What are the best new rivalries in the G5?

I don't need to tell you about Army-Navy, Deeper than Hate, or the Border War. These are all games you won't find on Wikipedia's list of college football rivalries, but could be there soon.

Separated by just 6 hours of I-55 and with 39 matchups in the last 49 years, its surprising this isn't already an official rivalry. 4-4 in their last 8 matchups against each other, they play in Memphis to settle the score this season. But much more is on the line here, these have been the two premier AAC programs since UCF, Houston, and Cincy left for the Big 12. And if power conferences are looking to backfill some departures that will be the first place they look. Even though both universities are in historic southern cities, culturally they could not be more different. An academically prestigious private school vs a public school with a 93% acceptance rate.

Very similar profiles, each school won multiple FCS national championships in the last 20 years then immediately found success when jumping up to the FBS. Now they share the same division in the Sun Belt. Since a 1 point game in the 2007 FCS playoffs they have split the series 2-2. In 2023 college gameday came to see App State take down 10-0 James Madison. Arguably the two top programs in the Sun Belt lately, this rivalry has been on the back burner for a while but someone just turned up the heat. With both schools breaking in new coaches we'll see if a rivalry continues to build in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Both programs are young, first fielding teams within the last 30 years. But have taken wildly different paths to get to the American. In their first matchup as conference mates, FAU went for an onside kick up 56-14. Then the very next year USF went for 2 up 44-21 in the 4th quarter. Leading to a heated exchange between Alex Golesh and Tom Herman at midfield. A genuine dislike between the programs is evident. The rubber match will be this year in Tampa on homecoming. Expect fireworks, and a lot of trash talk by whoever is able to pull out the win. FAU is out to prove USF has no room to act superior, and USF is desperate to make sure they remain the top G5 program in Florida.

For years Boise has wished to be in the PAC 12 with Oregon State, monkey paw curls. Two programs on opposite ends of the college football perception spectrum. One has been the face of the group of 5 for decades, known for their winning ways. The other has been an after thought at the power 5 level, with moments of glory being few and far between. Both schools have chips on their shoulders. Oregon State for getting left out in realignment musical chairs, and Boise for never getting invited in the first place. The series has been close historically, splitting the last 10 matchups 5-5 with no team ever winning more than 2 in a row. Stay tuned, this could become one of the new PAC 12's premier matchups.

Nobody has played UTSA more since their team was founded, the teams have been conference mates for the last 12 years. UTSA leads the series 8-5 after winning the last 4. There's a lot of love for football in Texas and these are the two schools competing the hardest to capture some of that magic at the G5 level. North Texas is the third largest public university in Texas, and UTSA is the only football team in a Texas city with 1.5 million people. North Texas fans mock UTSA's short history, UTSA mocks their empty trophy case. In 2022 they met up in the CUSA conference championship and things got as testy as any traditional rivalry.