College Football Rivalry Trophies

Also check out The Best Rivalry in College Football.

The one thing that stands out about college football over any other sport is the traditions and rivalries. Not much can top the last week of the college football season when most of the games played are between two arch rivals, many who have been playing fifty, seventy-five, or even a hundred years. A lot of these rivalry games have names and award trophies to the winner so if you're not familiar with the names of the games or the trophies then here is a few of the ones you should know about.

The Apple Cup - The state of Washington is widely known for its apple crop so the annual match up between the Washington State Cougars and Washington Huskies was named the Apple Cup in 1962. Unfortunately for the Cougars this high stakes rivalry between East and West Washington has been dominated by the Huskies. Washington has won in 63 meetings and twice won eight years in a row. The Cougars have only won the meeting 29 times and have never won the game two years in a row.

Battle for Nevada - The Battle for Nevada is the annual meeting between the University of Nevada and UNLV and the winner is awarded the Fremont Cannon. The Fremont Cannon is a replica of a howitzer cannon that explorer John C. Fremont hauled west and then abandoned in a snowdrift in the Sierra Nevada. The cannon was built by the Nevada Mines Division of the Kennecoot Copper Corporation and was refurbished in 2000 when UNLV fans damaged it during a post game celebration. Nevada leads the series sixteen wins to UNLV's fourteen.

Battle of the Golden Boot - The Battle of the Golden Boot is the annual match up between Arkansas and LSU. The two teams have been playing since 1901 but it wasn't until 1996 that they decided to create a trophy for the rivalry game. The trophy itself is an outline of the states of Arkansas and Louisiana which forms a boot shape, hence the name the Golden Boot. The Golden Boot is 175 pounds and is believed to be the heaviest trophy awarded in College Football rivalry games. LSU leads the overall series 32 - 17 - 2, but since the Golden Boot was created in 1996 their lead is 7 - 3.

The Big Game - The Big Game is the battle between the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University in which the Stanford Axe is awarded. The Stanford Axe first appeared in 1899 during a Stanford rally when the axe was used to decapitate a straw man dressed in blue and gold ribbons, the team colors of the California Golden Bears. Two days later Stanford took the axe to a Cal-Stanford baseball game in which Stanford lost. Stanford lost the game and series and started to think the axe was actually a curse and wondered if they should dispose of it. While they were debating it a Cal fan grabbed the axe and ran off with it. The Stanford students chased the Cal students through the streets of San Francisco but never did capture the axe back. Cal held the Axe for the next 31 years and to ensure they kept it they placed it in a bank vault and used an armored car to bring it to games. However, in 1930 a group of students called the Immortal 21 decided to get the Axe back. Four Stanford students went to a Cal rally posing as photographers. They used the flashes from their cameras to temporarily blind the person watching over the axe while other Stanford students, posing as Cal students, filled the room with tear gas and smoke bombs. A few other Stanford students posed as Cal students led search parties in which they threw the Cal students completely off track. For three years Stanford held the axe before the two sides came together in 1933 and agreed to make the Stanford Axe a trophy to be awarded to the winner of the Big Game. Since the Stanford Axe was rewarded to the winner, Stanford leads the series 37 - 30 - 3.

Commander in Chief's Trophy - The Commander in Chief's Trophy is the first rivalry trophy in which one of three teams can win. It was first awarded in 1972 when General George B. Simler wanted something to ensure that the Air Force's games against Navy and Army meant more than their other games. The trophy has three silver footballs joined together to represent the three games played between the three teams. The three footballs rise above figurines of a goat, a falcon and a mule, the mascots of the three academies. Each side has the crest of one of the three academies and a plaque with the years they won engraved on them. Air Force has won the series sixteen times, Navy has won eight times, Army six times and four years they each went 1 - 1 so the title was shared. In the past few years two other three way trophies had been created like the Commander in Chief Trophy. The first was the Florida Cup in 2002, which was awarded to the winner of the games between Florida, Florida State and Miami. It was won all three years by Miami but the cup was not held in 2005 and won't be held this year because Miami and Florida don't play every season. The third three-way trophy, the Michigan MAC Trophy, is awarded to the winner of the Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Western Michigan games. The difference between the first two and this one is that the Michigan MAC Trophy is awarded to any team that beats the other two in any sport. Western Michigan was the first winner of the trophy when it beat the other two in football and then Western Michigan retained the trophy by beating both in Men's Basketball this year.

