After a five-year hiatus, the trophy that signifies the rivalry between Michigan State and Penn State football will return.
From 1993 to 2010, the two teams have played the final weekend of the football season for the Land Grant Trophy.
After hiatus, Land Grant Trophy to return in 2015
The battle for the Land Grant Trophy will awaken in 2015.
The trophy honors the two universities as the oldest land-grant institutions in the nation.
Both universities were founded in 1855, Michigan State on Feb. 12 and Penn State on Feb. 22. The two universities were land-grant prototypes, which means that both schools taught agriculture, science, military science and engineering without excluding classical studies.
After Nebraska joined Big Ten as the league’s 12th member in 2011, the Leaders and Legends divisions formed.
Michigan State landed in the Legends Division, and Penn State in the Leaders — ending the traditional land-grant battle.
In the 2014-15 football season, another Big Ten expansion will add Maryland and Rutgers to the fray. This will allow MSU and PSU to reunite in the East Division and will revive the land-grant showdown.
The large and oddly shaped trophy takes at least two players to hoist and is embellished with a bronze Spartan, white Nittany Lion and gold football player on top. It also features pictures of Michigan State’s Beaumont Tower and Penn State’s Old Main.
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