Previewing college football's rivalry games for Week 7

The State Fair of Texas provides the backdrop to Saturday's Red River Rivalry game between Texas and Oklahoma. | Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images

Headlined by an intriguing Red River Rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas, Week 7 of the college football schedule features both new and old rivals squaring off. Teams will play for trophies featuring bulls and turtles this weekend, but it will be the bragging rights over rivals these players want to walk off the field with on Saturday.

*All times Eastern

Ohio State at Illinois, Saturday noon

When No. 1 Ohio State and No. 17 Illinois square off in Champaign on Saturday, the Illibuck Trophy will be on the line. What is the Illibuck Trophy you ask? It would make sense to be a play off of both schools’ mascots, but it is not. The Illibuck Trophy is a wooden turtle. It used to be a live turtle when these two teams started squaring off over 100 years ago. Ohio State owns the series lead in this rivalry 68-30-4, with the last Illinois win coming back in 2007. This is the first meeting in the series with both teams ranked since 2001.

Quarterback Julian Sayin leads No. 1 Ohio State into a road game with No. 17 Illinois on Saturday. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Toledo at Bowling Green, Saturday noon

Toledo will make the short 25-mile drive down I-75 to take on their Mid-American Conference rivals Bowling Green on Saturday. Fittingly, the two schools compete for the Battle of I-75 Trophy. This game has been played for more than 100 years, though the trophy came into the picture just within the last 15 years. Toledo holds a slight edge in the series, 43-42-4 and have been set as 10-point favorites for this year’s contest. It will be the first game in the rivalry for new Bowling Green head coach Eddie George.

UCF at Cincinnati, Saturday noon

The youngest rivalry game on this list, Cincinnati and UCF have only been playing one another in football since 2015. The status as rivals has been hewn by the level of competitiveness this series has seen since its inception, with both programs fielding some of their best teams in the last ten years. It has been aided by the schools competing in the same conference, first the American Athletic and now the Big 12. The series record is tied at 5-5, with Cincinnati pulling off a narrow 19-13 win in Orlando last season.

Oklahoma at Texas, Saturday 3:30pm

Although their have been reports John Mateer could return for the Red River Rivalry, Oklahoma is expected to turn to sophomore Michael Hawkins Jr. to lead the offense again this week. | NATE BILLINGS/FOR THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Red River Rivalry commences its annual competition Saturday in its traditional venue, the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, coinciding with the Texas State Fair. This is one of college football’s biggest rivalry games, dating back to 1900 between the border state schools. The outlook for this game has changed dramatically over the last couple weeks. Texas now has two defeats on the season after being upset by Florida a week ago, but undefeated Oklahoma is the underdog with questions around QB1John Mateer who was sidelined from hand surgery last month.

Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech, Saturday 3:30pm

Atlantic Coast Conference foes Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech will meet Saturday in a rivalry known as TechMo Bowl, a nod to the Nintendo college football video game that was popular when this series first kicked off in 1990. Although young as college football rivalries go, this game has often played a role in the ACC title race over the years. It is hard to imagine the 2025 version having similar implications, though, with Georgia Tech a two-touchdown favorite over a Virginia Tech team in transition.

Iowa at Wisconsin, Saturday 7:00pm

In an era of shifting conference alliances, Iowa and Wisconsin represent stability as both have been members of the Big Ten Conference since the 19th century. This game pre-dates even the Big Ten, however, being first contested in 1894. More recently, the Hawkeyes and Badgers have competed to take home the Heartland Trophy, a brass bull on a pedestal that was introduced prior to the 2004 playing of this game. A 3-2 Iowa team is a three-point favorite against 2-3 Wisconsin in a game that both teams could use to springboard a better second half of the season.

Georgia at Auburn, Saturday 7:30pm

The first meeting between Auburn and Georgia on the football field dates back to 1892, giving this game its moniker as the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Although neither will count the other as their biggest rival, the Auburn-Georgia game is known as the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, counting its origin as the 1892 game in Atlanta. Showing how the game has evolved in the years since Auburn and Georgia first met, that 1892 meeting was contested in February and marked the first official football game played by either school. Not only is Auburn-Georgia the oldest rivalry in the South, it is also the most contested, with 129 meetings between the schools. Georgia holds a slight lead in the series owed to a current eight-game win streak.

Clemson at Boston College, Saturday 7:30pm

After a two-year hiatus, Boston College and Clemson will renew their rivalry commemorated by the O-Rourke-McFadden Trophy, which honors Charlie O’Rourke (Boston College) and Banks McFadden (Clemson) who played in the first meeting between these two schools in 1940. This was a closely contested rivalry until Clemson went on a 12-game win streak that started in 2011 and continued through the most recent meeting between the schools in 2022. The Tigers are a two-touchdown favorite to continue that streak versus a 1-4 Boston College team on Saturday.

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