Despite helping AC Milan fight back from a two-goal deficit last weekend, Christian Pulisic won’t be on the United States men’s soccer team’s first roster of the 2030 World Cup cycle, multiple sources told me on Wednesday.
After fracturing two bones in his right leg in the Americans’ 2026 FIFA World Cup-ending 4-1 loss to Belgium in the round of 16, Pulisic was an unused substitute in Milan’s first three games of the 2026-27 Serie A season under new manager Ruben Amorim. But he sparked the Rossoneri’s furious second-half response last Saturday against Lazio after coming off the bench in the eventual 2-2 tie, contributing an assist in 31 minutes off the bench.
Fellow American Yunus Musah was subbed on by Amorim at halftime and is on coach Mauricio Pochettino’s squad, sources said. Musah, 23, started all four games for the U.S. at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar but hasn’t played for his country since March 2025. U.S. Soccer will announce Pochettino’s roster on Thursday for upcoming exhibition games against Chile, Peru, Canada and Mexico.
Sixteen-year-old Cavan Sullivan is also on the USA’s September-October roster, multiple sources confirmed. ESPN was the first to report that the Philadelphia Union phenom will have the chance to become the youngest player in the 113-year history of the USA’s men’s program since Freddy Adu set the record in 2006.
Sullivan isn’t the only blue-chip teenager Pochettino summoned; sources said that Red Bull New York midfielder Adri Mehmeti, 17, will also receive his first senior team invitation this month.
Pulisic has been a national team mainstay since making his debut a decade ago. He has 90 caps and 33 goals, fifth on the all-time list. He remains the only American to play in and win a UEFA Champions League final. But the Hershey, Pennsylvania product, who turns 28 on Friday, has had a strained relationship with Pochettino since skipping the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, which the U.S. narrowly lost to rival Mexico.
Last week, the former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain boss seemed to again criticize that decision, which Pulisic said he made to be ready for this summer’s World Cup. But Pulisic got hurt in the Americans’s World Cup-opening 4-1 win over Paraguay and failed to score in any of the four games in which he appeared. Still, Pochettino had never previously omitted a healthy Pulisic since taking over as U.S. coach two years ago.
While Pulisic’s absence is a surprise, Sullivan’s inclusion isn’t despite his tender age. With five goals and six assists in his last seven MLS games, the Philly native has been one of the most productive players in the domestic league since it returned from its World Cup break. Though he logged just 224 minutes of first-team playing time with the Union during his first two professional seasons, Sullivan won a starting job this year and has played in 23 games overall, scoring six goals — including two Sunday in San Diego — and adding 11 assists. The Union are unbeaten in 10 games, having posted a 8-0-2 record since July 22.
Two years ago, a then-14-year-old Sullivan broke Adu’s record to become the youngest player in the history of major American professional team sports. But Adu still holds the national team record, having made the first of his 17 career senior international appearances against Canada in 2006 at 16 years and 234 days old. Sullivan can’t top that mark; he turns 17 two days after the U.S. meets Peru in Orlando on Sept. 26. He would still be in exclusive company. Only two players besides Adu have been capped before their 17th birthday in the 113-year-history of the U.S. men’s program: Mark Jonas and Mike Slivinski in 199
Pulisic debuted at 17, the same as his longtime USA teammates Musah and Gio Reyna.
After meeting Peru on Sept. 26 in Orlando, the Stars and Stripes will face Chile in St. Louis on Sept. 29, then close out FIFA’s new extended four-match September/October international window early next month against Concacaf foes Mexico (in Glendale, Arizona) and Canada (St. Paul, Minnesota).

Even those not on the West Coast could have a little more interest in making Week 2 NFL picks on either the Rams or 49ers. How those teams respond after playing in Australia last week is something that will be highly observed. Both are fortunate to have home games on the Week 2 NFL schedule, with San Fran hosting Miami on Sunday, and L.A. hosting the Giants on Monday. The Niners are 12.5-point favorites for their contest, which is the biggest NFL spread of the young season. Claim the latest Polymarket promo code CBSSPORTS to get a $50 bonus after $10 in trades:
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Another one of its Week 2 NFL predictions: the Buccaneers (-8.5, 41.5) cover versus the Browns as Tampa is forecasted to cover in well over 50% of simulations. Perhaps no team looked worse in Week 1 than Cleveland, as the Browns allowed 34 points to Jacksonville, saw Deshaun Watson get sacked five times, and only managed a garbage-time touchdown versus backups. The Bucs disappointed themselves in a loss at Cincy but a return home should help as Cleveland’s 4-14 ATS road mark since 2024 is the worst record in the NFL. The model also has the Over hitting more thaan 60% of the time. See which other teams to pick here.
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The football conditions in Baton Rouge on Nov. 8, 2008, were just about perfect—sunshine, temperatures in the mid-70s, with a nice breeze coming off of the Mississippi River. And yet, the 93,000-plus Tigers fans packed into Death Valley growled like it was a humid August day, blood boiling in anticipation for their first home date with former LSU coach Nick Saban, now the head man at hated rival Alabama.
