Unrivaled Rivalries …

Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

With a new major college football play-off schedule in-play for this season, the post-season bowl games are up next.

You might call them the “also-ran-bowls” but if your team is involved, they can be fun.

But I might argue that the in-season rivalries might be better than many of the bowl games.

Being an Ohio native, I contend there’s nothing that rivals the final regular season game between THE Ohio State University and the University of Michigan.

It started in 1897 and was played annually from 1918 until 2020 when COVID got in the way.

The week prior to the game, Ohio State fans won’t even use the letter “M” and it will be crossed out with red tape on signs and such.

Michigan holds a slight edge in the overall series which, more often than not decided the conference title prior to the actual conference championship which started in 2011.

In a word…INTENSE.

But in my home for the last 30 years, the “Old Oaken Bucket” game has been ongoing for more than 125 years.

Traditionally, the Indiana and Purdue battle for the bucket started in 1891 and has been played annually since 1920.

The “Old Oaken Bucket” is actually made of oak and may have been used by General John Hunt Morgan and his raiders on a Civil War jaunt through southeastern Indiana.

The bucket holds a chain of metal block “I” or “P” letters linked together.

Purdue has a commanding edge in the overall series which, unfortunately, has not carried much significance nationally since one or both teams are usually bad.

I think it would be great that the “Old Oaken Bucket” game might someday decide the Big 10 championship.

The state of Indiana also lays claim to one of the oldest football rivalries, the “Monon Bell Classic” which first started in 1890 when DePauw and Wabash clash.

That’s 130 annual meetings.

It’s interesting to note that I found at least 12 different “bells” that are the prize in college games, including “The Bedlam Bell” (Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State), “The Victory Bell” (Missouri vs Nebraska) as well as USC and UCLA plus Franklin (IN) and Hanover.

There’s even a “Blue Key Victory Bell” up for grabs in the Ball State/Indiana State gridiron clash.

I counted at least 7 different “Governor’s Cup” football games across the country.

But there are some “odd” rivalry games, as well.

SMU and TCU fight over the “Iron Skillet”.

“The Wooden Boot” is the prize for the Louisiana/Louisiana Monroe victor.

Boise State and Fresno State wrangle over the “Milk Can” while Cincinnati and Louisville squabble over the “Keg of Nails”.

Michigan contests Michigan State for the “Paul Bunyan Trophy” and Minnesota for the “Little Brown Jug”.

Indiana and Michigan State go head-to-head for the “Old Brass Spittoon” while the winner of the Iowa State/Missouri clash dials up the “Telephone Trophy”.

Notre Dame has the “Shillelagh Trophy” to the winner of its’ game with Purdue while the “Jeweled Shillelagh” is the prize for the winner of the Irish game with Southern California.

The Oregon/Oregon State winner walks away with the “Platypus Trophy” but the “Old Hawg Rifle” is the objective for the Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State clash.

In northeast Ohio, Akron and Youngstown State fight over the “Steel Tire” but balancing is extra.

How’d you like to play in the Northwest Missouri State/Truman State game for the right to claim the “Hickory Stick”?

Carlton and St. Olaf fight it out for the “Goat Trophy”.

Dennison and Wooster vie for the “Old Red Lantern”.

My favorite might be the Iowa State/Kansas State gridiron clash, played uninterrupted since 1917, known as “Farmageddon”.

Stanford and California, when the band doesn’t enter the field early, fight it out for “The Axe”.

The “Crab Bowl Trophy” is the objective of the Maryland and Navy football game.

Florida and Georgia battle for the “Okefenokee Oar” with Fresno State and Hawaii rumbling for the “Golden Screwdriver”.

Mississippi and Mississippi State “scramble” for the “Golden Egg Trophy” in their football rivalry.

Even Ohio State and Illinois block and tackle for the “Illibuck Trophy”.

How about the “Megaphone Trophy” for the winner of the Michigan State/Notre Dame game?

The Citadel;/Wofford winner walks away with the “Big Dog Trophy” while Central Arkansas and McNeese are scrapping for the “50 Pound Iron Pot”.

Interestingly enough, I only found two schools, Hampden-Sydney and Randolph-Macon who square off to claim “The Game Ball Trophy”.

Of course, there’s Washington and Washington State who face off for the “Apple Cup Trophy”.

The wierdest trophy I stumbled across has to be in the Minnesota/Nebraska game, “The $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy”.

While Yale and Princeton have been squaring off since 1873, Ohio State versus Michigan is just referred to as “The Game”.