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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/B1GSkyNorth on 2026-02-16 07:12:05+00:00.

Definitely an EA CFB question, but I hope the mods keep this up since it’s relevant to more than video game itself: who will be the teams these two point to as their peers, who they compare themselves to, and who will be the teams these two they beat that will make the season a success. This game represents an archival entry into what the state of college football looked like in each year, and that includes a measuring of the matchups that hold extra weight to fans, coaches, and players. This question, to my understanding, is solicited by EA to each school’s sports information director.

This question also is imposed because several mechanics of the game revolve around having rivalries in the game, so every single team has one in the game, even if they might not actually be.

As an example, Missouri State has no natural FBS rival when they moved up and still doesn’t, but because of the nature of the game they still got paired with Arkansas State. However, there was no history to speak of between Missouri State and Arkansas State. I think our answer will lie in how EA has determined these rivalries in the past.

Similarly as Missouri State, Kennesaw State had Georgia State denoted as their rival for the purposes of the game. For these two rivalry pairings, I imagine it came down to pure proximity to justify those choices.

This would also be justified by Charlotte’s “rivalries” against Appalachian State and Old Dominion in the game. I have never heard of Charlotte having any history with Appalachian State and I imagine Old Dominion stems from some proximity (Old Dominion being right in the southeast corner of Virginia on the Carolina border) and history in C-USA together. But otherwise I’m not sure what justifies those choices.

Another example of a team not having a rivalry but having a constructed one imposed on them is Coastal Carolina, who got Liberty as their rivalry game. Liberty is also paired with Old Dominion as a rivalry game, which I would imagine also comes down purely to proximity. I am unable to find any historical background for the CCU-Liberty game, and figure it was a cheeky way to recognize some other sport’s rivalry or Liberty poaching Jamey Chadwell from Coastal. (As an aside, I found it interesting that an identifiable rivalry had not developed in the decade Coastal spent in the Sun Belt before CFB 25 released). **This was an old Big South rivalry before the two teams moved up.**

Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Sam Houston State, and Delaware did not have this issue when they moved up. Appalachian State and Georgia Southern obviously have each other. James Madison had played Old Dominion a lot historically and the mascot themes played nicely together. Sam Houston State has the paddle game against Texas State (and another game against UTEP for some reason). And Delaware had James Madison from their CAA days together.

So either you need justifiable proximity or some coaching overlap to another team for EA to support calling the series a rivalry.

Sacramento State is probably a little easier, given the 3 G6 teams all very close by (San Jose State, Fresno State, and Nevada). After checking Sac State’s football history page and Winsipedia, I would personally hope they pick Nevada, as the Hornets have played Nevada 27 times. A cursory search of other western US teams shows no one has played Sac State more often than Nevada has (the next most often is Fresno State at 5 total times).

I imagine they would probably lean on the CSU system ties though to justify San Jose State or Fresno State more, despite Fresno only playing them five times and San Jose only playing them twice. The Ball-Sac thing is funny but this game still needs to be E for everybody and I’m trying to be a little serious in identifying who will be their primary focus at the FBS level (at least until UC Davis moves up).

North Dakota State is more challenging and more interesting, since there are no G6 teams close by to apply this filter for. This means regional P4 teams may get included in this filter. My first thought immediately jumps to Wyoming. The architect of the Bison dynasty, Craig Bohl, left Fargo for Laramie, and continued to leverage his connections in the region to recruit good kids to build Wyoming from a Mountain West basement dweller into a perennial 8-5 team. From the NDSU fans I’ve talked to, this is the conference opponent they’re most excited for. The issue here is they’ve only played one time.

The second option in the MWC is Northern Illinois. Geographically closer than Wyoming, and the Bison have won both matchups against the Huskies (albeit not since 1969). As far as I can see, these are the only two MWC members North Dakota State has recorded matchups against. Even Colorado State is out since the Bison and Rams have only played one time, a Bison victory in 2012.

Another option is Missouri State, who moved to C-USA from the Missouri Valley Football Conference, where they shared a home with North Dakota State. The two have played 16 times with the Bison leading 14-2, making this the Bison’s most played FbS series.

The last option I could justifiably see is Minnesota.

Minnesota is by far the closest team to NDSU, and the two have played 7 times, with NDSU winning twice. This was NDSU’s most played FBS series prior to Missouri State moving up. There is a natural dynamic here where a plurality of NDSU’s student body comes from Minnesota and the campus is right on the North Dakota-Minnesota border. There’s also the claim that NDSU’s dynasty is partially attributable to former Minnesota HC Tim Brewster sucking at his job and letting recruits who would otherwise walk on for the Gophers take a scholarship up the road. NDSU also has a ton of alumni in the Twin Cities area that could make a real matchup of this series much chippier than your average G5-P5 game.

NDSU has played Iowa 3 times, winning their most recent matchup a decade ago, 23-21 in Kinnick. NDSU also claims the “In Heaven There Is No Beer” victory song gimmick, so there’s something immediately at stake there.

NDSU also beat Iowa State in 2014. There’s not much there as the two teams have only played twice but it’s worth noting due to the geography. Same thing with Kansas State in 2013. And Kansas in 2010 (except Kansas does not have the win over NDSU).

The worst and laziest possible option would be for EA to make Sacramento State and NDSU each other’s rival, since there is neither any history (they’ve only played one time) and are roughly 1700 miles apart.

So who do you think makes the most sense as the rivalry game for NDSU and Sacramento State in CFB27 and generally?