“LSU is known for the excellence of its football teams and the passion of its fans. For the past couple of years, that passion, that anger, has been focused on one man—Nick Saban—almost to the exclusion of any other,” said legendary CBS play-by-play man Verne Lundquist in the opening of the network’s 3:30 p.m. ET broadcast.
“There’s a psychological theory that anger is fueled by fear. If that is true, LSU fanatic fans have had their worst fears realized. Nick Saban is back as the coach of a dreaded rival, and Nick Saban is here coaching the top-ranked team in the country.”
“You can taste it, can’t you?” analyst Gary Danielson quipped moments later.
Whether or not you could taste it, you could absolutely hear it, the thunderous boos in Saban’s direction as he led the Crimson Tide onto the field, where just five years earlier he led a national championship-winning program … and four, he left for a quick dip in the NFL waters before returning to another SEC powerhouse in need of a jolt.
It was also fewer than two years after Saban apologized for his use of a derogatory term for Cajun people in recounting a story he said he was told by a friend, about an angry LSU fan’s reaction to his decision to take the Alabama job. That wound was still fresh, made clear by Wright Thompson’s ESPN story about a group of Tigers fans preparing for that weekend’s epic showdown, who called him “Tricky Nick,” “Satan” and “Judas” in the piece. Others went with “turncoat,” “carpetbagger” and “crawfish,” a perfectly Cajun slang term for someone who backs out of or reneges on a promise, to local journalist Glenn Guilbeau after Saban denied his pursuit of the Alabama job.
The night before the game, LSU fans burned Saban in effigy. Saban called it “one of the most difficult homecomings in the history of ball” in July 2026. Fans packed Tiger Stadium hours early to lambast Saban as he walked onto the field well ahead of kickoff. And, as was so often the case during his untouchable run with the Crimson Tide, his team answered.
“The one thing that I think that people underestimate, is when your players and they understand the challenge, they look at it as a challenge. And sometimes the home team thinks, This is going to be an advantage for us, and it really isn’t. And we won that game in overtime thanks to the great competitive disposition that our team took into that game.”
Alabama won an overtime thriller 27–21, after Tide safety Rashad Johnson intercepted LSU’s Jarrett Lee to open the extra frame. A long John Parker Wilson pass to Julio Jones put the Alabama offense on the Tigers’ 2-yard line. Wilson punched in the game-winning touchdown with a quarterback sneak two plays later.
This week, the shoe is on the other foot. Last December, LSU poached Lane Kiffin—a former Alabama assistant under Saban—from another rival, Ole Miss. And where Saban had a stop in between Baton Rouge and Tuscaloosa, Kiffin left the Rebels on the cusp of a College Football Playoff run. In 2008, the Tigers were coming off of a national title under Saban replacement Les Miles, but would face the Tide a week after they reached No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time under their new coach. A year later, he delivered his first of six national titles—truly those worst fears prophesied by Lundquist on that November afternoon.
And now just three weeks into his first season at LSU, Kiffin returns to Oxford, Miss., with his team at No. 7 in the AP Top 25, exactly one spot ahead of the Ole Miss squad he left behind. Saban, at least, played his first game against LSU at home in 2007. Both teams have star-studded rosters (largely built by Kiffin) and legitimate CFP aspirations. Both are 2–0. And if Tigers fans felt jilted back in 2008, imagine how Ole Miss fans feel in 2026. The Rebels didn’t win a national title under Kiffin; LSU had two recent championships under their belts in 2008. Ole Miss has never been a program the level of Alabama or LSU, which finally realized its full potential under Saban. The Rebels were still climbing toward the sport’s mountaintop when its coach left, and now hope former defensive coordinator Pete Golding can finish the job.
On Saturday, Oxford promises to be about as hostile as we’ve seen in the sport, and college football is no stranger to the sentiment, especially in the South where it is as much religion as recreation.
In anticipation of perhaps the most hyped game in Ole Miss history, let’s revisit the most hostile environments in the sport’s history. —Dan Lyons
15. Colorado State at Wyoming, 1899
Geography is responsible for many of the great rivalries in college football. That is certainly the case for the Border War between Colorado State and Wyoming, considered the oldest rivalry west of the Mississippi River. The two schools met for the first time in 1899 in Laramie, Wyo., the first road game of any kind for what was then Colorado Agricultural College. It took just one game to cement one of college football’s most historic series, one now being contested in its third century.
The Fort Collins Express described the scene as “very loud and unruly,” according to Colorado State athletics historian John Hirn. At the time, each school would bring an official to the game, and Colorado Agriculture professor Edward House did so for the 1899 game, beginning as its referee, but was so harangued by the crowd that he opted to switch places with his home Wyoming counterpart E.D. McArthur. That decision came to a head in the game’s final moments, when House and McArthur disagreed on a penalty that would have awarded the CAC Aggies the ball. When McArthur disagreed and the Cowboys opted against giving the ball to their opponents, House called the game a Wyoming forfeit, while McArthur allowed the Cowboys to score a go-ahead touchdown.
