The biggest rivalry games in college football for Week 12

The month of November builds to the big rivalry weekend that closes out the college football regular season, so the mid-November slate tends to be lighter on rivalry games. There are several interesting matchups between traditional rivals this Saturday, however, including a Top 25 showdown that could have major College Football Playoff implications.

*All times Eastern

Notre Dame at Pittsburgh, Saturday noon

This weekend’s rivalry game that will have the most national attention is Notre Dame traveling to Pittsburgh in a battle of two 7-2 teams. Despite identical records, Notre Dame is ranked No. 9 in the College Football Playoff poll, while Pittsburgh sits at No. 22. A win is very important to both schools if they hope to be playing for a national title. This game has played a role in championships before, including the 1976 contest that Pittsburgh won in South Bend en route to an undefeated season and national title. Notre Dame holds a 50-21-1 lead in a series that dates back to 1909.

Arkansas at LSU, Saturday 12:45 pm

Bobby Petrino will be one of two interim head coaches on the sidelines of the Arkansas-LSU matchup on Saturday. | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

At least this year, the Arkansas-LSU rivalry could be dubbed the Interim Head Coach Bowl, as Bobby Petrino will be leading the Razorbacks and Frank Wilson will lead the Tigers after both schools fired their head coaches earlier in the season. Traditionally, though, this has been a decently competitive rivalry, especially after restarting in the 1992 season after a 36 year hiatus when Arkansas left the SWC for the SEC. This will be the 29th game in the series where the winner will take home the Golden Boot Trophy, which depicts the combined shape of the states of Arkansas and Louisiana.

Penn State at Michigan State, Saturday 3:30 pm

The two oldest land-grant universities in the country contested their first football game in 1914, but played very sporadically before Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993. That first game as fellow Big Ten members saw No. 14 Penn State edge No. 25 Michigan State 38-37 in East Lansing. The rivalry has been played nearly every year since except for a three-year period starting in 2011 when the Big Ten flirted with the “Leaders” and “Legends” divisions. There have been better editions of this series than what is expected Saturday afternoon, with both teams sitting at 3-6 on the season.

Middle Tennessee State at Western Kentucky, Saturday 3:30 pm

Similar to a couple of the rivalries already previewed this weekend, the Middle Tennessee State-Western Kentucky also went through a hiatus, not playing each other between the 1991 and 2007 seasons after staging 57 games in the series going back to 1914. That time off only allowed the animosity to build, and since 2007 this game has been known by the two fan bases as “100 Miles of Hate.” The 1-8 Blue Raiders are going to need more than hate to pull off a win this season, however, traveling to face a 7-2 Western Kentucky squad.

North Carolina at Wake Forest, Saturday 4:30 pm

Year 1 of the Bill Belichick era in Chapel Hill has not gone according to script. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

It will be a short 80-mile trip down I-40 for North Carolina to make their in-state rivalry game against Wake Forest Saturday afternoon. It was an even shorter trip in 1888 when these two schools first hooked up on the gridiron in Raleigh and Wake Forest was actually located in Wake Forest, N.C., as opposed to Winston-Salem as it is today. This will be the 112th meeting between the two programs, and if recent history is any indication then we should expect plenty of fireworks. Over the last four years, this game has averaged more than 87 total points scored.