Battle for the Bell (Southern Miss–Tulane)

The Battle for the Bell is an American college football rivalry game between the University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles and Tulane University Green Wave football teams. The two schools are located about 110 miles from each other (Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Tulane in New Orleans, Louisiana) via Interstate 10 and Interstate 59, making for a heated game.

Battle for the Bell

Southern Miss Golden Eagles Tulane Green Wave
Sport	Football
First meeting	October 13, 1979 Tulane, 20–19
Latest meeting	September 24, 2022 Southern Miss, 27–24
Next meeting	September 16, 2023 in Hattiesburg
Statistics
Meetings total	33
All-time series	Southern Miss leads 24–9^[1]
Largest victory	Southern Miss 59, Tulane 6 (November 17, 2001)
Longest win streak	Southern Miss, 6 (1987–1992), (2003–2010)
Current win streak	Southern Miss, 1 (2022–present)

[Interactive fullscreen map]

Locations of Southern Miss and Tulane

Through the teams' most recent meeting in January 2020, Southern Miss holds a 23–9 lead in the series.^[2]

History

The two teams played annually from 1979 through 2006; both programs were independent through 1995, and both competed as members of Conference USA (C-USA) starting in 1996. In 1999, the series became a trophy game with the addition of the Bell.^[3] Following a reconfiguration of C-USA in 2006, the teams no longer met annually; they played in 2009 and 2010 as a cross-divisional conference match-up. The series then went on hiatus due to Tulane's move to the American Athletic Conference (AAC) in July 2014.^[4]

On April 13, 2017, the schools announced a return of the rivalry—a four-game football series between 2022 and 2027, the first game scheduled for Yulman Stadium in New Orleans.^[5][6][7]

Prior to the regular-season series resuming, the two teams met in the 2020 Armed Forces Bowl (January) played in Fort Worth, Texas, which was a 30–13 Tulane victory. The bell trophy, which had been in the possession of Southern Miss since 2003, was transferred to the Green Wave after the game.^[8][9]

Game results

Southern Miss victories

Tulane victories

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 October 13, 1979 Hattiesburg Tulane 20–19 2 September 6, 1980 New Orleans Southern Miss 17–14 3 September 19, 1981 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 21–3 4 October 16, 1982 New Orleans Southern Miss 22–10 5 October 22, 1983 Hattiesburg Tulane 14–7 6 October 13, 1984 New Orleans Tulane 35–7 7 November 23, 1985 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 24–6 8 October 25, 1986 New Orleans Tulane 35–20 9 September 19, 1987 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 31–24 10 October 8, 1988 New Orleans Southern Miss 38–13 11 October 7, 1989 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 30–21 12 October 13, 1990 New Orleans Southern Miss 20–14 13 October 19, 1991 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 47–14 14 October 15, 1992 New Orleans Southern Miss 17–7 15 November 6, 1993 Hattiesburg Tulane 17–15 16 September 3, 1994 New Orleans Southern Miss 25–10 17 September 30, 1995 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 45–0 No. Date Location Winner Score 18 October 26, 1996 New Orleans #24 Southern Miss 31–28 19 October 25, 1997 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 34–13 20 October 3, 1998 New Orleans #25 Tulane 21–7 21 September 6, 1999 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 48–14 22 October 14, 2000 New Orleans #16 Southern Miss 56–24 23 November 17, 2001 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 59–6 24 November 23, 2002 New Orleans Tulane 31–10 25 November 15, 2003 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 28–14 26 September 25, 2004 New Orleans Southern Miss 32–14 27 November 26, 2005 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 26–7 28 November 11, 2006 New Orleans Southern Miss 31–3 29 October 24, 2009 Hattiesburg Southern Miss 43–6 30 November 6, 2010 New Orleans Southern Miss 46–30 31 January 4, 2020 Fort Worth, TX Tulane 30–13 32 September 26, 2020 Hattiesburg Tulane 66–24 33 September 24, 2022 New Orleans Southern Miss 27–24 Series: Southern Miss leads 24–9^[1]

See also

• List of NCAA college football rivalry games

References

1. "Winsipedia - Southern Miss Golden Eagles vs. Tulane Green Wave football series history". Winsipedia.
2. "Southern Miss Golden Eagles vs. Tulane Green Wave football series history games list". Winspedia. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
3. "Tulane-Southern Miss Add Trophy to Intense Rivalry". Tulane University Athletics. August 11, 1999.
4. Nunez, Tammy (June 29, 2014). "Tulane to enter a bigger-money world when it joins the American Athletic Conference July 1". nola.com. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
5. "Tulane, Southern Miss schedule future four-game football series". FBSchedules. April 13, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
6. "Football Announces Four-Game Series with Southern Miss". Tulane Green Wave Athletics. April 16, 2017.
7. "USM to renew football rivalry with Tulane". Hattiesburg American. April 13, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
8. Phillips, Troy (January 4, 2020). "Tulane rings Bell in second half to win 17th Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl". armedforcesbowl.com. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
9. @ArmedForcesBowl (January 4, 2020). "The bell is on the move" (Tweet). Retrieved January 4, 2020 – via Twitter.