Battle for the Bell
vs.
Marshall vs. Ohio. First played in 1905; the results here start in 1962.
Ohio leads 19–17 in Battle for the Bell through 2019. Marshall won the last meeting, 33–31, in 2019.
Who's won the Battle for the Bell lately?
- 2003Marshall28–0
- 2004Marshall16–13
- 2009Marshall21–17
- 2010Marshall24–23
- 2011Ohio44–7
- 2012Ohio27–24
- 2013Ohio34–31
- 2014Marshall44–14
- 2015Ohio21–10
- 2019Marshall33–31
Marshall won the last one, in 2019. Over the last 10 meetings, Marshall is 6–4.
What's the Battle for the Bell trophy?
The Bell: a trophy the teams have played for since 1997, meant to honor the bells once used on riverboats on the Ohio River, which runs between the two schools.
How did Battle for the Bell start?
Marshall beat Ohio 6-5 in Huntington on November 11, 1905, and the campuses are about 80 miles apart. The 1970 game was canceled after the crash of Southern Airways Flight 932. Marshall rejoined the MAC in 1997, the year the teams started playing for the Bell, and left for Conference USA in 2005. They met again in the 2009 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, played a six-year series from 2010 to 2015 and met again in 2019.
What are the most famous Battle for the Bell games?
- 1908: 59-0Ohio won 59-0, the largest margin in the series.
- 2009: Bowl gameMarshall won 21-17 in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit.Final: Marshall 21–17
- 2019: 33-31Marshall won 33-31 in the most recent meeting.Final: Marshall 33–31
How has the Battle for the Bell series swung?
Each bar is one meeting. Bars above the line are Marshall wins and bars below it are Ohio wins; the taller the bar, the bigger the margin. Over the last 10 meetings Marshall is 6–4. The widest margins are Marshall 34–3 in 1999 and Ohio 48–8 in 1968.
How do Marshall and Ohio compare this season?
Ohio is the better team this season by SP+ (79th to 111th), and it's ahead on 7 of these 7 stats. Each row is one stat: the dots are each team's national rank out of 138, printed by the dot, and further left is better.
| National rank | Marshall | Ohio |
|---|---|---|
| SP+ overall | 111th | 79th |
| SP+ offense | 92nd | 91st |
| SP+ defense | 126th | 64th |
| Success rate allowed | 115th | 66th |
| Big Uglies: offensive line | 91st | 19th |
| Big Uglies: defensive front | 117th | 69th |
| Takeaways a game | 129th | 117th |
What are the records in Battle for the Bell?
- Biggest Marshall win
- 1999, 34–3
- Biggest Ohio win
- 1968, 48–8
- Longest streaks
- Marshall, 6 straight (2001–2010); Ohio, 6 straight (1973–1980)
- Most points
- Ohio, 49 in 1977
- Ties
- None
Who has the most yards in Battle for the Bell?
| Best single game | Most in the series | |
|---|---|---|
| Passing | Rakeem Cato (Marshall), 432 passing yards in 2012, with 3 TDs | Rakeem Cato (Marshall), 1,339 passing yards in 4 games (2011–2014) |
| Rushing | Devon Johnson (Marshall), 170 rushing yards in 2015, with 1 TD | Devon Johnson (Marshall), 261 rushing yards in 2 games (2014–2015) |
| Receiving | Angelo Jean-Louis (Marshall), 158 receiving yards in 2014, with 1 TD | Tommy Shuler (Marshall), 292 receiving yards in 3 games (2012–2014) |
From the box scores of the 9 meetings since 2004 on CollegeFootballData.com. Older games don't have player stats.