Hirn describes “a bit of a riot” breaking out onto the field, during which the Aggies’ quarterback was hit on the head by a fan’s cane.
CAC initially pledged against facing Wyoming in any sporting event unless the school apologized for the incident, but sure enough the two sides played in 1900 and 36 more times before the game became a permanent fixture on the schedule in 1946. The series continued in 2026, a Colorado State win, even after the Rams moved to the Pac-12 while the Cowboys remain in the Mountain West conference. —D.L.
14. Mississippi State at Mississippi, 2018
The Egg Bowl has had its fair share of unsavory moments over the years, seeing as it’s one of the longest uninterrupted rivalries in the sport. It’s also fitting that one of its fiercest moments came in a blowout with a full quarter left to go.
Mississippi State galloped out to a 28–3 lead on the road in Oxford, and the crowd in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium was both dissipating and getting antsy. That’s when freshman quarterback Matt Corral connected with A.J. Brown, seemingly before time expired in the third quarter, for a touchdown. But Brown and Mississippi State defensive back Johnathan Abram both refused to let go of the football and frustrations boiled over. The pair exchanged punches, then Corral ran into the fray and had his helmet ripped off and the sidelines emptied. Then, at long last the Ole Miss–heavy crowd got back into the game, letting its displeasure be known.
It took several minutes and some haranguing to get the teams back to their respective sidelines. Every single player received an unsportsmanlike penalty for their roles in the brawl, even if the infraction was as miniscule as stepping an inch off the bench. Four players were ejected. And the best part? It was all for nothing. The clock hit zero before Ole Miss had snapped the ball, meaning the touchdown came off the board. Mississippi State rolled to a 35–3 victory and the Bulldogs were particularly thrilled to take the Egg Bowl trophy before the final seconds ticked off the clock, bringing it out to the Ole Miss logo to celebrate postgame.
The bad blood carried over into the next year when Ole Miss receiver Elijah Moore mimicked a dog urinating after scoring a touchdown with four seconds left. He earned an unsportsmanlike penalty that pushed back the extra point, which the Rebels would miss, resulting in the program’s second straight Egg Bowl loss. —Zach Koons
13. Texas at Ohio State, 2005
The first-ever meeting in football between Texas and Ohio State in 2005 was not only a battle of two top-five-ranked teams, but it was also a home game for the Buckeyes. Needless to say, the fans and the university were charged up.
To hear former Texas coach Mack Brown and quarterback Vince Young reminisce about the scene of the Longhorns’ hard-fought victory is to see the image of a riot or uprising being painted. Brown recalled the Buckeyes’ marching band heckling Texas during a walkthrough practice the day before the game. That was merely a precursor.
Young remembers Ohio State fans throwing things at the Texas team bus as it made its way to Ohio Stadium, and then fans hurling bottle tops at the Longhorns as they made their way out onto the field.
The hostility even seemed to spill into the stands themselves, as an Ohio State spokeswoman told The Lantern that the university received letters from both fans of the Longhorns and Buckeyes fans complaining about some Ohio State fans’ actions, which included bottle throwing and threats of violence.
Fortunately, nothing physical seemed to come of these incidents, though it does open a window into the emotions of the high-stakes game. The Longhorns trailed for nearly two quarters before Young led a 67-yard touchdown drive to take the lead for good with under five minutes to go in the fourth quarter. —Tim Capurso
12. Ohio State at Michigan, 1971
When former longtime Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes got angry, no one was safe, least of all the equipment on the field. During a Nov. 21, 1971, iteration of the always heated Ohio State–Michigan rivalry, it was hazardous to be a down marker on the field, especially late in the fourth quarter with the Buckeyes trailing and Hayes incensed about what he felt was a missed defensive pass interference call on a play in which his quarterback, Don Lamka, was intercepted by the Wolverines defense.
First, Hayes stormed onto the field and got into the face of the referee, arguing for so long that he was flagged for a 15-yard penalty and his players had to drag the national championship–winning coach back to the sideline, to the glee of the fans in Ann Arbor.
Like a baseball manager getting his money’s worth, Hayes wasn’t done. The Buckeyes coach ripped up a down marker and then grabbed another, tossing it onto the turf as the Michigan crowd jeered and booed.
Michigan eventually ran out the clock after the officials restored order, and Wolverines fans poured onto the field in celebration. Hayes would go on to write to Michigan and offer to pay for the down markers. —T.C.
11. Ohio State at Michigan, 1973
In a moment that foreshadowed future shenanigans between these two bitter rivals, the Buckeyes turned the temperature up on a battle of undefeated squads with a trip to the Rose Bowl on the line. As they ran out of the tunnel at Michigan Stadium, Ohio State ran right through and tore down the Wolverines’ iconic “Go Blue” sign, which was being held up by team boosters.
