PROPOSAL:
Not every college football series is appropriate for a stand-alone article. This guideline, adopted by a consensus within the College Football WikiProject, is intended to provide guidance as to which college football series may be dealt with in a stand-alone article:
1. Traditional college football rivalries between NCAA Division I teams that have significant coverage in multiple, reliable, and independent sources. The type of coverage required is in-depth coverage dealing with the series as a rivalry and not simply WP:ROUTINE game coverage. Factors considered in determining whether a series may be considered a traditional rivalry include: (i) geographic proximity of the schools (intra-state or border-state series are more likley to be considered rivalries); (ii) the existence of a trophy [e.g.,Little Brown Jug] or an official name for the series [e.g., Red River Showdown]; (iii) competitiveness of the series (a competitive series is more likely to be considered a rivalry); (iv) length and frequency of play (series of short duration or which have been played infrequently are less likely to be considered rivalries); and (v) prominence of the programs (series played between prominent football programs are more likely to be considered as notable rivalries).
2. Series between Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams which have been played at least 80 times are presumed to be highly notable.
- (See list of qualifying series that currently do not have stand-alone articles: Most played FBS series without article. This is a reasonable measure of notability and affords a pretty strict limit that would permit no more than 35 additional stand-alone articles)
3. Series of shorter duration are deemed to be highly notable if the two teams have played (i) at least five games in which both teams were ranked in the top 10 in the AP Poll or Coaches Poll, or (ii) at least ten games in which both teams were ranked in the top 25 in the AP Poll or Coaches Poll.
- (A standard based on national polling would provide an objective standard and limit series articles to situations where the teams have played in multiple significant games. I haven't done a detailed number-crunch, but my estimate is that this would permit a relatively small number of additional stand-alone articles focused on highly notable series like Alabama-Florida football series.)