It’s College Football’s Game of the Century—and It Happens Every Week

EUGENE. Ore.—When Orgeon and Ohio State squared off on Saturday night, it had all the makings of a college football classic: Two proud programs, both ranked in the top 3 nationally, going head-to-head with unbeaten records on the line. In case you missed it, this was one of those heavyweight showdowns that lived up to its billing—a back and forth nail-biter that came down to the final two minutes and ended in a wall of sound, as scores of black-clad students stormed the field to celebrate the Ducks’ 32-31 win. In any other year, it would have been a shoo-in for the best game of the season. This year, it’s just another Saturday. This is how it goes in the new era of college football. The emergence of coast-to-coast megaconferences and a beefier postseason has been accused of diminishing the regular season, casting regional rivalries aside, and rendering the bowl system completely irrelevant. But it has also produced a steady stream of epic matchups between superpower schools at or near the top of the national rankings. These days, the “Game of the Century” happens practically every week. Since the College Football Playoff’s debut, there have been 17 regular-season games between teams both ranked in the top five, according to Stats Perform. Clashes between top three teams are even rarer, with just eight in the past 10 years. But seven weeks into the 2024 season, we’ve already seen two top-5 showdowns—and you won’t have to wait long for the next one. It’s happening next Saturday, when No. 1 Texas squares off against No. 5 Georgia. Depending on how far Ohio State falls in the rankings after its loss to the Ducks, there could even be another on Nov. 2 when the Buckeyes play undefeated Penn State. Granted, the stakes in these games aren’t as monumental as they used to be. In the previous decade, when a smaller playoff field meant that a single loss was enough to derail a team’s title hopes, these games carried season-defining consequences. In the eight meetings between top-3 teams, only one loser managed to earn a semifinal berth (Ohio State in 2022). But just about everything about the structure of college football looks different in 2024. The biggest conferences have bloated, with the Southeastern Conference sucking up Big 12 stalwarts Texas and Oklahoma, while the Big Ten absorbed Oregon, Washington, UCLA and Southern California from the Pac-12. Suddenly programs used to meeting in the Rose Bowl would be on a direct collision course well before New Year’s Day. Prior to Saturday night, Ohio State had never played a game in Autzen Stadium. The last time Texas and Georgia met in the regular season, it was 1958 and the Longhorns were showing signs of improvement under a promising young coach named Darrell Royal. To accommodate all the new members, conferences did away with divisions—a quirk of scheduling that limited the frequency of some intraleague matchups. Alabama and Georgia, for example, were on opposite sides of the SEC, which meant they faced each other just eight times in the regular season from 1992 until the conference removed divisions for this season. The expansion of the postseason to 12 teams also means that a perfect season is no longer a prerequisite for winning a championship. Losses, particularly to tough opponents and on the road, are no longer quite so damning. That calculus is part of the reason why it became so attractive for teams like Oregon to join the Big Ten. “Regardless of the result,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said after Saturday’s epic against Ohio State, “everything is still on the table.” The Ducks now have the inside track to the Big Ten title game, tied atop the standings with 6-0 Penn State. But Ohio State is far from out of the race. Losing to a highly ranked team comes with a silver lining: It’s doesn’t usually push you too far down the rankings. When then-No. 2 Georgia lost to Alabama, they landed at fifth the following week. The Buckeyes could all but ensure a rematch against Oregon should they win out and beat Penn State. Which means it’s impossible to say where these two programs might be ranked come the first week of December should they find themselves squaring off in Indianapolis. But odds are, it will be yet another top five matchup. This is to say a Game of the Century—again.