In 2003, Pontiac and Fox Sports Detroit joined forces with the Michigan and Michigan State Athletic Directors in order to spice up the in-state rivalry. They created a Pontiac Challenge Cup, which would be awarded to the winner of the rivalry each season.
They separated the Cup into three seasons: Fall, Winter, and Spring. Each school was awarded points for every victory they achieved against the rival school. For example, when Michigan beat Michigan State in football, they received one point.
At the end of each season, the points were totaled and the winning school received the Pontiac Challenge Cup.
Does this sound familiar? If you have never heard of it, that is because the Cup was disbanded two seasons ago after the spring of 2006.
Several fans have kept up with this rivalry as it tracks the results of all the sports, not just the major ones like football, basketball, and hockey.
While the major sports receive all the publicity, the minor sports count too in a rivalry. The Pontiac Challenge Cup highlighted all the sports and the rivalry.
Why was this such a joke? While Michigan State remained competitive in the major sports, they were blown out in the minor sports.
Many people don't know this, but Michigan Men's Swimming has won all but 5 out of 83 meets in their history against Michigan State.
Michigan has won the cup 13 times. They also have tied Michigan State twice, in which Michigan retains the cup. Michigan State would have finally won the cup for the first time this fall.
Michigan State won this fall's football, men's cross country, men's soccer, and women's volleyball, giving them over 3 points which is enough to win the Cup.
Now, is this rivalry really that competitive? Every rivalry has hatred, winners and losers, smack talk, and the right to "own the state". When one team consistently provides better athletics, how competitive can the rivalry actually be?
Outsiders can argue that Michigan State keeps this rivalry competitive because they won football this year and have good basketball and hockey programs.
The Pontiac Challenge Cup proves that despite the competitiveness in the major sports, the minor sports lack this greatly.
Many people will argue that the minor sports don't matter. Who cares about softball and gymnastics? A true fan. A true sports fan cares about every team from their school, so yes, minor sports matter.
Does the NCAA count golf, field hockey, and wrestling as sports? Did the University of Michigan celebrate when their softball team won the NCAA Championship in 2005? Yes, minor sports matter too.
Minor sports matter in a rivalry such as this. Give Michigan State credit - they are competitive with the well-known sports. When you want to claim that you own the state and are the better university, you need to prove it on all fields.
Michigan has year-in and year-out proven they deserve to own the state. If they promise their athletes they will beat the in-state rival and win championships, they come through with that promise.
They win the in-state recruiting battle as well. When you beat your in-state rival every year, high school athletes notice this. Why would a high school star want to be on the second-best team in the state?
The Pontiac Challenge Cup proved how much Michigan has owned Michigan State. That is why they got rid of the Cup in 2006. Why embarrass one school so much?
Congratulations Michigan, you own the Pontiac Cup. Good thing they retired it or it would finally have found a home in East Lansing this fall.
18 comments Last one added 5 months ago — Leave a Comment
Thorzilla 8 months ago
This is just a typical Wal-Mart Wolverine writing a horrible article to help cope with another pathetic performance last weekend.
No one cares about Michigan’s "minor sports". Can’t you just accept the fact that you're awful at football (and basketball) this year? I don’t see Auburn fans writing about how they have a better debate team than Bama or Texas A&M fans bragging about how their campus landscaping is superior to Texas. Does throwing around your rival’s men’s swimming record really make you feel more significant?
I can only look forward to you following up this journalistic abortion with UofM Women’s Field Hockey stats after you get blown out by the Gophers next week. Please do us all a favor and leave the sports blogging to those who have something interesting to say.
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Ryan Jelley 8 months ago
Actually alot of people care about all the Michigan sports you Jackass. Like Michigan's hockey team who is #5 in the country right now ortheir baseball team which is predicted to win the Big Ten for the third straight year. Wolverines' fans have a little more pride in their school while Spartans just care about Football and Basketball.
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Curtis Smith 8 months ago
"Wal-Mart Wolverine" is that like Salvation Army Spartan? I don't know about Auburn or Bama's Debate Teams, But Northwestern and Wake Forest's are stellar! As for your debate skills there going to take a back seat again to this topic "Little Brother." This year is all you want to talk about because that's all you can talk about. End of Debate. Listen more then you talk it will keep your foot out of your mouth. When you grow up Little Brother, come back to the grown up table. Minor sports are fun to watch and when your a "REAL" sports fan it doesn't matter what sport it may be; Soccer, Field Hockey, or even Swimming! It's fun to watch. Have a great day Little Brother!
-Curtis
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Anthony Elias 8 months ago
Ryan I care!!
I am a Nittany Lion Fan, but I love all of the Big Ten athletics!
I was very interested to read this article, and thanks for taking the time to write it!
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Thorzilla 8 months ago
***WARNING: The following replay is an argument from a horribly bias green-blooded Wolverine-hating Spartan fanatic***
It’s great to see a few (I hate to use it again but…) Wal-Mart Wolverines bursting with pride about “their” schools amazing sports programs, but it’s just proving point I was trying to make.
If Michigan was 8-2 right now would Wolverine fans be going onto college football forum writing (and defending) articles about their dominance in secondary sports? Absolutely not! Every week they would be letting us know that Rich Rodriguez is the second coming of Christ and the greatest hire in the history of football.
Obviously, that is not the case. Instead we are graced with stories about men’s swimming (in a college football forum), the Michigan-MSU rivalry not being important to Michigan, and Curtis’s gem “Trading Places, Oh Brother!”- which was written before the UofM home loss to MSU. It takes a real man to suck up his dignity and start making excuses before the game is played.