Battle for the Bell results: every game since 1962
| Year | Winner | Score | Home |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Marshall | 33–31 | Marshall |
| 2015 | Ohio | 21–10 | Ohio |
| 2014 | Marshall | 44–14 | Marshall |
| 2013 | Ohio | 34–31 | Ohio |
| 2012 | Ohio | 27–24 | Marshall |
| 2011 | Ohio | 44–7 | Ohio |
| 2010 | Marshall | 24–23 | Marshall |
| 2009 | Marshall | 21–17 | Neutral |
| 2004 | Marshall | 16–13 | Ohio |
| 2003 | Marshall | 28–0 | Marshall |
| 2002 | Marshall | 24–21 | Ohio |
| 2001 | Marshall | 42–18 | Marshall |
| 2000 | Ohio | 38–28 | Ohio |
| 1999 | Marshall | 34–3 | Marshall |
| 1998 | Marshall | 30–23 | Ohio |
| 1997 | Marshall | 27–0 | Marshall |
| 1988 | Marshall | 31–14 | Marshall |
| 1987 | Ohio | 23–15 | Ohio |
| 1986 | Marshall | 21–7 | Ohio |
| 1985 | Marshall | 31–7 | Marshall |
| 1980 | Ohio | 28–20 | Ohio |
| 1979 | Ohio | 35–0 | Ohio |
| 1977 | Ohio | 49–27 | Marshall |
| 1975 | Ohio | 38–21 | Marshall |
| 1974 | Ohio | 35–0 | Ohio |
| 1973 | Ohio | 35–21 | Marshall |
| 1972 | Marshall | 31–14 | Ohio |
| 1971 | Ohio | 30–0 | Marshall |
| 1969 | Ohio | 38–35 | Marshall |
| 1968 | Ohio | 48–8 | Ohio |
| 1967 | Ohio | 48–14 | Marshall |
| 1966 | Ohio | 28–0 | Ohio |
| 1965 | Marshall | 29–14 | Marshall |
| 1964 | Marshall | 10–0 | Ohio |
| 1963 | Ohio | 17–0 | Marshall |
| 1962 | Ohio | 35–0 | Ohio |
Results from CollegeFootballData.com. The schools' official series records can differ by a game or two (vacated wins, disputed early games).
Questions about Battle for the Bell
Who leads the Battle for the Bell series?
Ohio leads 19–17 through the 2019 game, in the 36 meetings on record since 1962.
Who won the last Battle for the Bell?
Marshall beat Ohio 33–31 on Sep 14, 2019 at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
When was the first Battle for the Bell?
1905, by the schools' count. Our game-by-game results start in 1962.
What's the trophy for the Battle for the Bell?
The Bell: a trophy the teams have played for since 1997, meant to honor the bells once used on riverboats on the Ohio River, which runs between the two schools.
What's the biggest win in the Battle for the Bell?
Ohio won by 40 in 1968, 48–8. Marshall won by 31 in 1999, 34–3.
What's the longest winning streak in the Battle for the Bell?
Marshall won 6 straight from 2001 to 2010. Ohio won 6 straight from 1973 to 1980.
Who has won the Battle for the Bell lately?
Marshall won the last one, in 2019. Over the last 10 meetings, Marshall is 6–4.
Who has the most passing yards in a Battle for the Bell game?
Rakeem Cato (Marshall), 432 passing yards in 2012, with 3 TDs, the most in one game since 2004. The most in the series: Rakeem Cato (Marshall), 1,339 passing yards in 4 games (2011–2014).
Who has the most rushing yards in a Battle for the Bell game?
Devon Johnson (Marshall), 170 rushing yards in 2015, with 1 TD, the most in one game since 2004. The most in the series: Devon Johnson (Marshall), 261 rushing yards in 2 games (2014–2015).
Who has the most receiving yards in a Battle for the Bell game?
Angelo Jean-Louis (Marshall), 158 receiving yards in 2014, with 1 TD, the most in one game since 2004. The most in the series: Tommy Shuler (Marshall), 292 receiving yards in 3 games (2012–2014).
What is the Battle for the Bell?
Battle for the Bell is the Marshall–Ohio rivalry, first played in 1905. Ohio leads 19–17 through 2019, and the winner takes home the The Bell.
What happened in the 1908 Battle for the Bell?
59-0: Ohio won 59-0, the largest margin in the series.
What happened in the 2009 Battle for the Bell?
