The Battle for the Old Mountain Jug was the name given to the

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

–

Western Carolina Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU was founded t ...

football rivalry, an American

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 ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

game that became dormant when Appalachian State left the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

and moved to the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

in 2014.

History

The Mountaineers and Catamounts first played each other in a football game in 1932. The two teams then played annually without interruption from 1946 to 2013. The trophy series began in 1976. The Old Mountain Jug, an old

moonshine Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...

jug, has been awarded to the winner since 1976. It is painted gold with Appalachian State's mascot, a

Mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

, and Western Carolina's mascot, a

Catamount The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...

, on opposing sides. Prior to the game in 1976, the idea was pitched of heightening the long-standing rivalry. The jug idea was presented to

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

of both universities and the Sports Information Directors were charged with drumming up media exposure. The jug was donated by Roby Triplett, the manager of the Appalachian State Bookstore. It weighs approximately 25 pounds and is capped with its original traditional

cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. Dee Triplett, Roby's wife, painted the jug. Excluding minor touchups, the jug and its logos have not been altered since their creation. In the mid-1980s, the series was mentioned as "the best football rivalry you've never heard of" by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

''; but after 1985, the series became one-sided, with Western Carolina winning only 2 of the last 28 meetings. The 1979 game was the second-ever live broadcast on the

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

sports network. With Appalachian's move to the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

of the

in 2014, the trophy was retired after 2013's contest. The Old Mountain Jug currently resides in a trophy case at Appalachian State.

Game results

The Appalachian State and Western Carolina rivalry dates back to 1932 with the Appalachian State Mountaineers holding a 59–18–1 advantage over the Western Carolina Catamounts. The two teams had squared off for 68 consecutive years since the game was suspended for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 1942–1945.

References

{{Southern Conference football rivalry navbox College football rivalries in the United States Appalachian State Mountaineers football Western Carolina Catamounts football 1932 establishments in North Carolina

History

Game results

See also

References