Keep bringing all the “Were better at ____!” and “One year doesn’t matter!” inferiority cries. When push comes to shove, the Spartans are currently the best football program in Michigan and will be until proven otherwise. See you in EL… 10/3/09.
(Off the record- Isn’t bashing other schools part of what makes college football so great?)
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Ryan Jelley 8 months ago
Loved the article Samantha don't listen to these idiotic Spartans fans because we know what fuels them. Jealousy. Keep up the good work.
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Sebastian 8 months ago
The series may be one-sided in football, so it may not be as even a rivalry as some would like.
But then again, Appalachian State and Toledo aren't much of a rivalry, either.
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Jason Funk 8 months ago
Ummmmmmm....yeahh, last i checked, Michigan State men's soccer won the Big Ten this year, they sharted on Michigan in football, they also have far superior basketball and hockey teams.
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Samantha Cooke 8 months ago
FYI - Michigan's ice hockey team is currently ranked #7 (MSU is 11). They also have 18 straight NCAA appearances as well as 23 overall Frozen Four appearances. U of M also has 9 National Titles. This past year? They made it to the Frozen Four again and had the Hobey Baker winner. Sorry, but the hockey team at MSU is not far superior. You can claim they are equal, but def not far superior. Make sure to fact check before you say something like that. Thanks for the comment!
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Joe G 8 months ago
Are Michigan State fans jealous or are Michigan fans insecure? That's the first question that popped into my mind after reading this article and noting the timing of it; MSU clinching the Big Ten soccer title, one game removed from embarrassing UM in Ann Arbor, and Izzo about to lead his team on another great run in basketball.
The vast majority of the country doesn't see the minor sports because they don't have a connection to either university. They don't see MSU's club water polo team winning national titles, they don't see our nationally ranked field hockey team. They just see basketball, football and to a lesser extent, hockey. And if you're a Michigan "fan", you've seen the perceived gap between the two schools closing very quickly this year.
But nothing I can say will make you step off the soapbox, so I'll just leave you with this, "I'd rather lose as a Spartan than win as anything else." Don't care if you guys have your hands on some arbitrary trophy, I'm proud (and secure!) as a Spartan.
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Jeff Contizano 8 months ago
I love the fact that no matter what Spartan fans and Wolverine fans have to dish it back and forth to each other. While I agree Michigan has some great "minor" sports, so does MSU. And so does Indiana, or Ball State, or Miami of Ohio.
Point is, stop the stupid talk and get on with the season.
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Jim Hallett 8 months ago
Michigan's focus is not limited to which school is the best in the state. It is, and always has been, a national competition, and Sparty is nowhere to be found in that discussion. The NACDA Sears Cup is awarded to the school with the best overall sports program in the nation and includes all of them - men and women. UM finished #3 in the nation, behind perennial winner Stanford, and UCLA. UM has never finished lower than 11th (1-time), and has ALWAYS been the highest finisher of all 11 Big Ten schools!!!! MSU has never even competed for a Big Ten baseball championship, this year's football win was the first legitimate win in Ann Arbor since 1978 (1990's win was due to a ridiculous bad call which Big Ten officials apologized for after the game, but of course the 1-point loss still stood), and while hockey @ MSU is competitive, the 3 national titles vs. 9 for UM, and the number of playoff and Frozen Four appearances is a ways behind. How many Olympic athletes spent their days @ MSU? And, even with the success that Tom Izzo has brought to Sparty basketball, UM still has more appearances in the NCAA tourney and more Big Ten titles. So, for one Fall Saturday every year, the folks in East Lansing can get all revved up to try and beat the Maize and Blue, but for the other 364 days, UM is in a league way beyond what Sparty will ever reach!!
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Jeff Kneis 8 months ago
Great article. I never knew about the Pontiac Cup. I agree that minor sports matter, so this was a cool way to show which team has the best program each year.
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Ryan Messing 8 months ago
Good article. Obviously written with a bias but not in a way that detracts from your writing. I would expect nothing less from a good fan, and I know it shows in my articles too. It's tempting to argue, especially with Jim's particularly ridiculous comment, but I'll save it for another time.
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Samantha Cooke 8 months ago
I am trying to work on the whole writing with a bias thing, but it is difficult as you can attest to as well. Thanks for the positive comment!
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Johnathon Gustin 8 months ago
interesting idea for that cup but I rather stick to bowl games
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David Barnes 7 months ago
I guess if Michigan fans want to go around bragging about how their team beat MSU in swimming, that's fine. I don't really care and neither will a majority of the rest of the country. Meanwhile, I will be bragging about how MSU beat Michigan in football this year, just as I'll be doing when Sparty beats big blue in basketball.
The fact of the matter is, while we do value minor sports, ESPN and the large majority of this country don't see them as anywhere near as significant as football, and men's and women's hoops.
I can't blame Wolverine fans for being this way. If my school was having a crap year in the big sports, I'd be saying stuff like this to make me feel better too. And trust me, Spartan fans will no doubt agree that we've endured some lousy seasons.
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Drew Montag 5 months ago
Even though the Pontiac Challenge Cup died after the 2005-2006 season, I have kept it up, as The State Of Michigan Trophy. Here are pointers to the Web pages:
http://www.montag.org/State_Of_Michigan/2006-2007/State_Of_Michigan_2006-2007.htm
http://www.montag.org/State_Of_Michigan/2007-2008/State_Of_Michigan_2007-2008.htm
http://www.montag.org/State_Of_Michigan/2008-2009/State_Of_Michigan_2008-2009.htm
As you'll see, Michigan won it in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, and is ahead in 2008-2009.
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