Wolverines fans jeered and Michigan announcer Bob Ufer skewered the Buckeyes on the broadcast. Then a hard-fought football game broke out in which the two rivals played to a 10–10 tie for the Big Ten Conference title, leading to an eventual vote from the league’s directors, who opted to side with the eventual national champion Buckeyes, to the chagrin of Wolverines coach Bo Schembechler.
And the banner incident? There was a sequel in 1977, when Buckeyes players attempted to again tear down the banner but were met with physical force from a Michigan delegation that included former Wolverines players from that 1973 team. —T.C.
10. Texas at Texas Tech, 2008
There’s never been any love lost in the Battle for the Chancellor’s Spurs, but the 2008 edition of the in-state rivalry was particularly meaningful—and thus, particularly spiteful—for both sides. Texas trooped into Lubbock as the No. 1 team in the country, while Texas Tech ranked No. 6, the latter’s best mark since the 1976 season. That also brought College GameDay to town for
the first time, and Lubbock rose to the occasion to greet them.
Texas Tech students camped outside of “The Jones” (now Galaxy Stadium) for days to try and get tickets and when Texas arrived, the Red Raider faithful were ready. Texas coach Mack Brown recalled fans, including a business professor, “screaming at you, yelling and throwing frozen tortillas.”
That crowd momentum didn’t slow down after kickoff and a back-and-forth contest unfolded with Texas Tech getting the ball back, down 33–32 with 1:29 remaining. Quarterback Graham Harrell powered the Red Raiders down the field, getting to the 28-yard line with eight seconds left for a potential game-winning field goal. But Tech, still with one timeout, had time for one last play and took a chance with Harrell flinging the ball to the sideline where junior receiver Michael Crabtree hauled in the catch, shook off a defender and scrambled into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown. If there was a roof on top of The Jones, it would have exploded.
Except there was one issue: There was one second left on the clock.
The field was cleared, security lowered the goalposts and the play still needed to be reviewed. Once it was confirmed—you guessed it—the fans rushed their way back on the field, meaning security had to do its job all over again.
Tech was penalized heavily for the field storms and had to kick off from its own 7-yard line. Fans were pushed back off the field, but not all the way to their seats as they were just too unruly by that point. Everyone waited one last final second for the clock to hit triple zeros, at which point the crowd rushed the field all over again. Leave it to the indomitable Brent Musburger to nail the scene: “No more penalties for this crowd.” —Z.K.
9. Oklahoma at Ohio State, 2017
When they locked horns for a home-and-home series in the mid-2010s, the Buckeyes and Oklahoma had not played each other in football since 1983. The 2016 game was no contest: Ohio State, riding an astounding four-touchdown performance from wide receiver Noah Brown, demolished the Sooners 45–24 in Norman, Okla. The game turned out to have seismic CFP stakes: It gave a trump card (and berth) to a Buckeyes team that didn’t win their division, while Oklahoma couldn’t neutralize it with an undefeated romp through the Big 12.
The 2017 season was a different story. In Columbus, the two teams fought to a 3–3 halftime draw before the Sooners pulled away to a 31–16 victory behind quarterback Baker Mayfield’s trio of second-half touchdown passes. Sealing his Oklahoma legend forever, Mayfield punctuated the victory by seizing a large Sooners flag and driving it into the Ohio Stadium turf. The incident popularized that specific victory gesture, which would rear its head in Columbus again seven years later … —Patrick Andres
8. Texas vs. Texas A&M, 2011 and ’24
Realignment has deprived us of a number of hate-filled rivalries over the years, but the loss of Texas and Texas A&M for a 13-year stint was one of the biggest. A&M, ahead of the curve, fled for the revenue in the SEC and no one handled it well: not Texas, not A&M, not state legislators and certainly not the fans.
What unfolded over the next decade-plus was constant bickering over scheduling, who said what when and general angst. Through various coaching and athletic director regimes, there was always some whisper of one side trying to get the rivalry back on the books, only for someone on the other side to blast them in the press or on social media. The best one-liner of the bickering came from Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp upon hearing the news that Texas would start selling beer and wine at its stadium. “Our athletic program has not reached the point where we require the numbing effects of alcohol,” Sharp said at the time in 2015.
Texas eventually shook the college football world in the next wave of realignment by announcing a move to the SEC, even though A&M AD Ross Bjork made clear he wanted his program to be the only school from the state in the league. That set the stage for a renewed rivalry in 2024 and after 13 years without a game, the crowd that arrived for that Saturday night matchup at Kyle Field had the juice.
The Longhorns would win that matchup in a slugfest and get the better of the undefeated Aggies in ’25. Thankfully for college football fans, the Lone Star Showdown has resumed its spot on the rivalry weekend calendar. —Z.K.
7. Michigan at Michigan State, 2018
Long a lightning rod for Michiganders’ class and occupational divides, the Wolverines and Spartans’ feud turned more sinister in the late 2010s. Example: 2018, when Michigan had revenge on its mind after a rain-soaked 14–10 upset loss to Michigan State a year prior. The Wolverines’ defensive leaders that year were lineman Rashan Gary, lineman Chase Winovich, and linebacker Devin Bush—the last of whom decided to make some mischief before kickoff against the Spartans.