Floyd of Rosedale- In the year 1935, emotions were running high going into the Minnesota Gophers and Iowa Hawkeyes game. A year earlier Iowa's star player left the game with an injury and the Iowa fans thought they had intentionally hurt him because he was black. Hundreds of Iowa fans sent Minnesota's coach threatening letters saying they were going to riot. Even the Governor jumped in saying that Iowa's team and fans aren't going to take any foul play. Minnesota's Governor, Floyd Olson, decided to lighten the mood and instead of threats of rioting he proposed a wager between him and the Governor of Iowa. Olson said, "Clyde, if you seriously think Iowa has any chance to win, I will bet you a Minnesota prize hog against an Iowa prize hog. You are getting odds because Minnesota raises better hogs than Iowa." The Iowa governor accepted and both sides played a hard fought, but clean game. Minnesota won and Governor Herring was given a prize hog which he named Floyd after the Minnesota Governor. Eventually Floyd the hog passed on to the big pigpen in the sky. The spirit of Floyd lives on in the form of a bronze statue of the prize hog. Every year since 1935 Minnesota and Iowa play for the bronze hog with Minnesota winning 38 times and Iowa winning 31 times.

The Little Brown Jug - In 1901 Fielding Yost took over the head coach position for the Michigan Wolverines and the team went on a 28 game winning streak. Minnesota had assembled one of the best teams in history and was excited about possibly beating the Wolverines. Yost was afraid that Gopher fans would contaminate his water so he sent the student manager to get a five gallon jug so they could bring their own water. The Minnesota-Michigan game ended in a 6 - 6 tie but the Minnesota fans considered it a victory for ending Michigan's streak and stormed the field to celebrate. In the pandemonium the Michigan team quickly left the field leaving the jug of water behind. The next day the custodian found the jug and gave it to Minnesota's head of athletics. The score of the Minnesota-Michigan game was written on the jug and displayed in their trophy case. Yost Fielding wanted the jug back and sent a letter to Minnesota's athletic director asking for it but his response was "We have your little brown jug, if you want it, you'll have to win it." Unfortunately for Minnesota, Michigan did just that winning the jug back the very next year. The Little Brown Jug has been on the line in the Minnesota-Michigan game ever since and has been dominated by Michigan who has won the jug 66 times while Minnesota has only won it 22 times.

The Old Oaken Bucket - In 1925 alumni from Purdue University and Indiana University met to propose the idea of making a trophy for their rivalry game. Indiana alumnus Clarence Jones and Purdue alumnus Russel Gray were appointed to propose a suitable trophy. Their proposal was, "an old oaken bucket as the most typical Hoosier form of trophy, that the bucket should be taken from some well in Indiana, and that a chain to be made of bronze block "I" and "P" letters should be provided for the bucket. The school winning the traditional football game each year should have possession of the 'Old Oaken Bucket' until the next game and should attach the block letter representing the winning school to the bail with the score engraved on the latter link". Purdue leads the series 53 to 25 with three ties.

The Red River Shootout - Winning the Red River Shootout is like Christmas Day. You don't get just one trophy like the other rivalries you get three different gifts. The best known, and the only one given on the field after the game, is the Golden Hat. The Golden Hat trophy is a golden replica of a 10 gallon cowboy hat. In 2003 the Red River Rivalry trophy was created. The Red River Rivalry trophy is exchanged between the student bodies of the two schools. The trophy bears the image of the two states as well as miniature football helmets to represent both teams. Last is the Governors' trophy. Each year the governors' trophy is exchanged between the governors of the two states. The governors of Texas and Oklahoma often place a bet on the game such as the losing governor having to present a side of beef to the winning governor, who then donates the beef to charity. Texas has won the Red River Shootout 56 times to 39 Oklahoma victories and 5 ties.