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For almost 20 years I have flooded the internet with my personal love for rivalry trophies throughout college football. No matter how dumb, ugly, or meaningless they may seem to Joe Fan — it’s the dumbness, ugliness, and the meaningless that makes college football great.
When it comes to Notre Dame’s collection of rivalry trophies (or traveling trophies if you prefer) there is a fine line that we have to walk. The Irish have five rivalry trophies; Purdue — The Shillelagh, Michigan State — The Megaphone, USC — The Jeweled Shillelagh, Boston College — The Frank Leahy Memorial Bowl, and Stanford — The Legends Trophy. There are also two other trophies; Navy — The Rip Miller Trophy, and The Ireland Trophy — Boston College.
So yeah… we’ve become a little selective when using the term, “rival” over the years (with or without a trophy). We’ve used phrases like “Big R” and “little r” and it makes a lot of sense. In the end, however, these things really come down to personal choice.
Do you consider Boston College to be a Notre Dame rival?
