Victory Bell (North Carolina–Duke)
| First meeting | November 27, 1888 Duke 16, North Carolina 0 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | September 23, 2017 Duke 27, North Carolina 17 |
| Next meeting | 2018 |
| Trophy | Victory Bell |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 104 (70 trophy meetings) |
| All-time series | North Carolina leads, 58–39–4 One UNC forfeit, two UNC wins vacated |
| Largest victory | North Carolina, 50–0 (1959) |
| Longest win streak | North Carolina, 13 (1990–2002) |
| Current win streak | Duke, 2 (2016-present) |
The Victory Bell is the traveling trophy given to the winner of the annual football game between the Duke University Blue Devils and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. The game is worth two points in the yearlong Carlyle Cup between the two schools. North Carolina leads the series 58–39–4, with two wins vacated by North Carolina.
North Carolina and Duke first met in football in 1888, and the series has been renewed annually since 1922.
Two cheerleaders, Loring Jones of Duke and Norman Sper of North Carolina, were influential in the concept of the Victory Bell. Jones designed the model and Sper obtained the Bell from an old railroad train. North Carolina won possession of the first ever Victory Bell game with a 20–0 shutout victory at Kenan Memorial Stadium in 1948.
At one time, the series was every bit as heated as the basketball rivalry between the two schools. However, in recent years North Carolina has dominated the rivalry. The Tar Heels have won all but four meetings since 1990, including 13 in a row from 1990 to 2002. When Duke won the 2012 and 2013 games, it marked the first time that Duke won consecutive games in the series since winning three straight from 1987 to 1989. The bell is back with Duke for 2016, though, after a 1-point win over the Tar Heels. In 2017, Duke again defeated UNC, this time in Chapel Hill.
It has been a tradition as of late for the winner to spray-paint the platform of the trophy to match their school colors--Carolina blue for North Carolina and royal blue for Duke. After losing the Victory Bell in 2003, North Carolina came back the next year and beat Duke 40–17 in Duke's Wallace Wade Stadium. After the conclusion of the game, North Carolina football players immediately spray-painted the platform Carolina blue, leaving large amounts of Carolina blue paint residue on the track of the stadium. Whenever North Carolina has been in possession of the Victory Bell, cheerleaders wheel it out while ringing the bell at the same time the live ram mascot, Rameses, is brought out onto the field. The bell is also displayed in front of the students' section.
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