Victory Bell (Cincinnati–Miami)
 Logo of the 111th Battle of the Bell |
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| Sport | Football |
|---|---|
| Teams | |
| First meeting | December 8, 1888 Cincinnati 0, Miami 0 |
| Latest meeting | September 24, 2016 Cincinnati 27, Miami 20 |
| Next meeting | 2017 |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 121 |
| All-time series | Miami leads, 59–55–7 |
| Largest victory | Cincinnati, 46–0 (1904) |
| Longest win streak | Cincinnati, 11 (2006–present) |
| Current win streak | Cincinnati, 11 (2006–present) |
The Miami–Cincinnati Victory Bell is the trophy awarded to the winner of the American college football rivalry game played by the Cincinnati Bearcats football team of the University of Cincinnati and the Miami RedHawks football team of Miami University. The Victory Bell is the oldest current non-conference college football rivalry in the United States (though the teams were conference rivals for a few years in the late 1940s and early 1950s).
The Bearcats and RedHawks (formerly the Redskins) square off each fall for the famed Victory Bell. The first game in the series, played on December 8, 1888 in Oxford, Ohio, was the first college football game played in the state of Ohio. The original bell hung in Miami's Harrison Hall (Old Main) near the site of the first game and was used to ring in Miami victories. The traveling trophy tradition began in the 1890s when some Cincinnati fans "borrowed" the bell. The bell went to the winner of the annual game for the next forty years until it mysteriously disappeared in the 1930s. The original bell reappeared in 1946 and is on display in the lobby of Miami's Murstein Alumni Center. The current trophy is a replica of the original bell and is kept in the possession of the winning team each year. One side of the bell is painted black with white numbers showing Cincinnati's victories, while the other side is white with red numbers showing Miami's victories. Ties are indicated on the top of the red yoke in white numbers.
The Miami–Cincinnati series ranks fifth on the list of most-played rivalries in college football and is the oldest Division I rivalry west of the Allegheny Mountains. After the 2010–12 NCAA conference realignment led to the end of several historic rivalries, it is now the most-played currently active rivalry involving schools from the same state, and also holds the same distinction among inter-conference rivalries. Of the more than thirty college football rivalries that include at least 89 games, none is older than Miami vs. Cincinnati.
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