The Battle for the Golden Horseshoe is an annual rivalry

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

game played between the

UC Davis Aggies The UC Davis Aggies (also referred to as the Ags or Aggies) are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Davis. Seventeen of the school's 25 intercollegiate sports - baseball, men's basketball, men's cross country, men's ...

and the

Cal Poly Mustangs The Cal Poly Mustangs are the athletic teams representing California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California. The university fields twenty-one teams and compete in NCAA Division I; they are primarily members of the Big West ...

. Although the two teams have met on the gridiron since 1939, the rivalry officially began in name with the 2004 game at Cal Poly. The winner of the game receives the Golden Horseshoe Trophy, which was also created in 2004 for the inaugural game. Due to a misunderstanding, both schools constructed a trophy for the rivalry and brought it to the inaugural game. The teams decided that the rivalry would adopt the trophy created by the winner of that game; UC Davis won 36–33 and was therefore allowed to make its trophy the official one to be exchanged in all subsequent meetings. UC Davis won the trophy in 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, March 2021, October 2021, and 2022 while Cal Poly took it in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016. UC Davis leads the all-time series 26–20–2. There is also controversy regarding the addition of gems to the trophy after each win. The Mustang Maniacs (today known as the Stang Gang after a student vote), the student group who holds the trophy while it is under Cal Poly's control, added blue and green gems to the trophy from 2006 to 2008. But when the Aggie Pack regained control of the trophy in 2009, they removed the gems, wishing to keep the trophy in its original condition. Both programs are based in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and both are primarily members of the non-football sponsoring

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

, while their football teams both play within the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

. Additionally, there are many key differences between the two institutions: UC Davis is located in northern California and is a member of the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

system, while Cal Poly is located in southern California and is part of the

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

system, giving the rivalry an element of culture clash. This balance of similarities and differences has given the rivalry a basis in respect between both institutions for their academic statures as well as often recruiting the same players. After being hired by

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, former Cal Poly head coach

Rich Ellerson Richard Emmet Ellerson (born January 1, 1953) is a former American football coach. He was the head football coach at Southern Utah University in 1996, at California Polytechnic State University from 2001 to 2008, and the United States Military Ac ...

compared the spirit of the Mustangs' rivalry with UC Davis to the rivalry between Army and

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

, commenting to the ''

Times Herald-Record The ''Times Herald-Record'', often referred to as ''The Record'' or ''Middletown Record'' in its coverage area, is a daily newspaper published in Middletown, New York, covering the northwest suburbs of New York City. It covers Orange, Sullivan ...

'': "We had a rivalry at Cal Poly with UC Davis, and I always would try to invoke the kind of rivalry we have with Army-Navy: a rivalry that's founded on respect as opposed to disdain."

Game results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle For The Golden Horseshoe Cal Poly Mustangs football College football rivalries in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 2004 UC Davis Aggies football Big Sky Conference rivalries 1939 establishments in California

Game results

See also

References