Land Grant Trophy

The Land Grant Trophy is presented to the winner of the American college football rivalry game between Michigan State Spartans football team of Michigan State University and the Penn State Nittany Lions football team of Pennsylvania State University. The Spartans are the current holder of the trophy after beating the Nittany Lions 28-22 in 2010; the victory ensured that the Spartans won a share of the 2010 Big Ten Conference championship,^[1]

Series history

When Penn State joined the Big Ten Conference in 1993, the Nittany Lions and Spartans were designated as permanent rivals, and have played each other for the trophy in the last week of conference play. The trophy, designed by former Michigan State coach George Perles, features pictures of Penn State's Old Main and Michigan State's Beaumont Tower. Michigan State won the most recent meeting 28-22 on November 27, 2010, at Beaver Stadium State College, Pennsylvania. Currently, Penn State leads the overall series 14–13–1, though many of the games were played prior to Penn State joining the Big Ten and are thus not included in the trophy count.

With the addition of Nebraska to the Big Ten in 2011, Michigan State and Penn State were moved into different divisions and were no longer designated as rivals, meaning they would no longer play each other every year. Instead, Nebraska was designated as the permanent rival for Penn State, and Indiana was designated as the permanent rival for Michigan State. Penn State and Michigan State will now compete on average four out of every ten years until the expansion of the conference schedule to nine games beginning in 2017, at which point it will be on average of six of every ten years.[1]

Michigan State University and Penn State University are the nation's oldest land-grant universities, hence the name for the trophy. In 1955 on the 100th year anniversary of the founding of the land grant system, Michigan State and Penn State were commemorated on a U.S. postage stamp honoring the "First of the Land-Grant Colleges". These two universities were the first ever universities to be placed on a U.S. postage stamp.

They are the 2nd and 3rd most recently joined members of the Big Ten, after Nebraska, who joined in 2011. Fellow Big Ten members Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue and Wisconsin are also land-grant schools.

Game results

See also

• Other Michigan State traveling trophies:
  • Megaphone Trophy (with Notre Dame)
  • Old Brass Spittoon (with Indiana)
  • Paul Bunyan Trophy (with Michigan)
• Other Penn State traveling trophies:
  • Governor's Victory Bell (with Minnesota)

References

External links

• "Land Grant Trophy: a case of envy", Frantz, Jeff, The Daily Collegian, November 23, 2002