Bowl game: Marshall won 21-17 in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit. Final: Marshall 21–17.
What happened in the 2019 Battle for the Bell?
33-31: Marshall won 33-31 in the most recent meeting. Final: Marshall 33–31.
Where can I watch Marshall vs. Ohio, and what time is it?
Marshall and Ohio don't play each other in 2026. The last meeting was in 2019, a 33–31 Marshall win.
When is the next Battle for the Bell?
Marshall and Ohio don't play each other in 2026. The last meeting was in 2019, a 33–31 Marshall win.
Who has the Battle for the Bell?
Marshall has it. Marshall won the 2019 game, 33–31.
What was the score of the last Marshall vs. Ohio game?
Marshall won 33–31 on Sep 14, 2019.
What's the Marshall vs. Ohio record in the last 10 years?
Marshall is 1–0 in the 1 meetings since 2016.
Marshall vs. Ohio player stats: who starred in the 2019 game?
For Marshall, Isaiah Green threw for 206 yards and 2 TDs; Brenden Knox ran for 133 yards and 1 TD; Xavier Gaines had 53 receiving yards and 1 TD. For Ohio, Nathan Rourke threw for 215 yards and 3 TDs; he also ran for 118 yards and 1 TD; Isiah Cox had 61 receiving yards.
Who won the 2019 Battle for the Bell?
Marshall beat Ohio 33–31 on Sep 14, 2019 at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Who won the 2015 Battle for the Bell?
Ohio beat Marshall 21–10 on Sep 12, 2015 at Peden Stadium.
Who won the 2014 Battle for the Bell?
Marshall beat Ohio 44–14 on Sep 13, 2014 at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
Who won the 2013 Battle for the Bell?
Ohio beat Marshall 34–31 on Sep 15, 2013 at Peden Stadium.
Who won the 2012 Battle for the Bell?
Ohio beat Marshall 27–24 on Sep 15, 2012 at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
When was the last time Marshall won the Battle for the Bell?
2019, 33–31, the most recent meeting.
When was the last time Ohio won the Battle for the Bell?
2015, 21–10. Marshall has won all 1 meetings since.
Related
- Marshall's 2026 team page
- Ohio's 2026 team page
- Battle of the Bricks: Miami (OH) vs. Ohio
- Every named rivalry
History and trophy sources: en.wikipedia.org, fbschedules.com.
College football, 2026 season
Nerd shit for
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Sources and methods
Everything on this site starts with someone else's data, and we credit all of it. The projections, picks, rankings and tiers are our own math on top.
Where the data comes from
| Source | What we use | How often |
|---|---|---|
| CollegeFootballData.com, via the public cfbfastR files | Schedules, final scores, pregame Elo, play-by-play and box score stats, rosters | Usually posted Sunday or Monday morning after games |
| DraftKings lines (via The Odds API and CollegeFootballData.com) | The line and total on each game, and where each opened | Every morning, and before kickoffs Thursday to Saturday |
| Team logos and colors (ESPN's, via CollegeFootballData.com) | The logos on charts, game cards and team pages. They belong to the schools and are used only to identify the teams. | Preseason |
| SP+ by Bill Connelly (CFB Update) | Overall, offense, defense and special teams ratings | Weekly |
| PRIME (primecfb.com) | Net, offense, defense and special teams ratings, strength of schedule, strength of record | Weekly |
| AP Top 25 (via NCAA.com) | Rankings and points, including others receiving votes | Sunday afternoons |
| AFCA Coaches Poll (via Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, SI) | Rankings and points, including others receiving votes | Sundays |
| 247Sports | Team talent composite, star counts, 2026 transfer portal rankings | Preseason |
| The NIL Standard | Estimated NIL roster values | Preseason |
| us-atlas (U.S. Census Bureau boundaries) | State shapes for the map | Once |
How we turn it into projections
- Projected score. Each team's SP+ offense, plus how far the opponent's SP+ defense is from average, plus special teams. The home team gets half of a 2.5-point home edge added and the visitor half subtracted.
