Top 5 rivalries that were ruined by college football realignment

Many college football rivalries have been ruined by conference realignment and here are the five that have been impacted the most. 

College football has changed a lot over the past 25-30 years. That’s when the first round of conference realignment really hit in the mid-1990s as the Big 8 and the Southwest Conference broke up to form the Big 12.

That move really paved the way for what college football is now and where it’s headed with super conferences. The SEC just announced the additions of Texas and Oklahoma last fall to push its total number of teams to 16.

Losing Texas and Oklahoma also greatly weakened the Big 12, which has also lost Nebraska to the Big Ten, Missouri to the SEC, and Colorado to the Pac-12 since its inception in 1996.

The 2021 college football season was basically the 25th anniversary of the Big 12 conference coming into existence and now, it’s undergoing major changes as Boise State, BYU, Houston, and UCF are joining the league.

Unfortunately, college football realignment probably isn’t over and more college football rivalries will be impacted. But for now, at least, we take a look at the five college football rivalries damaged the most by the tectonic shifts in the sport.