I got an email from Mike over at the jiMpossible and SarcasMike blog last week, showing me the work they’ve done on this. Pretty funny stuff.
The concept is simple: starting with the first college football game played between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869, what if the winner of that game won a mythical trophy that they held until they lost, passing the trophy to the team that defeated them, and so on? Could this chain be tracked all the way to today?
Mike has taken on the task and just posted the latest version of the chain (he’s working on a few clarifications in the 1920s and 1930s).
In the current revision, Michigan has held the mythical trophy eight times over history, the last time being in 2003 when they eventually surrendered it to Southern Cal in the 2004 Rose Bowl.
And the current “trophy holder”? The Florida Gators.
Here’s a snapshot of what it looks like:
8 Comments
Wolverine In Exile
So does this mean we’re the (WOOOO!) Ric (WOOOO!) Flair of (WOOOOOOOOOO!) College Football (WOOOOOO!) since we’re the 8-time, 8-time, 8-time heavyweight champion??
Greg (MVictors)
@Wolverine In Exile
Custom made baby!
Wolverine In Exile
@Greg (MVictors)
I’m a limousine ridin’, jet flyin’, kiss stealin’, wheelin’ dealin’ son of a gun. WOOOO!
andrew
for the record, it was easy enough to do a pivot on the table jimpossible and sarcasmike did. in order of times held:
13 – USC
10 – Harvard, Washington
9 – Princeton, UCLA
8 – Alabama, Michigan, notre dame
7 – ohio state, Tennessee, Yale
Others in the Big Ten
4 – Penn State
3 – Purdue, Wisconsin
2 – Illinois, Iowa
1 – Chicago, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern
Looks like Indiana is the only team never to have held this “trophy”
Gene
I love it! I wonder if it’s at all possible to to fashion some grand trophy, present it to the current “holder”, and get an awesome college football tradition rolling. Because this deserves to be real :)
Onas
Sweet, Bo took it from Woody in ’69.
Greg (MVictors)
Excellent
Mike
@Gene
Well, my dad has carved several trophies within our family for various pools (NCAA tournament, bowl season etc.) I had been thinking of having him work on something (of course I’d keep it – maybe send a photo to the current hoder). It would need a lot of space to track the path…