- Win chance. The projected margin turned into a probability, assuming games usually land within about 14 points of the projection. A 0-point margin is 50%; 14 points is about 84%.
- The three ratings. SP+ is built from every play this season. PRIME is a possession-efficiency rating. Elo uses only final scores and carries over from year to year, with 55 Elo points of home edge.
- The numbers' pick. The team at least two of the three ratings favor, with our confidence the average of their three win chances for that team. On the game cards, a pick is a lock when all three favor the same team and the average win chance is 80% or more, a coin flip when it's under 55%, and a lean otherwise. Injuries can drop the tier: each key player out counts by what he does for his team (a starting quarterback is 2 points, the feature back or top receiver half a point, doubtful counts half), the other side's injuries offset, and 1 point drops a tier, 2 points two. The game page shows it as an injury alert. Nobody overrides the numbers' pick.
- CFB Charts Top 25. SP+, PRIME and strength of record, each converted to a common scale and averaged.
- Playoff picture. The 2026-27 rules: automatic bids for the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions (the current conference leader stands in until the title games) and for the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt. Notre Dame is in if it ranks in the top 12. The rest are at-large teams by the chosen rating, and all 12 are seeded straight by that rating, so the top four get the byes. Once the committee's rankings are out (first release Tuesday, Nov. 3), they become the default ranking.
- Missing data. When a team's play-by-play is clearly incomplete (fewer than 45 offensive plays a game), we hide its offense stats instead of showing bad numbers.
Rushing yards here exclude sacks, so they run higher than official totals. Ranks are out of the 138 FBS teams.
About
Glossary
Every stat and term on the site, explained like you're five. Or like you're a grown adult who never asked what EPA means and is now too embarrassed to.
Ratings and advanced stats
What the numbers on team pages, charts and head to head mean.
- SP+
- Bill Connelly's rating, built from play-by-play efficiency and explosiveness and adjusted for who each team played. The number is how many points better than an average FBS team a team is on a neutral field. SP+ 20 beats SP+ 10 by about 10.
- PRIME
- A rating built possession by possession: how well a team turns drives into points and keeps opponents from doing the same, adjusted for opponents. Zero is an average FBS team.
- Elo
- A results-only rating. Every team has a number, 1500 is average, and the winner takes points from the loser after every game. Beat a great team and you take a lot. Beat a bad one and you take a few. It carries part of last season over, so it's slow to catch a team that changed.
- Strength of record
- How impressive a record is, given who a team played: how many more games it won than an average team would have against the same schedule. It grades the resume. SP+ and PRIME grade how good the team is.
- Strength of schedule
- How hard a team's opponents have been so far.
- Opponent-adjusted
- Corrected for who a team played. Hanging 50 on an FCS team counts for less than hanging 30 on Georgia.
- EPA (expected points added)
- Every down, distance and spot on the field is worth some number of points on average. 1st and 10 at the opponent's 20 is worth a lot more than 3rd and 15 at your own 10. EPA is how much one play changed that number. A 50-yard bomb is a big plus. A pick-six is a very big minus.
- EPA per play
- A team's average EPA across all its plays. For an offense, above zero means it adds points and higher is better. For a defense, lower is better.
- Success rate
- The share of plays that keep an offense on schedule: half the yards needed on 1st down, 70% of them on 2nd, all of them on 3rd and 4th. A 4-yard run on 1st and 10 is a success. A 4-yard run on 3rd and 6 isn't.
- Explosive play rate
- The share of plays that go for a run of 12 or more yards or a completion of 16 or more.
- Yards per play
- Total yards divided by plays: runs, passes and sacks.
- Sack rate
- Sacks divided by dropbacks. For an offense, lower is better. For a pass rush, higher is better.
- Turnover margin
- Takeaways (interceptions and fumbles recovered) minus giveaways (interceptions thrown and fumbles lost).
