Coined as the "Oldest Rivalry in the South", the Capital Cup is one of the longest-running

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

rivalries in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Contested yearly between the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

Spiders Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight limbs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species di ...

and

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public university, public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III of England, William III and Queen ...

Tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

, only three rivalries in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

have more games played: Lafayette–Lehigh, Princeton–Yale, and Harvard–Yale.

History

The Capital Cup is one of the oldest collegiate

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

rivalries, played between the

and the

. The yearly contest is the fourth-most-played game in Division I college football, and through the 2024 match-up has been played 135 times. Though starting six years later than what is more commonly called the

South's Oldest Rivalry The South's Oldest Rivalry is the name given to the North Carolina–Virginia football rivalry. It is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Virginia Cavaliers football team of the University of Virginia and the Nor ...

between Virginia and North Carolina, this rivalry between Richmond and William & Mary was more often played twice per year in its early days instead of just once. In 1905, it was played three times. Played nearly continuously since 1898, there have only been four years that the game did not occur: 1900, 1902, 1943, and 2020.''The Collegian'' – UR defeats W&M 23–20
. Retrieved on November 28, 2008. The game had until recently been dubbed the I-64 Bowl, from 1984 though 2008. Beginning in 2009, however, the game was officially renamed the Capital Cup, for which a new trophy was created. The Capital Cup name was chosen to honor the entire 119-game history of the rivalry between the two schools and the status of the two cities as two of the historic capitals of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The match-up is typically played as the final regular season game for both teams, but for many years used to be played on

Thanksgiving Day Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

. The November 21, 2009, game marked the 119th meeting between the schools. The Richmond win placed the all-time record at 59–55–5, remaining in favor of William & Mary. The Richmond Spiders won this inaugural Capital Cup by a final score of 13–10, simultaneously giving Richmond a share of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Football Conference season championship. Placekicker Andrew Howard converted a game-winning 48-yard field goal as time expired. Then, in 2010, William & Mary clinched a share of the conference with the Capital Cup win. The Tribe had to beat Richmond and have Villanova upset Delaware in order to share the championship with Delaware, and both of those results occurred. With CAA Football not playing in fall 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the Spiders and Tribe did not meet during a calendar year for the first time since 1943. Instead, the two teams were scheduled to meet twice in the spring of 2021 as part of a pared-down schedule of conference games, although the second meeting ended up being canceled due to COVID-19 related protocols. On May 14, 2024, Richmond announced they were moving to the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising primarily leading Private university, private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United ...

as a football only member beginning in the 2025 season. The two teams scheduled a non–conference game for 2025, and further announced an extension of the series through the 2030 season. On April 25, 2025, William & Mary announced that were moving to the Patriot League as an associate member for football beginning in the 2026 season, while 20 of their 22 sports teams will remain in the CAA.

Trophy

The I-64 Trophy was the trophy that went to the winner of the annual William & Mary versus Richmond football game from 1984 through 2008.College Football Rivalries Q-R
Retrieved on November 27, 2008.
. Retrieved on November 11, 2009.
"Up Next: The Spiders bring the 2008 regular-season to a close next Saturday with the I-64 Trophy on the line at William & Mary." Retrieved on November 28, 2008. Both Division I schools participate in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (F ...

(formerly Division I-AA). The name for the trophy came from

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at Interstate 70, I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and U.S. Route 61, US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern ter ...

, which connects the schools through the short distance between

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

and

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

. The I-64 Trophy was replaced in 2009 with the Capital Cup, which honors the entire history of the rivalry between the two schools and the status of the two cities as the last two capitals of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Game results

Game MVPs

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

(MVP) Award was established 2009, coinciding with the rivalry's renaming to Capital Cup.All-time results
. University of Richmond Spiders football. Retrieved on November 12, 2009.

Notes

References