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Old Oaken Bucket

Trophy that goes to the winner of the Indiana-Purdue college football game

Field	Value
wide	yes
name	Old Oaken Bucket
team1	Indiana Hoosiers
team1logo	Indiana Hoosiers Logo.svg
team2	Purdue Boilermakers
team2logo	Purdue Boilermakers workmark.svg
sport	College football
firstmeeting	November 14, 1891
Purdue 60, Indiana 0
mostrecent	November 28, 2025
Indiana 56, Purdue 3
nextmeeting	November 28, 2026
total	127
(played annually since 1920)
series	Purdue leads, 77–44–6
largestvictory	Purdue, 68–0 (1892)
longeststreak	Purdue, 10 (1948–1957)
longestunbeatenstreak	Purdue, 14 (1948–1961)
currentstreak	Indiana, 2 (2024–present)
trophy	Old Oaken Bucket
(Originated in 1925)
trophy series	Purdue leads, 63–34–3 starting 1925

The Old Oaken Bucket is a traveling trophy awarded in American college football as part of the rivalry between the Indiana Hoosiers football team of Indiana University and Purdue Boilermakers football team of Purdue University. It was first awarded in 1925.

Indiana and Purdue first met on the gridiron in 1891. The rivalry has been renewed annually in peacetime with some exceptions. Purdue leads the overall series 77–44–6.

History of the trophy

The concept of a trophy for football games played annually between Purdue University and Indiana University was first proposed during a joint meeting of the Chicago chapters of the Indiana and Purdue alumni organizations in 1925:

:"discuss the possibility of undertaking worthy joint enterprises in behalf of the two schools."

During that meeting Indiana alumnus Dr. Clarence Jones and Purdue alumnus Russel Gray were appointed to propose a suitable trophy. At a subsequent meeting in Chicago Jones and Gray recommended some oaken bucket be that trophy and the chapters drafted the resolution that:

:"an old oaken bucket as the most typical Hoosier form of trophy, that the bucket should be taken from some well in Indiana, and that a chain to be made of bronze block "I" and "P" letters should be provided for the bucket. The school winning the traditional football game each year should have possession of the "Old Oaken Bucket" until the next game and should attach the block letter representing the winning school to the bail with the score engraved on the latter link."

Purdue alumnus Fritz Ernst and Indiana alumnus Whiley J. Huddle were appointed to find a suitable oak bucket. They found such a bucket at the then Bruner family farm between Kent and Hanover in southern Indiana. Although the bucket might have been used at an open well on the Bruner family farm that had been settled during the 1840s, the Bruner family lore indicates that the bucket might have been used by General John Hunt Morgan and his "Raiders" during their jaunt through southeastern Indiana during the Civil War.

In accordance with the Chicago alumni organization's resolution, the winner of the bucket gets a "P" or "I" link added to the chain of the bucket with the score, date and the city where the game was played engraved on the link. In case of a tie, an "I–P" link was added. The inaugural Old Oaken Bucket Game ended in a 0–0 deadlock on November 21, 1925, in Bloomington resulting in the first and most visible link, an "I–P" link, being added to the handle of the bucket.

When Indiana and Purdue moved to separate divisions for the 2014 season—Indiana to the East and Purdue to the West—the Old Oaken Bucket was the only inter-divisional rivalry protected under the new alignment.

The poem "The Old Oaken Bucket"

The name of the trophy refers to a sentimental poem written in 1817 by a successful printer and publisher, Samuel Woodworth (1784–1842) which begins: :"How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood, :When fond recollection presents them to view! :The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood, :And every loved spot which my infancy knew!

:...And e'en the rude bucket that hung in the well— :The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, :The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well."

Although Samuel Woodworth was not from Indiana, the poem exemplifies the sentiment felt by the people of Indiana towards their home state. The poem was set to music in 1826 by G. F. Kiallmark (1804–1887) and memorized or sung by generations of American schoolchildren; it made the poet's unpretentious childhood home in Scituate, Massachusetts, the goal of sentimental tourists in the late 19th century.

Bing Crosby recorded a musical version of the poem on a Decca record on June 14, 1941, with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra.

Series statistics

Statistic	Purdue	Indiana
Games played	127
Wins	77	44
Ties	6
Home wins	40	22
Road wins	36	22
Neutral site wins	1	0
Total points scored in the series	2,842	1,985
Most points scored in a game by one team	68 (1892)	66 (2024)
Most points scored in a game by both teams	92 (2013 – IU 56, PU 36)
Fewest points scored in a game by both teams	0 (1916 & 1925 – PU 0, IU 0)
Fewest points scored in a game by one team in a win	1 (1894)	3 (1921, 1923, 1940)
Most points scored in a game by one team in a loss	41 (2019)	35 (2012)
Largest margin of victory	68 (1892)	66 (2024)
Smallest margin of victory	1 (1894, 1939, 1980, 1983, 1989)	1 (1930)
Longest winning streak	10 (1948 to 1957)	4 (1944 to 1947)
4 (2013 to 2016)

Game results

Wins by decade

Through 2025.

Decade	Indiana	Purdue	Tie
1890s	1	6
1900s	4	2	1
1910s	2	5	1
1920s	3	5	2
1930s	3	6	1
1940s	7	3
1950s		9	1
1960s	2	8
1970s	3	7
1980s	4	6
1990s	5	5
2000s	2	8
2010s	6	4
2020s	2	3
Total	44	77	6

References

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1891-establishments-in-indiana big-ten-conference-rivalries college-football-rivalry-trophies-in-the-united-states indiana-hoosiers-football purdue-boilermakers-football

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