Still clad in street clothes almost two hours before kickoff, Bush spent about 30 seconds attempting to ruin Michigan State’s midfield logo—one of numerous altercations between the two teams that morning. Michigan wound up doing most of the talking on the field as well, beating the Spartans 21–7 thanks to a 395 to 94 advantage in total yards. —Patrick Andres
6. South Carolina at Clemson, 2004
The game now known as the Palmetto Bowl has long been one of college football’s most heated, yet unheralded, rivalries. The 2004 edition of the game, played at the Tigers’ Memorial Stadium, pit two programs floating around .500 against one another, and yet the atmosphere was tense from before the opening whistle.
One night after the infamous Malice at the Palace brawl in the NBA between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers, and shortly after Gamecocks coach Lou Holtz informed the team that it would be his final year coaching, a group of South Carolina players set the stage for the hostilities, gesturing toward their Clemson counterparts who were preparing for the program’s traditional run down the hill, leading to a bit of pregame shoving.
The game itself was filled with dirty plays and cheap shots from both sides, with Tigers and Gamecocks alike agreeing that the officials failed to take control of the game. The pent-up anger came to a head in the fourth quarter, when after an incomplete pass on fourth-and-11 with 5:48 left to play, South Carolina quarterback Syvelle Newton was hit late by Clemson defensive end Bobby Williamson.
The hit led to more shoving, and eventually the two full rosters were engaged in combat across the field, as the soon-to-be-retired Holtz and Tigers coach Tommy Bowden struggled to separate their teams.
The game was ultimately delayed, as state troopers worked to break the teams up, and Clemson would win their third straight game in the series 29–7, though the final score has been fully overshadowed by the on-field extracurriculars at this point.
Both teams would self-impose bowl bans, effectively ending Holtz’s Hall of Fame career on a deeply sour note. —D.L.
5. Mississippi at Tennessee, 2021
The clear antecedent to what we’ll see in Oxford on Saturday: Kiffin’s return to Tennessee, the program he cut and ran on after just one year as head coach in 2009. Kiffin took over the Volunteers guns-a-blazing, a brief tenure that set the stage for the rule-shirking run he’s had in Baton Rouge so far, but quickly fled for USC when the Trojans’ job opened with his mentor Pete Carroll leaving for the NFL.
His failure in Los Angeles knocked Kiffin down a few rungs in the coaching world, and after a stint on Saban’s staff at Alabama and three years leading FAU, Kiffin reemerged as an SEC head coach at Ole Miss. In 2021, his second year with the Rebels, he returned to Knoxville for the first time as opposing head coach, and despite the fact that more than a decade had passed since he left the Vols, the resentment was still clearly fresh.
Late in the fourth quarter of a 31–26 Ole Miss road win, home fans began throwing debris on the field in Kiffin’s direction, including beer cans, a golf ball and, most famously, a mustard bottle, causing a delay of nearly 20 minutes.
Kiffin has cracked jokes about this game since, but it was a pretty dangerous situation on the field at the time. Now shorten the timeline from 12 years to just a few months, and add in the stakes of this Ole Miss situation. Tennessee was at the start of a rebuild, going 7–6 with a 4–4 record in the SEC before he left for USC. Last season’s Rebels were on the doorstep of the College Football Playoff and ultimately made a run to the semifinals. The scenes from Neyland Stadium in 2021 are a big reason why there is concern about what will transpire at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday night. —D.L.
4. FIU at Miami, 2006
In 2004, the Hurricanes’ monopoly on Division I-A football in the Miami area ended as Florida International began play with a Vice City mailing address. The Golden Panthers, as they were then known, quietly took up residence in the Sun Belt (alongside top-division newcomer Florida Atlantic). They won three games in ’04 and five in ’05, but slid to 0–6 to start in ’06 (including a septuple-overtime loss to North Texas). And then they played the Hurricanes.
Miami, navigating its own lost weekend (it’d end the season in the MPC Computers Bowl), led Florida International 14–0 in the third quarter when all hell broke loose. A Hurricanes unsportsmanlike conduct penalty led to two Golden Panthers appearing to attack Miami quarterback and holder Matt Perrelli, which in turn ignited an all-out brawl requiring police to separate. As memorable as the fight itself: Ex-Hurricanes wide receiver Lamar Thomas egging his old team on from the Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast booth, declaring that, “You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked.” Miami won 35–0, and what had been intended as an annual series has been contested just three times since. —P.A.
3. Michigan at Ohio State, 2024
A string of particularly charged games between the Wolverines and Buckeyes hit a fever pitch in 2024 with one of the series’ greatest upsets. Ohio State entered the last game of the season No. 2 in the country; Michigan limped in at 6–5 just a year after winning the national title. The Wolverines stymied the Buckeyes for almost the entire contest, holding them scoreless for the duration of the second half and winning on a 21-yard field goal from kicker Dominic Zvada with 45 seconds to play.
