Classic college football rivalry between Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll is back in NFL Week 2

One of football’s great rivalries is set to be renewed as Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll face off once again, when the Chargers take on the Raiders on Monday night. While this matchup will take place on an NFL field, the rivalry was born in college football.

It all started back in 2007 during Jim Harbaugh’s first season as head coach at Stanford. At the time, Stanford was a part of the Pac-10 alongside the USC Trojans, who were a college football powerhouse led by head coach Pete Carroll.

In their first meeting in 2007, Harbaugh and Stanford pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college football history, as they knocked off USC as 41-point underdogs. The upset ended the Trojans’ 35-game home winning streak and was the start of a sort of shift in the Pac-10, as no longer being just USC’s conference to dominate.

When the two teams and coaches met again the following year, it gave us one of the first real moments of tension between Harbaugh and Carroll. With three seconds remaining and the game out of hand, as USC held a 28-point lead, Stanford lined up for a field goal, which was met by an odd timeout from Carroll. In response, Harbaugh changed plans and sent his offense back onto the field to take a shot at the end zone. They were successful in that and Stanford scored a touchdown to make the final score 45-23.

The next year in 2009, is when this rivalry truly ignited. At this time, Harbaugh had Stanford on the rise, and they pulled off a dominant 55–21 victory over the Trojans in Los Angeles. Despite a blowout, there were some late game theatrics.

After scoring a touchdown in the 4th quarter to extend the lead to 27, Harbaugh elected to go for two, seemingly in an attempt to run up the score.  The two-point attempt was unsuccessful, but Stanford would go on to score another touchdown with just over two minutes left, which set a record for most points ever scored against USC. This would spark one of my favorite, and funniest, off-the-field moments in college football: the 'What’s your deal?' line."

After that season, Carroll made the jump to the NFL becoming the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Not long after, Harbaugh joined him in the NFC West as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, meaning the two would meet twice each season.

While Harbaugh's time in San Francisco was successful, it was short. After four seasons, he returned to college to become the head coach at his alma mater, Michigan. As a result, 2014 marked the last time these two head coaches faced off on the field, until now.

With Harbaugh joining the Chargers two years ago and Carroll now in his first season with the Raiders, the rivalry is back. They’ll once again play two times a season, as both teams reside in the AFC West.

Their all-time head-to-head record currently stands at an even 6–6, with Harbaugh holding a one-game edge in their college matchups and Carroll holding a one-game lead in the NFL.

What makes this “rivalry” so great is that not only are these two incredible characters, but they are also phenomenal football coaches. Both are part of a short list of coaches who have been successful at both the college and professional levels. Each has won a college football national championship, Carroll has won a Super Bowl, and Harbaugh led the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance and has an impressive NFL coaching record of 56-25-1.

Earlier this week, Carroll made some joking remarks about his old friend Jim.

While these two coaches certainly did not like each other at one time, and probably still don't, there does seem to be a great deal of respect between them. It’s awesome for the sport of football to see these two coaches facing off once again, and renewing a rivalry with deep roots in a great era of college football history.

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