UNC taking Victory Bell from Duke almost caused a fight in 2019. That won’t happen again
After some taunting and verbal sparring last season, rivals Duke and North Carolina have agreed on a new, post-game protocol involving the Victory Bell trophy to avoid any possible altercations following their football game on Saturday.
The trophy, which the winner of the annual game earns the right to possess until the next game, will sit on UNC’s sideline for today’s game at Wallace Wade Stadium. The plan is for it to sit near the 10-yard line on the stadium’s north end, not far from the tunnel that leads to Duke’s locker room.
If UNC wins, it will retain the trophy and roll it back to the visiting locker room by exiting through the south end zone.
If Duke wins, UNC’s players and coaches will leave the bell when they head to their locker room, allowing the Blue Devils to take possession.
The idea is for the trophy to change hands without the two teams converging in the same area. Both Duke coach David Cutcliffe and UNC coach Mack Brown support this new plan.
This week, Brown wanted the trophy away from a team’s bench area “so after the game that one’s not fighting with the other over it.”
Athletic department officials from the two schools discussed new protocols last year and firmed up the plan Saturday morning.
Last year, having won the three previous games in the series, Duke had possession of the trophy on its sideline. UNC sealed the win by intercepting a Duke pass in the end zone with 14 seconds remaining. The end zone was at the end of the stadium near where the trophy was sitting.
As time expired, Duke staff rolled the trophy on to the field for UNC to take possession. UNC offensive lineman Jordan Tucker walked over to where Duke’s fans were sitting behind their bench area and taunted them by waving goodbye repeatedly.
That left him standing directly in front of the tunnel where Duke’s players and coaches had to pass to get to their locker room.
As Duke staff attempted to keep their angry players separated from Tucker, he headed back toward to the field while continuing to wave to Duke’s fans. Tucker posted a video clip on social media showing Duke defensive lineman Derrick Tangelo swiping at his head with an open hand and missing.
Cutcliffe, after the traditional post-game hand shake at midfield with Brown, was running off the field with a state trooper escorting him when they came upon Tucker. Cutcliffe put his hands on Tucker’s chest before pointing with one hand for him to leave and head back to the UNC side with his teammates.
With the state trooper in between them, Tucker swiped at Cutcliffe’s hands and Cutcliffe then pushed two hands in Tucker’s direction. UNC’s staff members were able to get Tucker removed from the area.
In the following days, both Cutcliffe and Brown said the post-game situation involving the bell needed to be changed to prevent any possible skirmishes.
“We don’t need the teams coming together after an emotional game to get that bell, because that bell is important,” Brown said two days after the game.
That same day, Cutcliffe said, “We need the bell, regardless of the score or who has it, put in some sort of a neutral place, so you don’t have two teams coming together and something horrific happens.”
This is the second time the postgame handling of the bell has been changed in the last five years.
Prior to 2015, the winning game not only rolled the trophy around in celebration, it was allowed to spray paint it in its shade of blue on the field. That changed following UNC’s 45-20 win at Wallace Wade Stadium in 2014, when the Tar Heels also used the pain to deface walls inside the stadium, Duke’s practice field and the visiting locker room.
Duke billed UNC for $27,170.44. UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham and then-UNC coach Larry Fedora wrote personal checks, for $13,585.22 each, to cover the damages.
Now the painting is done in a more controlled setting another day.
The exchanging of the trophy has become more relevant in recent years after UNC possessed it all but one year from 1990-2011 by winning 21 of 22 games in the series. Since then, Duke has won five of the last eight meetings.
Staff writer C.L. Brown contributed to this article
This story was originally published November 7, 2020 at 12:01 PM with the headline "UNC taking Victory Bell from Duke almost caused a fight in 2019. That won’t happen again."