Sports competitions of all types are known for awarding trophies to the winners. College football presents an award each season to conference champions, bowl game winners, and of course the crystal football to the university that wins the BCS National Championship game.
But, there are some very unique trophies in the world of NCAA football; some that are not what you might think of as a typical prize. Here are 3 of the oddest trophies handed out each year to the winner of a storied college football rivalry. These are definitely not your typical trophies.
Keg of Nails
When these two Midwestern colleges hook up for their annual gridiron wars, a unique traveling trophy will be hauled home as the spoils of victory. The University of Cincinnati and the University of Louisville, one from either side of
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It was said that the victor in this bitter rivalry game needed to be “tough as nails”.
Therefore, the winner of the game gets to take a full size wooden keg back to their university to put on display in their trophy case until next year’s battle. While not actually full of nails, the trophy, symbolic of an old keg of nails, is one of the larger trophies in the world of sports.
Platypus Trophy
In 1959 the two namesake state universities in Oregon kicked off their annual “Civil War” game. What do you get when you blend two school mascots - a duck and a beaver? Well, a Platypus of course!
The two-foot wide, 18-inch long platypus is carved out of maple wood. Since the platypus has a duck-like bill and a tail like a beaver, hence the idea for the Platypus trophy.
An odd twist to the story of the Platypus trophy is that since Oregon art student Warren Spady designed the first trophy, it has mysteriously disappeared multiple times over the decades. When it was stolen in 1962, the Platypus Trophy actually went missing for nearly 2½