When Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 into law, he unknowingly created all that is great about college football. While the first college football game wouldn’t be played until four years after his assassination, Lincoln set forth the blueprint for college football rivalries.
Given life by Lincoln’s signature, colleges of agriculture and technology began to spring forth from the earth. The newly founded universities unsurprisingly became rivals with elder universities in all facets of life, and thanks to Mr. Morrill and President Lincoln we now have the essence of college football.
The two men gave us rivalries such as MSU-Michigan, Ohio State-Michigan, Auburn-Alabama, Purdue-Indiana, California-Stanford, Iowa State-Iowa etc.
These rivalries sprang out of hatred, location, and are decades old. However, on Saturday two Land Grant universities will square off in a rivalry that is forced and an embarrassment to the term rivalry.
Just as Indiana and MSU square off for the Old Brass Spittoon, MSU and Penn State square off for the ugliest trophy in college football -- the Land Grant Trophy. Thus, yes this is a rivalry too. An awful excuse for one at that.
The Land Grant Trophy, an ugly hodge-podge of collectible desk memorabilia, brings more shame to the universities than it should pride. It was the brainchild of legendary MSU coach George Perles and then MSU sports information director Ken Hoffman.
Perles reached out to then-Penn State coach Joe Paterno to try and add a little spice to the “rivalry” which was thrust upon the two by the Big Ten when Penn State first began competing in the conference in 1993.
The trophy stands about two feet tall and is in the range of 40 pounds. It’s an ugly chunk of broken desk, with pictures of the Penn State’s Old Main, and MSU’s Beaumont Tower. On top of the chunk is a football player reminiscent of your Pee Wee football trophy glory. Next are small scale models of Penn State’s Nittany Lion Shrine and MSU’s Spartan Statue or Sparty.
It’s plain, ugly and represents all that is wrong with this rivalry with Penn State and MSU.
This rivalry has no history like MSU and Michigan, or MSU-Notre Dame. MSU and Notre Dame have played 77 times and compete for the Megaphone Trophy. While not the most thrilling trophy,the two have played for it since 1949 and the series since the trophy’s inception is 34-26-1.
Michigan and Minnesota at least duke it out in the spirit of old heated rivalry over a jug that was left behind by in Minnesota by Michigan in the early 1900s. That’s a real rivalry trophy. It came out of the spirit of two juggernauts at the time trying to be the best. It wasn’t an asinine marketing failure.
This year will mark the 30th meeting between MSU and Penn State. The first time the two faced each other? 1914. I guess the only measure this could be a rivalry is that the series is split 14-14-1. But that’s hardly a measure of a rivalry.
There are no heated hard feelings toward either school from either end. I have never seen a Penn State fan snub his nose at an MSU fan or an MSU fan express the urge to bash a Penn State fan’s face into oblivion like he would a Michigan fan. Scoff no rivalry here.
RivalryTophy.com, a webste which sells replicas of Big Ten rivarly trophies doesn’t even have a Land Grant Trophy option for purchase.
Even the Big Ten, which stuck the two schools together and licenses the replicas couldn’t give two whits about it. When Nebraska joined the conference MSU and Penn State were put into different divisions and were not given protected rivalry status. So even the Big Ten got tired of its own failures.
For the love of all things college football, retire the trophy and the rivalry moniker. It has no value. I applaud Perles for trying to make something out of nothing but everything about this is a cheap excuse.
Ticket prices for MSU and Penn State are as low as $20 and one student put his ticket up for free on StubHub. A real rivalry costs $150 plus for the cheap seats. It won’t give anyone in attendance a feeling of overt superiority like it does when MSU defeats Michigan.
MSU and Penn State is in coach speak, just another game.
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