The real action unfolded after the game, however. When a group of Michigan players attempted to plant a Wolverines flag in the frigid Ohio Stadium turf, a group of Ohio State players took exception, and a tussle ensued. Columbus’s police department responded by bombarding both teams with pepper spray, and television viewers saw members of both teams rubbing their eyes. The Buckeyes shook off the loss and subsequent embarrassment to win the national championship; their 27–9 win over Michigan in 2025 was a markedly quieter affair. —P.A.
2. Texas A&M at Baylor, 1926
Like Wyoming and Colorado State, 1899 marked the first meeting of Baylor and Texas A&M, two future Southwest and Big 12 Conference foes situated about 90 miles apart along the Brazos River. The 31st meeting between the two Texas programs came in 1926, and put the rivalry on pause due to tragedy that occurred at halftime of the game.
Texas A&M’s cadets would traditionally perform a halftime military calisthenics routine during the games, annually staged in Waco in the late 1910s through 1926. During a halftime homecoming show put on by Baylor students, an Aggie cadet rushed toward a float pulled by a Ford car, in what he later said was an attempt to steer it away from the rest of the cadets, after A&M had taken exception with a display the year before. The commotion caused some of the women riding on the float to fall off of it, causing other Baylor students to rush the field as well, ultimately resulting in a brawl.
“The two sides started fighting. They used folding metal chairs as well as two-by-fours and one-by-fours that were used as yard markers,” Baylor archivist Tommy Turner Sr. said, per the Houston Chronicle. “Some Aggies suggested there were a lot of one-by-fours that just happened to be there. They thought the Bears were expecting trouble.”
One cadet, Charles M. Sessums, died the day after the game as a result of a serious injury sustained in the brawl. According to the Chronicle, the cadets were so incensed that they planned to bring a cannon by rail from College Station to attack Baylor’s campus, until they were stopped by Texas Rangers.
All athletic events between the two schools were put on pause for five years, resuming only in 1931, this time in College Station. The series was played, without interruption, from 1945 to 2011, when the Aggies departed the Big 12 for the SEC. The two sides haven’t met on the gridiron since. —D.L.
1. Miami at Notre Dame, 1988
Two undefeated teams. Two top-five-ranked teams. The defending national champion Hurricanes, who had won 36 straight regular-season games, against the fourth-ranked Fighting Irish.
The Oct. 15, 1988, game pitting Miami against Notre Dame had a little bit of everything, especially bad blood between the programs. The Fighting Irish were out for revenge after getting embarrassed by Miami 82–7 in the last two meetings. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes had a bone to pick with the Fighting Irish after a Notre Dame student created T-shirts that read, “Catholics vs. Convicts,” essentially depicting the Hurricanes as thugs and the Fighting Irish as choir boys.
So you could say there was much anticipation—and tension—in the air when the two teams took the field. What ensued before the battle between the lines was an all-out brawl in the tunnel, as punches were thrown, helmets were torn off and a massive scrum of Fighting Irish and Hurricanes players came together.
The preceding tension and bad blood bubbling to a head is remembered just as much as the game, which was an instant classic. The back-and-forth affair came down to the final minute, when Miami coach Jimmy Johnson decided to go for a two-point conversion and the win down 31–30 after a Hurricanes touchdown.
Notre Dame safety Pat Terrell broke up Miami quarterback Steve Walsh’s pass, and the Fighting Irish were victorious. —T.C.
Editor’s note: Sports Illustrated writers Pat Forde and Bryan Fischer contributed to this list and ranking.

Four Colorado residents made the Forbes 400 List of the richest Americans this year despite a more expensive admission ticket into the elite club.
Surging technology fortunes, especially in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, raised the total wealth of the 400 richest Americans from $6.6 trillion a year ago to $8 trillion in this year’s ranking, according to Forbes.
Wealth has risen so much that 590 U.S. billionaires didn’t make the cut, including the only Colorado woman on last year’s list — Patricia Stryker of Fort Collins, whose grandfather built a long-lasting fortune selling medical equipment. Stryker, founder of the Bohemian Foundation, was on last year’s list with a net worth of $4.1 billion.
Philip Anschutz remains Colorado’s wealthiest resident with an estimated net worth of $19.3 billion, which ranked him the 60th highest in the U.S. and 143rd in the world. Anschutz built on early successes in oil and gas to purchase railroads, including the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad and Southern Pacific Railroad, and leveraged that investment to build a national fiber optic network, Qwest Communications.
Railroad ownership also opened the door to highly valuable land holdings in city centers. Anschutz Entertainment now owns more than 70 arena and concert venues around the globe, including Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
A big soccer fan, Anschutz cofounded Major League Soccer. He has significant stakes in the LA Galaxy, as well as the city’s hockey franchise, the LA Kings. Closer to home, Anschutz owns the Broadmoor Hotel and the Gazette newspapers in Denver and Colorado Springs.
Anschutz’s holdings have benefited from a surge in the value of entertainment assets and sports franchises, driving a 78% increase in his net worth since 2023.
