Most rivalry trophies are jugs, axes, or bells. The prize in the Illinois and Ohio State series is a carved wooden turtle, and the reason is that the original was a real one.
In 1924, members of Ohio State’s junior honor society Bucket and Dipper went to a Columbus fish store and came back with a 16 pound snapping turtle whose shell measured about two feet across. A turtle was chosen deliberately: long life for a rivalry both schools expected to last. At the time that was a reasonable bet, since the Ohio State and Illinois game outranked most others on the Buckeyes’ schedule and had been the regular season finale for both programs since 1919.
The live turtle years
Illibuck traveled to Champaign for the November 22, 1924 game wearing a muzzle Ohio State students had fashioned for the trip. Illinois won 7-0, and the turtle stayed in Champaign for the year.
It did not go smoothly. Student newspapers at both schools tracked his housing problems in detail as he moved from a university vivarium to private rooms to a fraternity bathtub, and reported repeatedly that he would not eat. Illinois won again in 1925, so Illibuck returned to Champaign, and he died there on April 14, 1926.
The cause has been argued for a century. Contemporary student reporting variously blamed starvation, injury, drowning, and general neglect, and a modern review of those articles concluded that simple neglect is the most likely answer. A snapping turtle can live 30 to 50 years. This one lasted about 18 months in the care of undergraduates.
Ten wooden successors
Bucket and Dipper had already planned for this outcome, and ten carved wooden Illibucks have followed since, each bearing the scores of past games on its shell. Care of the trophy still belongs to the two junior honor societies, Bucket and Dipper at Ohio State and Atius-Sachem at Illinois.
The handoff carries its own rules: the trophy is passed backward over the representatives’ heads and must not touch the ground. For many years the ceremony also included the two societies smoking a peace pipe at halftime, a practice long since retired.
Illibuck is the second oldest traveling trophy in the Big Ten, behind only the Little Brown Jug, which dates to 1903.
Two ledgers, one series
The teams first met on November 15, 1902 and played to a scoreless tie. They have now met 104 times, with Ohio State ahead 69-30-4 and holding the trophy series 65-23-2.
As with several long series, the two schools keep slightly different books. Illinois lists 70 losses rather than 69, because Ohio State’s 2010 win was later vacated for the use of ineligible players and the counts diverge on whether to include it. The same footnote makes the current streak read as nine or ten depending on the source.
Illinois at its best
The Illini own the largest margin in the series, a 46-0 win in 1904, and Ohio State’s biggest is a 48-0 result in 1996.
Illinois had a genuine run at the end of the 1980s, winning five straight from 1988 through 1992, with ranked Illini teams taking the 1989 and 1990 meetings. Before that, a nineteenth ranked Illinois squad won 17-13 in 1983. The most recent Illinois win came in Columbus in 2007, 28-21.
The gaps
The series has paused more than once. Illinois and Ohio State did not meet in 2003 or 2004, and when they returned in 2005 Illinois handed over the trophy for a game played back in 2002. The scheduled November 28, 2020 meeting was cancelled by Ohio State because of COVID cases in the program, part of a seven season gap from 2018 through 2024.
Big Ten realignment drove most of it. The two were together in the Leaders Division in 2011, then split into West and East when Maryland and Rutgers arrived in 2014. With divisions eliminated in 2024, the schools are now set to meet at least twice in every five year cycle.
Tracking today’s stars
Since the NCAA’s interim policy took effect on July 1, 2021, athletes have earned from their name, image, and likeness through endorsements, sponsorships, social content, and appearances. RallyFuel’s Heisman NIL Power Rankings weigh performance at 35 percent, NIL visibility at 20, social reach at 20, and fan demand at 25, and the NIL Trophy Case applies the same method across ten awards.
Curious how the programs stack up now? The School Rivalry tool puts them side by side on NIL, fan engagement, rankings, and championships. Compare Ohio State and Illinois.
What comes next
Game 105 is set for Saturday, September 26, 2026, Week 4, at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, where Illinois will face a top ranked Ohio State team. The wooden turtle will make the trip, held above someone’s head at halftime, never touching the grass. Make your prediction here.
