UMaine Plays For Musket At UNH [VIDEO]

Playoffs are not a possibility for the UMaine football team when they meet New Hampshire today. Players will tell you the rivalry and musket is just as important.

The winner of this rivalry game each year gets to keep the Brice-Cowell musket for the next year along with border bragging rights. The Bears and Wildcats play today in Durham with different purposes. The Bears are looking to end the season with a win before turning their attentions to next year while the Wildcats need a win to stay in playoff contention.

Today's game will be the 104th meeting between the two schools with UNH leading the all-time series 52-43-8. The Wildcats have won the last 5 games with Maine's last win coming in 2010 which was a 16-13 overtime victory at home.

The Musket:

A special trophy, the Brice-Cowell Musket, is at stake each year of the rivalry between Maine and New Hampshire. Named after two great former coaches -- Fred Brice of Maine and William Cowell of UNH -- the winner of the annual football game gains possession of the musket for the following year. The tradition began in the late 1940s. The musket is a flintlock rifle made by Ebenezer Nutting of Falmouth, Maine between 1722 and 1745. The George I period flintlock has a barrel 43 inches in length and rifled to a .65 caliber.