Charlie Ergen, founder and chairman of EchoStar, a satellite television and wireless company, has seen his wealth go on a wild ride this decade. Ergen amassed large amounts of wireless spectrum and for years rode high on Dish TV.
In 2017, Forbes pegged Ergen’s wealth at $18.3 billion, but by 2024 it has fallen to $1.4 billion, a 92% decline. That drop results from a feverish and capital-draining race by EchoStar to build a national cellular network from scratch. The network didn’t come together soon enough for federal regulators, who accused the company of squatting on valuable wireless capacity.
AT&T and SpaceX, owned by the country’s richest man, Elon Musk, stepped in to buy large chunks of the valuable spectrum, allowing EchoStar shares to recover. SpaceX, which briefly made Musk a trillionaire after its initial public offering before coming back to earth, also offered some of its shares in payment.
Ergen, at the 101st spot with a net worth of $12.8 billion, has essentially hitched a ride on the SpaceX rocket captained by Musk, who has a mind-boggling net worth of $908 billion.
Mark Stevens is Colorado’s third-wealthiest resident and ranks 120th overall with a net worth of $11.8 billion, largely accumulated through his role as a partner in the venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, an early investor in tech hits like Google, PayPal and LinkedIn.
Stevens left Silicon Valley behind for a home base in Steamboat Springs in 2020, where he oversees S-Cube Capital, which was an early investor in graphics chip maker Nvidia, one of the big beneficiaries from the artificial intelligence boom.
Stevens has seen his net worth rise 228% since 2023, largely because of his Nvidia shares. Last year, he put some of his wealth to work in Steamboat Springs, where he purchased the newly constructed Riverview Apartment Complex for $95.3 million.
Initially intended as high-end, luxury housing, Stevens slashed rents in the 104-unit development so workers in the Yampah Valley could live closer to their jobs.
John Malone, Colorado’s cable cowboy, rounds out the list in the 134th spot with a net worth of $11.4 billion. The long-time chairman of Liberty Media, who built his fortune in cable and entertainment holdings, stepped down at the start of the year.
Malone was a telecom engineer who became an unrivaled financial engineer, disassembling and reassembling a vast array of holdings. Liberty Broadband, which owned a 25% interest in cable giant Charter Communications, was bought out by Charter on Aug. 20.

On Wednesday, the announcement of 2027 Formula 1’s calendar left it open to grand prix drivers who want to compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours. This 24-round calendar leaves an ample one-week break for the 95th French endurance classic scheduled for 12-13 June. The two F1 races that follow Le Mans, Monaco and Portugal are also relatively close together, making it easy to travel between all three events.
While a collision has not occurred, it isn’t clear that Max Verstappen and Lando Norris will be able to race at Le Mans in 2019. They still have to overcome a few obstacles to be the first grand prix racer since Fernando Alonso who races at Le Mans.
The Le Mans test day complication
Le Mans is not a clash, but there will be overlaps in the other races. The Le Mans Test Day on June 6 falls the weekend of the F1 Monaco Grand Prix.
According to the rules, rookies must participate in the Le Mans Test Day, which includes 10 laps around the Circuit de la Sarthe, including 5 timed laps.
The test day is now held on the weekend of F1’s largest race. This creates a number of issues. The Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACDO) and the FIA will not make such changes to the World Endurance Championship’s calendar to fit Verstappen. A change of this kind could have wider implications, causing headaches to full-time drivers in sportscars who compete in multiple championships.
F1 drivers who want to compete at Le Mans don’t have to participate in the Test Day. A Platinum driver who is competing in another motorsport series can request an exemption to Test Day under the Le Mans Supplementary Regulations. The driver must complete all mandatory laps on Wednesday during practice if the exemption is granted.
The ACO Sports Committee has granted such exemptions in the past to drivers competing in international championships. In 2021 Robin Frijns, despite his rookie status, was permitted to miss the Le Mans Test Day due to Formula E obligations. Nolan Siegel, Kyffin Simpson, and Nolan Siegel were also allowed to forgo the test in 2024 while competing in IndyCar in Road America.
Race winner #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050: Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Fernando Alonso
Paul Foster Photo
Theoretically, it is possible to complete both the Monaco GP and the Test Day. This plan would have them travel to Le Mans after F1 qualifying on Saturday, complete 10 laps of the track in the early morning, then fly from an airport near the circuit to Nice to arrive in time for 3pm.
This may seem audacious but Kyle Larson will attempt a double-header in 2025 by racing both the Indy 500 as well as the Coca-Cola 600 in the same race day. The NASCAR Cup driver drove with Arrow McLaren for IndyCar’s blue-ribbon event. This was done by permission of his Hendrick Motorsports.
