Searching for a rivalry game

 Was all revved up Saturday to watch what they used to call the Red River Shootout, but that was before a pile of gun-toting yahoos started shooting schoolkids and such down there in Texas (because, Texas), and suddenly "shootout" sounded in poor taste.

In any case, it was Texas vs. Oklahoma, one of those blessed college football rivalries with lore hanging off it like tinsel. And then the Longhorns and Sooners hauled off and ruined it.

The Longhorns because they were just too good. The Sooners because they've suddenly become plain lousy.

So it wound up Texas 49, Oklahoma 0, and, guys, this NOT how you do rivalry games. Rivalry games are supposed to be all bared teeth and growls and hand-to-hand combat. They're supposed to be two teams punching each other until they can't lift their arms. With certain exceptions -- like the Old Oaken Bucket game a lot of years when Purdue was semi-good and Indiana was Indiana -- they're supposed to be, you know, competitive.

This?

This wasn't Texas vs. Oklahoma. This was Texas vs. Rice.

And so those of us who love our college football must trudge on in pursuit of a rivalry game worth its name, and thankfully there are a few on the horizon that might have potential. Right now, for instance, I'm thinking of a couple in particular.

One would be USC vs. UCLA, the ultimate crosstown grudge match.

Once upon a time it was O.J. Simpson vs. Gary Beban, John McKay vs. Tommy Prothro, No. 1 vs. No. 2. And then it wasn't. 

UCLA won eight straight in the 1990s, and then USC had a stretch where it won 12 of 13, and now it's going back and forth again. But quite a few years have passed since the annual meeting had any sort of national relevance.

It might this year. Halfway through the season, both teams are 6-0; USC is ranked 7th and UCLA 11th. By the time they meet on Nov. 19, both could be ranked in the top ten.

A week later, Michigan plays Ohio State. 

Like USC and UCLA, both are 6-0. Ohio State is No. 2. Michigan is No. 5. No one else in the Big Ten seems anywhere near as good.

In other words, welcome to the Wayback Machine.

It's the early 1970s again. It's Bo vs. Woody again. The only difference is, in 2022  we won't get three hours plus of Wolverine Walt and Buckeye Billy endlessly running the same off-tackle play -- which made UM-OSU, for all its national import, one of the most boring rivalry games in America every fall.

Well. Not this year. 

He said, with fingers crossed.