This is the rivalry that isn't. At 3:30 tomorrow afternoon, Penn State and Michigan State will meet at Spartan Stadium in an engineered series, for a trophy that's ... well ... obscure.
The Land Grant Trophy.
"From what I can remember, it's heavy," guard Rich Ohrnberger said this week. "I haven't seen the Land Grant Trophy recently. I know it's around. I don't know."
The Land Grant Trophy is a big veneered wooden box with some shiny miniature statues affixed on top. As ugly as it may be, it's the object of Penn State's desire tomorrow.
"It's for a piece of hardware; it's for a trophy," wide receiver Terrell Golden said. "No matter what guys say about how the trophy looks, they want to win."
What's also at stake for Penn State (8-3, 4-3 Big Ten) is a sliver of an opportunity at a New Year's Day bowl game, which has been the goal since the Ohio State loss. That chance will be partially predicated on the outcome of this weekend's Ohio State-Michigan game and largely the fancy of the bowl representatives.
That mission has been altered as of yesterday morning. In a season already marred with legal trouble, Penn State had two more players, defensive tackle Chris Baker and linebacker Navorro Bowman, become mixed up in a bout of legal trouble in connection with a recent on-campus fight. Baker is coming off one of his best performances last weekend at Temple, and Bowman has seen plenty of in-game action this season.
Baker, Bowman and Knowledge Timmons, involved and charged in the same on-campus fight, will not make the trip this weekend.
The charges overshadow a weekend during which Joe Paterno could tie Bobby Bowden for all-time head coaching Football Bowl Subdivision victories. Bowden's Florida State team would need to lose.
On the other hand, Michigan State (6-5, 2-5) is looking to save face in the conference on its Senior Day. The Spartans have been unfortunate all season, losing each of their games by a touchdown or less -- including two overtime defeats.
"It's kind of sad being your last game and all, but it'll be nice if we can go out and get a win against Penn State," Michigan State offensive tackle Mike Gyetvai said. "We haven't beat them since 2003, so that'll be a great way to go out."
And, of course, it's an opportunity for the Spartans to take back the Land Grant Trophy, which spends its time with the winner each season.
"Maybe the only good thing coming out if we lose is they'll let Michigan State have it for it a year," Penn State historian Lou Prato said. "It's an ugly trophy."
Prato said the trophy came from the times when former president Abraham Lincoln designated land grants -- plots of acreage -- under the Morrill Act for universities to educate in agriculture, mechanical arts and military tactics.
What became Michigan State University was the first land-grant school, Prato said, Iowa State was the second, and Penn State was the third.
So, when Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993, the rivalry between the Spartans and Lions was inorganically created as well as the Land Grant Trophy to celebrate the victor.
"I don't know if we view it as a rivalry or what," Ohrnberger said. "The best way I can answer this question is we view it as the most important game of the season because it's the game we're about to play."
Prato could not say definitively who designed the trophy. But some would say it hasn't exactly been an artistic marvel, he said.
To the players, that's OK.
"It's something when you come back and you take a look at it, you can see when I was here we did this and that," Golden said. "It's more so a pride thing, [even though] it might not look too good."
