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Telephone Trophy
Posted: 10.13.2011 at 4:07 PM
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Tom Loeffler
Tom Loeffler is a sports columnist for connectmidmissouri.com and KRCG.
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The Missouri Tigers host the Iowa State Cyclones at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The winner gets the Telephone Trophy.
Cheer here.
Some traditions just need to go away.
Here's the history of the Telephone Trophy, ripped straight from Wikipedia:
Before the 1959 match-up between the schools, which took place in Ames, field testing showed the telephones used to communicate with their coaches in the coaches box were wired in such away that the schools could hear what was going on on the other sideline. The problem was fixed before the game, but neither of the coaches knew that.
Northwestern Telephone Company of Ames then decided to have a trophy made to commemorate the incident, and thus the Telephone Trophy was born.
The trophy consists of an old rotary telephone that sits atop a tall wooden base. The receiver of the telephone is painted half yellow and half red (yellow for Missouri, red for Iowa State). A large metal plate on the base of the trophy shows the complete results for each Telephone Trophy game.
Then again, the history of the Telephone Trophy may be more interesting than the game itself.
Two teams trying to find themselves will meet at Faurot Field as the Tigers (2-3, 0-2 Big 12) host the Cyclones (3-2, 0-2) in Missouri's 100th Homecoming affair.
"I’m sure the intensity and the emotion from the crowd will really do a good job helping us," Missouri senior safety Kenji Jackson said. "I know it helps me play when the crowd is really into it; it’s fun to play in those type of atmospheres.
"It can be a spark for us and help us to victory."
The Tigers --- who have a losing record for the first time since 2004 --- could certainly use a spark.
"Obviously, we are disappointed with where we’re at right now," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. "I think any time you go through adversity, you look at where you’re at, what you need to do to get better, and you persevere, fight and battle through it.
"That’s what we’re doing. That’s what we’ve always done."
Iowa State has two wins of note, over Iowa and Connecticut. Missouri's two wins were basically lay-ups, against Miami (Ohio) and Western Illinois.
Still, the Tigers are a surprising 15-point favorites.
"You plan for one football game," Pinkel said. "You plan for tomorrow’s practice, and you do everything that day to make sure you are doing things to help you play better on Saturday. There's no magic out there. I don't wake up and think, 'Boy, I hope things work out, I hope we win.'
"That doesn’t work. I think obviously there is a lot of frustration and angst in our players, because they are used to winning at a high level. That’s OK, as long as it’s guided in the right direction to help fix our problems."
One of the Tigers' problems has been on the money down --- they're just 20-of-68 on third-down conversions (29 percent) this season.
"My only input is if you throw me the ball," junior receiver T.J. Moe said, "I'm going to get the first down. Everybody has their own things they are working on, ours are third downs and some other things."
Missouri, which is credited as the birthplace of Homecoming, is 57-37-5 in those games. The Tigers have won nine straight at home, which is tied for the third-longest streak in school history.
More importantly, they've won the Telephone Trophy seven of the last eight years.
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