Nov 24, 2010 John Pulliam
Far from the bright lights of ESPN and ABC, two small liberal arts colleges in west-central Illinois have been playing each other in football since 1888. On the quiet, rural campuses of Monmouth College and Knox College, football is far down the list that begins and ends with academics.
Except when the two schools meet each other for the Bronze Turkey.
While fans of bit-time football programs pack stadiums seating 100,000 or more, crowds are usually numbered in the hundreds for games at the Knosher Bowl in Galesburg, Ill., home of the Knox Prairie Fire, and April Zorn Field in Monmouth, where the Monmouth College Fighting Scots tee it up in Midwest Conference action. This, despite the fact that admission is free to all games at both schools.
The rivalry between the colleges, separated by about 12 miles of the four-lane Chicago-to-Kansas City Expressway (U.S. 34), goes far beyond the gridiron. If one school is named as among the top institutions of higher learning by U.S. News & World Report, the public relations person from the other will be on the phone to local newspapers and radio stations to make sure their rating is also reported.
While there are exceptions, most people from Knox simply don't like their counterparts at Monmouth and vice versa.
So, while the battle for the Bronze Turkey pits true student athletes against each other, most who will wrap up their football careers upon college graduation, the outcome of this game is as important to alumni as the Illinois vs. Iowa Big Ten game is in Champaign and Iowa City.
One thing Knox doesn't like about Monmouth is its success on the football field. While Monmouth has a 61-50-10 lead in the series, the Scots trailed before winning the past 12 games in a row. That includes this year's 42-6 rout of Knox on the Fire's home field this year, even without the services of D-III All-American Quarterback Alex Tanney.
Tanney, who broke most of his brother's passing records for the Fighting Scots during his junior year, went down in the third game this year, injuring his right arm in a game against the Grinnell Pioneers. No, you probably didn't read about it in USA Today or in an Associated Press story, but it crippled Coach Steve Bell's squad.
After finishing ranked 18th in the nation last year, big things were expected on the football field in Warren County this year. The Scots managed to finish 6-4, even without their All-American, while the Prairie Fire finished a typical 1-9. But Tanney's injury meant there would be no return to the play-offs.
Still, the Nov. 6 win wasn't about Alex Tanney or the Division III playoffs. It was about 5,300 people coming to watch a college football game played in the original spirit of college football. Student athletes, meeting in competition. No "naming rights" stadium, no booster club paying the players under the table, no worrying about which team was about to go on probation.
Sure, many of the fans at the Bronze Turkey game – there is an actual bronze turkey, although one school often steals it from the other and hides it for years – went home and watched the "big game" on ESPN. But, for a few hours on a cloudy Saturday afternoon in rural western Illinois, the clock was turned back, as it is every year.
Don't expect a team from the Midwest Conference to win the Division III football playoffs in the near future. Perennial conference powerhouse St. Norbert was annihilated by CCIW champions North Central, 57-7 in the first round.
But what fans of Monmouth and Knox football can expect each year is a game little tarnished by the excesses of their big brother schools in Division I. College football, as pure as it gets, played in two tiny "stadiums" in two small towns, with all the fun and excitement, all the tradition, that was and is the true definition of college football.
Yes, it's exciting that TCU or Boise State might slip into the BCS championship game this year, but the "big boys" will soon figure out a way to exclude these party crashers. Everyone is warmly welcomed to the excitement of the Bronze Turkey game and many other traditional rivalries on D-III campuses across the country. For my money – or for no money at all – that is the true joy of college football.
Knox College - College logo
View the Original article