While Larson’s double-outing shows McLaren Racing boss Zak brown is flexible, it may not be the case with Norris or Oscar Piastri. Brown was in a good position with Larson as it essentially meant he could loan a NASCAR driver to another team. Hendrick also had a solution for this in 2025 as Larson’s contract required him to end his Indy 500 race if he was delayed significantly in order to make it to Charlotte in time to start the Coca-Cola 600. Hendrick forced him to prioritize NASCAR, after rain delays caused him in 2024 to miss the Charlotte event.
Brown, who is likely to be a little reluctant to risk McLaren’s chances at the Monaco GP if Norris or Piastri are involved, may also not want the race that takes place on Saturday morning.
Third Car Dilemma
Teams must create room in their lineups for Verstappen or Norris, Fernando Alonso, etc., if they want them to compete at Le Mans. This problem can be solved in two different ways.
The first is to add a third car that will be focused on Le Mans. This allows teams and manufacturers to not disrupt their main two cars. Porsche used this strategy when they fielded Nico Hulkenberg and Earl Bamber in 2015 and went on to win the race.
This race was held in the midst of the LMP1 period, at a time when the manufacturers invested hundreds of millions of dollars in their WEC programs. Since then, the reality has changed and many Hypercar teams are finding that having an extra car is not worth it. Porsche and Cadillac also relied more recently on the IMSA Sportscar Championship teams for their additional entries in WEC’s Hypercar era.
McLaren and Ford will be entering Hypercars for the very first time in the next year. Running an extra car could prove challenging. They have both also resisted plans to compete in the IMSA. They have other reasons for not joining the North America-based Championship in the near future, but they are also concerned about the capacity of running two programmes.
Ford Hypercar
Ford Photo
McLaren runs its Hypercar Team in Partnership with United Autosports. Ford, on the other hand, is creating a new race team from scratch for its Hypercar efforts. A third Ford LMDh in 2027 seems unlikely. Ford also has six drivers in place for its Hypercar program, so Verstappen is out of the two cars. Ford may bench one of their full-timers but this is unlikely.
McLaren has not said either that it would enter a third vehicle at Le Mans in 2019. Additional cars must also be approved by the FIA, the ACO and subject to grid spacing restrictions.
There may still be room for Norris or Piastri in McLaren next year.
McLaren is likely to run two drivers for the six-hour race, but will have additional drivers in Qatar, Bahrain and Le Mans. This is a strategic decision that both Aston Martin Porsche followed in their Hypercar.
It is possible that a McLaren F1 racer will be at Le Mans in 2019. McLaren Hypercar has announced only two drivers so far: Mikkel Jensen, and Laurens vanthoor. Both were in attendance with Norris at Monday’s Portimao Test. Alex Lynn and Malthe Jacobsen have been heavily linked with the two remaining seats.
McLaren could only employ those four full-time drivers, and Norris may join for one or two of the longer races.
Verstappen could race in Le Mans if the Hypercar’s door is closed. His GT3 team competes currently in GT World Challenge Europe, and receives direct support from Mercedes.
Lando Norris, McLaren
McLaren Photo
Preparation for Le Mans
Even if these issues are resolved, the drivers will still require additional track time in order to be prepared for Le Mans.
Norris took a major step forward in this field when he signed up for McLaren Hypercar on Monday. He completed 38 laps of the Algarve Circuit in Portimao. McLaren would have planned its testing months ahead, and Norris could have also been involved well before the F1 schedule was finalised. It is likely that they knew the entire schedule at the time Norris drove the MCl HY in Portimao on Monday.
Testing would however not provide an F1 pilot with the experience they need to understand WEC sporting practices, such as full-course cautions, safety vehicles, and driving in LMGT3 or LMP2 traffic. A race experience would help a driver arrive prepared at Le Mans.
In the current situation, the 1812km Qatar season opener or the 6 Hours Spa do not clash with F1. The two races are the perfect proving grounds, as Qatar hosts the second longest race of the year and Spa is the unofficial dress rehearsal to Le Mans.
The workload is still a concern, as drivers will have to add to the already punishing F1 calendar two WEC races and possibly a test day.
Spa/Nurburgring: 24 Alternatives
#3 Mercedes-AMG Team Verstappen Racing, Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO: Max Verstappen
Jan Brucke/VLN
Le Mans is not the best option for someone who, like Verstappen, wants to expand his F1 horizons while remaining committed as a championship driver. The 2027 calendar provides a better alternative.
The 2027 F1 schedule does not conflict with either the Spa 24 Hours or the Nurburgring 24 Hours. Verstappen made his Nordschleife debut this year. After his heartbreaking late race due to mechanical problems outside of his control, Verstappen would love to come back in 2027 and mount another win bid.
Verstappen is not hiding his desire to compete at the Spa 24 Hours, where his team has been competing for many years.
In June of this year, he expressed his wish to race at Spa. I told them for next year. Let’s hope they can schedule it away from Formula 1 weekends.
While a Le Mans debut in 2027 is not out of reach, Norris, Verstappen, and their respective teams will need to demonstrate real commitment to making it happen. The 2028 debut could be easier, as both McLaren’s and Ford’s will have a full year of experience. There is always the possibility that F1 will clash with the calendar for 2027.