenue streams humming. When the College Football Playoff (CFP) was introduced in 2014, the spotlight shifted from traditional bowl matchups to a four‑team national championship structure that promised to crown a clear winner. The recent New York Times feature explores how those historic rivalries have been reshaped—and sometimes intensified—by the playoff’s modern demands. It asks a simple, yet profound question: What do rivalries really mean in a system that now has a formal, nationally televised postseason that can eclipse any single regular‑season game?

The Legacy of Rivalries

The article opens by reminding readers of the deep roots of college football rivalries: the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn, the annual showdown between Ohio State and Michigan, the Red River Showdown at the intersection of Texas and Oklahoma, the Game that pits USC against UCLA, and the perennial Army‑Navy matchup. These games are more than contests—they are cultural rituals, revenue generators, and recruiting powerhouses. Historically, they were scheduled on fixed dates, often in the middle of the season, and were largely insulated from the influence of the postseason. That balance was suddenly upended with the CFP’s rise.

Rivalries as Ranking Signals

One of the article’s core arguments is that rivalry results now carry a new weight in the CFP selection process. The selection committee’s criteria—quality wins, head‑to‑head results, and conference championships—give special consideration to games that pit historically strong programs against one another. The writer cites data showing that, in the CFP era, teams that have won their biggest rivalries are more likely to finish in the top four. The article explains how the committee’s “strength of schedule” metric now hinges on the outcome of these marquee matchups. A victory over a rival like Alabama can serve as a decisive “quality win” that propels a team toward the playoff, while a loss can be a fatal blow to a season’s ambitions.

The feature includes quotes from former selection committee members who emphasize that rivalries are “a benchmark for the best programs.” They note that because rivals are often the toughest opponents a team can face, those results carry the most significance when committees weigh the national rankings.

The Iron Bowl: A Case Study

The article devotes a substantial portion to the Iron Bowl, a game that has become synonymous with CFP drama. In 2023, Alabama’s 52‑7 win over Auburn was widely cited as the most decisive victory in the selection committee’s history, and the article describes how that result essentially “cemented” Alabama’s #1 ranking. The writer also points out how the Iron Bowl’s scheduling—late in the season and early enough to influence the final rankings—makes it a pivot point in the CFP debate.

The piece contrasts that with the 2024 Iron Bowl, which was a much tighter affair, highlighting how even narrow victories over rivals can carry immense weight when teams are on the bubble. The author uses data from the selection committee’s published rankings to illustrate the trend: teams that win their rivalries are three times more likely to break into the playoff.

Conference Realignment and the Future of Rivalries

Beyond the single‑game impact, the feature also tackles the broader question of how the playoff has reshaped scheduling and conference alignment. With the CFP’s expansion to 12 teams in 2024, the article notes that the “Power 5” conferences—SEC, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12, and Pac‑12—have had to balance the desire to keep traditional rivalries intact with the need to schedule games that bolster their teams’ playoff resume. The piece cites the Big 10’s decision to push the Ohio State–Michigan game to a neutral site in 2025, hoping to heighten the rivalry’s national profile while also ensuring a high‑stakes matchup that would count as a “quality win” for both programs.

The article argues that this balancing act has forced conferences to become more strategic about when and where they play their rivalries. Neutral‑site games, such as the Army–Navy Game moved to a stadium in Washington, D.C. in 2023, are being marketed as “neutral‑site marquee events” that can generate massive national viewership—viewership that can rival, if not surpass, the numbers generated by a single playoff game.

Fan and Media Perspectives

The piece does not shy away from the fans’ perspective. It quotes several alumni, players, and commentators who feel that the playoff has added a layer of drama to rivalries that was previously absent. The writer highlights how the increased media attention and advertising dollars tied to playoff‑era rivalries have transformed them into lucrative spectacles. In 2024, the Alabama–Auburn game drew more than 18 million viewers—a number the article notes surpasses the combined viewership of many playoff games that season.

Yet, the article also includes critical voices. Some analysts warn that the focus on playoff‑ready teams may dilute the historic significance of certain rivalries. “In the CFP era, a rivalry game is no longer just about bragging rights; it’s a chess move in a larger strategy,” one commentator says. The piece reflects on how some fan bases now question whether a rivalry that traditionally would be a non‑conference game has become a “tournament match” in its own right.

Controversies and Missed Opportunities

The New York Times feature does not shy away from controversies. In 2025, the article recounts a heated debate over the selection committee’s decision to exclude a top‑10 ranked team that had just lost a close rivalry game. The committee’s reasoning—that the team’s overall record and lack of “quality wins” outweighed the rival’s significance—sparks a discussion about the fairness and consistency of the ranking process. The writer argues that the article’s coverage of these controversies helps illuminate the tension between tradition and the modern, performance‑based logic of the CFP.

The Takeaway

Ultimately, the article offers a nuanced portrait of how rivalries and the playoff coexist in today’s college football landscape. Rivalry games still carry the emotional weight and cultural importance they have always had, but their outcomes now also serve as critical indicators in the CFP ranking system. The playoff era has increased both the financial stakes and the national attention surrounding these matchups, while also forcing conferences to innovate in scheduling and marketing. The article closes by suggesting that, rather than diluting rivalries, the playoff has simply added another layer of meaning: a game that can both win a season and secure a place in history.

In a sport where a single win or loss can define a generation, the intersection of tradition and modern postseason ambition is perhaps the most compelling narrative of all. The New York Times feature captures that intersection with clarity, offering readers a comprehensive look at why rivalries have never been more relevant—and why the playoff has never been more dramatic.