The Rivalry (Lehigh-Lafayette)
| Lafayette vs. Lehigh | |
| First meeting: | Lafayette 56, Lehigh 0 October 25, 1884 |
| Latest meeting: | Lehigh 45, Lafayette 21 November 19, 2016 |
| Next meeting: | November 18, 2017, Goodman Stadium, Bethlehem, PA |
| Total meetings: | 152 (most in college football) |
| Series record | Lafayette: 78–69-5 |
| Largest victory | Lehigh: 78–0 (1917) |
| Longest streak | Lafayette: 10 (1919–28) |
| Current streak | Lehigh: 2 win (2015-16) |
| Trophy: | None |
The Rivalry is an American college football rivalry game played by the Lafayette Leopards football team of Lafayette College and the Lehigh Mountain Hawks football team of Lehigh University. It is the most-played football rivalry in the nation and the longest uninterrupted annual rivalry series. As of 2016, "The Rivalry" has been played 152 times since 1884 with only a single interruption in 1896. The college's football teams met twice annually (except 1891, when they played three games, and 1896, when they did not play at all) until 1901. The two institutions are located seventeen miles apart in the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania. Though primarily alluding to football, "The Rivalry" pertains to a meeting between the two schools in all sports and other endeavors.
Despite popular belief, Harvard and Yale did not play The Game in four separate years during The Rivalry's current streak of 151 consecutive games. Furthermore, Lehigh and Lafayette met twice per season in 1943 and 1944 during World War II. The Rivalry is so old that it predates football trophies; the winning team just gets to keep the game ball. These are painted with the score and kept at the winning institution's campus. Lehigh displays its game balls in its athletic hall of fame, and Lafayette keeps its game balls at the official residence of its president. The evolution of the shape of the football can be seen in the displays of past game balls, since the early ones predate even the invention of the forward pass.
The football game is usually sold out months in advance and has inspired books and a PBS television documentary narrated by Harry Kalas. In 2006, ESPNU ranked The Rivalry No. 8 in their Top Ten College Football Rivalries, and Sports Illustrated has told its readers that seeing it "is something you have to do once in your life."
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