This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/Connnorrrr on 2025-06-26 02:43:06+00:00.
In my nearly 25 years of living, I have spent a good portion of them in the South. I'm an Atlanta native, with a Georgia Tech grad father and Auburn grad/Vanderbilt masters mother. I know a thing or two about college football rivalries (mainly losing them), and when I departed from my Southern locale to attend college in Texas and eventually move to Michigan for employment, I was disheartened to hear that some people did not know of some of the deepest, most storied rivalries of this precious game. A man can only explain why the Egg Bowl is called the Egg Bowl so many times, while also being expected to care immensely about a rivalry with a name so uninspiring as "The Game." However, it recently came to my attention through a friend of mine that "the South must not care that much about their rivalries," because "they have other teams on their license plates."
I was in denial. I asked him to back up his claim, to which point he revealed to me a horrible truth: certain states in the South have vanity license plates for rival schools. This does not exist for most of the United States, according to my research. It seems that only the South has license plates for schools that are not located within their state.
This has brought me to show you some of the absolute worst offenders, in my opinion. These are ordered somewhat subjectively, but I feel as though many of you will agree with my ordering.
Starting off with an honorable mention: an ungodly sight from the state of Texas.
The only reason this measly attempt to quell the animosity of the Red River Shootout (yes, that is the only acceptable name) is considered an honorable mention is due to their new inclusion into the SEC and their somewhat suspect membership to the South as a whole. However, as far as intensity goes, few states are as united against one program as the entirety of Texas is against OU. This one does take a knock due to the fact that Texas is littered with competitive FCS football teams, and Oklahoma is only an official rival of UT Austin. Also, having lived about 25 miles north of Austin for four years, I met a surprising amount of Sooner fans and alumni, and my area of Texas was almost as tied up with the UT/A&M rivalry (both academically and athletically). But, for the average Texan, this license plate is definitely not welcome and very out of place, especially considering the *extremely* generic Texas license plate.
Number 5: Alabama's LSU plate
This plate, while somewhat bland, highlights a somewhat underrated rivalry in the SEC. Known as the "First Saturday in November," Alabama and LSU have met 89 times (the same amount of times the Iron Bowl has been played) and first met in 1895. While the rivalry was not as intense to start off, it has picked up in recent years, with Alabama holding a 15-11-0 lead since the turn of the century. However, the history is much more lopsided in Alabama's favor, with an overall record of 57-27-5 in the Tide's favor. As Louisiana only does specialty plates for colleges and universities in the state, there is no Louisiana plate with crimson colors on it, and probably for the better: in a poll by CNN in 2009, 3 in every 5 LSU fans cited Alabama as their most bitter rival, while Tide fans had their tussle with the Tigers ranked a distant third behind Auburn and another rivalry I'll be discussing later. While LSU fares much better in the Tiger Bowl with Auburn in the 58 matchups against the two in their history (30-24-4 in favor of LSU), the matchup is not played annually and is usually a somewhat wild matchup. Alabama giving their FCS little brother a custom license plate is salt in the wound for LSU fans, and this is probably a somewhat uncommon plate in the state of Alabama.
Number 4: Tennessee's Florida plate
This rivalry, known as the "Third Saturday in September," is the least contested of the rivalries that will be featured on this list. That being said, it is definitely one of the most consequential. These two teams have squared up 54 times, with their first meeting taking form of a 24-0 Tennessee victory in 1916. It would take another 74 years for these two teams to begin meeting annually, but it is not in the quantity of their matchups that this rivalry lives, but the quality. For 17 consecutive matchups from 1985 to 2007, both teams were ranked in the AP top 25, and while the Gators have dominated the rivalry since 2005, Tennessee has made the game worth watching more years than not; any fan in an intense rivalry knows that there is nothing worse than a boring rivalry game, and the Vols have made these games far from boring. This one ranks ahead of Alabama's LSU plate for the sheer fact of how out of place this plate feels, and the fact that Florida's logo is much more invasive on the plate. At least LSU's plate doesn't feature their tiger on the logo. Although it blends in with Tennessee's standard plate, the orange trim is enough to catch the eye of any Volunteer fan on the highway, until they get close enough to see the jaws of a team that has marred their record early in the season more often than not.
Number 3: Florida's UGA plate
The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party should need no introduction. This rivalry's history is a microcosm of the rivalry itself: the schools disagree on how many contests have occurred and whether UGA's game against another school operating under the name "University of Florida" should count, despite the fact that the UF we know today did not technically exist nor have a football team. UGA claims this 52-0 victory anyways. Officially, they have met 102 times, and have met every year since 1926 (discounting 1943's lack of contest due to WW2). It was one of the first, and quite possibly *the* first, rivalries to agree to play at a neutral site, with the first neutral game being played in 1933. Jacksonville has opened this agreement with open arms, and basically encouraged the alcohol-fueled rivalry to be as festive as possible, for the sake of tradition and the massive economic boost to the city. Perhaps, then, the license plate is somewhat fitting: A school being let into a state for a more light-hearted rivalry that benefits both parties. However, the inverse is even more fitting. As of 2009, both schools have called for the rivalry to be named the "War for the Oar," with the Okefenokee Oar trophy being given to the winner. Ever since, the Bulldogs have wrested control of the series and delivered some brutal beatdowns in Jacksonville. This more modern picture of this contest is a much more apt description of this license plate: a blood-red ugly license plate that sticks out and puts a black eye to Florida.
Number 2: Tennessee's Bama plate
Tennessee is the only state with 2 entries on this list, and deservedly so: this twisted tribute to the "Third Saturday in October" is about as contrasted to the deep blue Tennessee plate as humanly possible. You may think to yourself, "Well, maybe Tennessee is asserting dominance over Alabama. They've beaten the Tide 40 times. No other program in CFB history has defeated Alabama more times than they have." Unfortunately, Alabama has claimed victory on this fated day a staggering 59 times, with the remaining 8 of their 107 matchups ending in a tie. The rivalry began in 1901, and in the 1950's the tradition of smoking cigars began; since the mid-2000's, the winner of this rivalry has publicly gifted their winning team with cigars, and subsequently self-reported this NCAA violation. (Side note: with NIL laws now in place, I am no longer sure if this "gift" for winning a game actually constitutes an NCAA violation, although both teams still self-report for the sake of tradition.) The series is incredibly streaky, and while the past four years have flip-flopped their victor, those two victories are the only of their kind for the Vols since 2007. This affront to peace in the state of Tennessee is surely one of the worst sights in the state, and I've been to Memphis.
Number 1: Georgia's Auburn plate
It truly pains me to know that the worst football-related license plate (trust me, there are worst license plates out there that aren't football-related) comes from my home state, but here it is. The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, the second-most contested matchup in CFB history behind Minnesota-Wisconsin, is rooted in history. They have met on the gridiron 129 times, and it is a historically close rivalry. There have been ugly games, there have been easy games, and there have been legendary games. Pat Dye, a lineman for the Bulldogs prior to becoming the head coach for Auburn, said this game was like "playing against your brother." Both Auburn and UGA have had a season where their only loss was in this matchup. They played the first SEC game featuring an overtime. There may be games that matter more, such as Clean Old-Fashioned Hate or the Iron Bowl, and there may be games with more on the line, as both of these teams have competed for multiple national championships within the past 15 years, but they must always meet each other, and mistakes in this game have proved fatal time and time again for the hopes of these teams. Georgia may think they are paying homage to this rivalry with this license plate, but in reality, the orange and blue pl...
Content cut off. Read original on https://old.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/1lkozuh/the_worst_license_plates_in_college_football/