- RECEIPTS
- Record Explained: Coaching, Experience, Incoming talent, Pure luck and Toughness of Schedule. Where a team's wins came from. Every team starts as a .500 team. The record above or below .500 gets split four ways that add up to the real record: schedule (what an average team would win against that schedule), roster (the wins its talent and returning starters are worth on paper), coach (wins from playing better or worse than that roster) and luck (actual wins against the wins its SP+ says it should have). On team pages and in two charts.
- Schedule, Roster, Coach and Luck RECEIPTS
- The four parts of RECEIPTS. Schedule: what an average team would win against that schedule, minus .500. Roster: the extra wins from a roster this good on paper (247Sports talent and returning production). Coach: wins from playing better or worse than that roster should. Luck: actual wins against the wins SP+ expects. Recruiting rankings undersell the service academies, so their coaches get extra credit.
- Luck watch
- A tag for a team whose Luck RECEIPTS is 1.5 wins or more either way: "Lucky +2.4" or "Unlucky −1.6." Its record runs ahead of (or behind) how it's played, and lines and polls often follow records.
- Expected wins
- The wins a team should have, adding up its win chance in every game it played. Winning more than that usually means a lot of close wins, and close wins are mostly luck.
- Talent composite and blue-chip ratio
- 247Sports' score for a roster, built from every player's recruiting rating, with the best players counting most. The blue-chip ratio is the share of the roster that were 4- or 5-star recruits.
How we pick
How the picks, tiers and projections work. The full method is on Sources and methods.
- Projected score
- Each team's SP+ offense, adjusted for how good the other team's defense is, plus special teams. The home team gets 2.5 points of home edge, split between the two scores.
- Win chance
- The projected margin turned into a percentage, assuming games usually land within about 14 points of the projection. A tie projection is 50%. A 14-point favorite is about 84%.
- The numbers' pick
- The team at least two of SP+, PRIME and Elo favor. The confidence is the average of their three win chances. Nobody overrides it.
- Lock, Lean, Coin flip and Stay away
- How sure the numbers are about a straight-up pick. Lock: SP+, PRIME and Elo all favor the same team and the average win chance is 80% or more. Lean: the ratings favor the team, but not that strongly or not all three. Coin flip: the average win chance is under 55%. Stay away: injuries take the pick down. Key players count by what they do for the team: a starting quarterback out is 2 points, the feature back, top receiver or top pass rusher half a point, the No. 2 receiver or playmaker a quarter, and a short-handed line or secondary half a point. Doubtful counts half. When the picked team's points, minus the other side's, reach 1, the pick drops a tier (a Lock to a Lean, a Lean or Coin flip to Stay away); at 2 it drops two.
- Game of the week
- The one game to watch on Saturday: the best matchup on the board, by how good both teams are and how close the projection is.
- CFB Charts Top 25
- SP+, PRIME and strength of record, each put on the same scale and averaged. Nobody votes.
- Retro
- Monday's look back: every final score against what we projected, what we got right and what we got wrong.
Conferences and the playoff
Who's who and how the 12-team field works.
- FBS and FCS
- FBS is the top level of college football: the 138 teams on this site. FCS is the level below. When an FBS team plays an FCS team, it's usually a paid tune-up.
- Power 4
- The SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. Notre Dame isn't in a conference, but we count it with the Power 4 wherever that matters.
- Group of 6
- Everyone else in FBS: the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 and Sun Belt, plus the independents other than Notre Dame. The highest-ranked team from those six conferences gets an automatic playoff bid.
- Automatic bid
- A guaranteed playoff spot. The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions get one, and so does the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 and Sun Belt.
- At-large
- A playoff spot earned by ranking high enough without an automatic bid. Notre Dame is in if it's in the top 12.
- First-round bye
- Seeds 1 through 4 skip the first round. Seeds 5 through 12 play first-round games at the higher seed's stadium.
Nothing matches that. Try a shorter word.
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College Football Charts is a college football stats site: a pick for every FBS game, head to heads across 75+ stats, the playoff picture, and charts you can bend to support any narrative (except Big 12 supremacy).
