Battle for the Red Belt
| First meeting | October 24, 1931 Western Kentucky 7, Murray State 0 |
|---|---|
| Latest meeting | September 20, 2008 Western Kentucky 50, Murray State 9 |
| Next meeting | TBD |
| Trophy | Red Belt |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 67 |
| All-time series | Western Kentucky leads, 36–24–7 |
| Largest victory | Western Kentucky 50, Murray State 0 (1963) |
| Longest win streak | Western Kentucky, 5 (1969–1973) |
| Current win streak | Western Kentucky, 4 (1999–present) |
The Battle for the Red Belt is an American college football rivalry between the WKU Hilltoppers football team of Western Kentucky University and the Murray State Racers football team of Murray State University. The rivalry began as an in-conference rivalry within the Ohio Valley Conference, but the Hilltoppers have since moved to the Football Bowl Subdivision, first to the Sun Belt Conference and most recently to Conference USA. The rivalry has continued as a trophy game, although it is no longer played on an annual basis.
The football rivalry between the Hilltoppers and the Racers dates to 1931. Western Kentucky secured a victory in the first game on October 24, 1931. In 1939, both institutions strengthened the rivalry by scheduling the match up as the final game of their regular seasons. This tradition continued, with only four interruptions, for the next 46 years.
Prior to the 1955 football game, a group of Western Kentucky students traveled to Murray and stole a banner commemorating Murray State's participation in the 1949 Tangerine Bowl. In response, a group of Murray State students traveled to Bowling Green with buckets of paint and plans to paint the Western Kentucky water tower that overlooked the football stadium. The plan was stopped when the Murray State students were forced off the water tower by a group Western Kentucky students with an ROTC training rifle. A "W" was shaved into the hair of three of the Murray State students, and their photo appeared in the local newspaper along with a photo of the Western Kentucky students displaying their stolen Murray State Tangerine Bowl banner. Murray State won the 1955 game 28–12, and the Tangerine Bowl banner was returned to Murray State. Following the Racer victory, a similar banner was stolen from Western Kentucky's W Club room. Over the next decade, the water tower and statue of Henry Hardin Cherry remained targets of Murray State students any time the schools met in both football and basketball. In another incident, the phrase "Murray OVC Champs" was painted on an overpass near the Western Kentucky campus.
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