The Governor's Victory Bell is an American

college rivalry Pairs of schools, colleges and universities, especially when they are close to each other either geographically or in their areas of specialization, often establish a university or college rivalry with each other over the years. This rivalry, whic ...

trophy contested between the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, and the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

of the

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

. Both teams are members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

. Minnesota is a founding member, since 1896, while long-

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

Penn State joined in 1993. The Governor's Victory Bell trophy was created to commemorate Penn States' first Big Ten conference game, against Minnesota, on September 4, 1993. The Governor's Victory Bell, alongside the Land Grant Trophy, is one of Penn State's two traveling rivalry trophies. It is Minnesota's fourth official trophy, behind the Little Brown Jug, Floyd of Rosedale, and Paul Bunyan's Axe, and ranks the Golden Gophers first in the Big Ten for number of in-conference rivalry trophies.

History

Minnesota and Penn State had never played a game prior to the later team's entrance into the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

in 1993. The long-

Nittany Lions were matched with the Golden Gophers for their first-ever in-conference game, and their first game of the 1993 season, on September 4 at

Beaver Stadium Beaver Stadium is a college football stadium on the campus of Pennsylvania State University in Penn State University Park. It has been home to the Penn State Nittany Lions football of the Big Ten Conference since 1960, though some parts of th ...

. A trophy to mark the occasion was established by Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson and Pennsylvania Governor Robert Casey, represented at the time by

acting Governor An acting governor is a person who acts in the role of governor. In Commonwealth jurisdictions where the governor is a vice-regal position, the role of "acting governor" may be filled by a lieutenant governor (as in most Australian states) or a ...

Mark Singel Mark Stephen Singel (born September 12, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 27th lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania from 1987 to 1995, alongside Governor Bob Casey. Singel served as the state's acting governor from June 14, 1993 t ...

. Singel presented an artist's conception of the prospective Governor's Victory Bell prior to the game. In 2013 Minnesota reclaimed the trophy after an interrupted four-game, nine-year losing streak, having last won vs. Penn State in 2004. The team accidentally broke the trophy in the ensuing celebration. In 2019, both teams were undefeated with Penn State ranked #4 and Minnesota #17. This was the first matchup in which both teams were ranked. The game went down to the wire and ended with a dramatic interception by the Gophers in their own end zone to win 31–26. Later that month the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

listed the matchup as a "Forced Rivalry" in their evaluation of the Big Ten's rivalries and 17 trophy games. The Big Ten conference expanded in 2024, adding four teams from the

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

conference. Tom Fornelli for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...

listed the Minnesota-Penn State game last in a new ranking of the league's 21 football rivalries, stating "This game has a trophy, so I included it in the rankings, but I don't know how many Minnesota or Penn State students are even aware that this is considered a rivalry."

Game results

Rankings are from the AP Poll.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minnesota-Penn State football rivalry College football rivalries in the United States Minnesota Golden Gophers football Penn State Nittany Lions football Big Ten Conference rivalries

History

Game results

See also

References