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Every FBS team, player and game gets its own page, with national ranks, the ratings people argue about (SP+, PRIME and Elo) and charts you can share. The rivalry pages carry the series history. The tools let you build your own Top 25, your own 12-team playoff field and your own charts.
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- 12 teams, under the 2026-27 rules. Automatic bids go to the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions, and to the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt. Until the title games, each conference's current leader stands in as its champion.
- Notre Dame is in if you rank it in your top 12. Everyone else is at-large.
- Seeds go straight by your order. Seeds 1 to 4 get first-round byes; 5 to 12 play first-round games at the higher seed.
- The builder won't let you remove a Power 4 champion or your last team from outside the Power 4.
Drag a team by its handle (⋮⋮) to reseed it; with a keyboard, focus the handle and use the up and down arrow keys. Pick a different team from a row's menu to swap it in. Your field is saved in this browser.
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What's in it
- Thursday: the picks. The week's best games, the upset we like, projected scores for the big ones, and charts worth arguing about.
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Projected scores come from SP+ offense, defense and special teams, plus 2.5 points for the home team. Cards also show DraftKings' line and total as facts: we pick winners, not bets. Open Details for the full read, or Head to head for every stat.
This week
Final scores against what we said before kickoff. The numbers' pick is the team at least two of SP+, PRIME and Elo favored. Ranked means in that week's AP poll. Open a game for the full preview as it stood going into the week.
Last week
All-time picks record
Straight-up picks: did the pick win? The numbers' pick is the team at least two of SP+, PRIME and Elo favor. The numbers' and SP+ picks start in Week 8; Elo picks go back to Week 1.
Week by week
Each column is that week's ranking. Arrows compare the latest poll to the week before. NR means not ranked.
Rankings come from cfbtrack.com. Week 1 is the preseason poll; each later week is the poll released before that week's games.
Over time
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SP+ vs. payroll is the average, across a conference's teams with an NIL valuation (positive means its teams play better than their payrolls predict). Blue-chip ratio is the share of all its rostered players who were 4- or 5-star recruits.
Ranks are national, out of 138 FBS teams. A top-10 team also counts toward the top 25 and top 40, and everyone outside the last cutoff counts as weak. Open a conference to see its teams.
Conference depth
Projected bracket
Seeds 1–4 get first-round byes. Seeds 5–8 host the first round.
The field and the bubble
The columns on the right show where each team would be seeded under the other ratings. A dash means out.
How the field is built
- 12 teams. Five get in automatically: the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions, plus the highest-ranked team from the American, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac-12 or Sun Belt (champion or not).
- Notre Dame is in if it ranks in the top 12.
- At-large. The remaining spots go to the highest-ranked teams left. If an automatic qualifier ranks outside the top 12, it takes the last at-large spot.
- Seeding follows the ranking, as it has since 2025. A conference champion isn't guaranteed a bye.
- Champions mid-season. "Current conference leader" uses the best conference record so far, with ties broken by the chosen rating. "Highest-rated team" picks the best-rated team in each conference instead.
- Composite averages SP+, PRIME and strength of record after putting each on a common scale.
- This is a projection from today's numbers. The real field is chosen by a committee on Dec. 6, after conference title games.
How we picked it
How we picked it
Three ratings look at a team in three different ways. The numbers' pick is the team at least two of them favor.
Where the game is won
Where the game is won
Each row puts one team's unit against the unit it faces, by national rank out of all FBS teams. An edge is a gap of 25 spots or more.
Injuries and availability
Statuses come from the conference availability reports and team news, as of the date shown. "Hasn't played" means a regular (the main passer, a quarter of the carries or 15% of the catches) with no pass, carry or catch in his team's last two games, from the play-by-play. That can be an injury, a benching or a suspension. Linemen and defenders don't show up in that check.
The teams in charts
The players in charts
FAQ
Keep going
Ratings: SP+ via CFB Update; PRIME via primecfb.com. Box and play stats computed from CollegeFootballData.com play data (via the public cfbfastR files), FBS games only for scoring. Rushing yards here exclude sacks, so they run higher than official totals. Ranks are out of 138 FBS teams.