# Victory Bell (Pacific–San Jose State)

The Victory Bell is the trophy that was awarded to the winner of the now defunct Pacific–San José State football rivalry game. It was a college football rivalry between the Pacific Tigers football team of the University of the Pacific and the San José State Spartans football team of San José State University.
University of the Pacific was founded in 1851 in Santa Clara, California but soon moved to San Jose, California, and claims to be the first institution of higher education in California. San José State University was founded in San Jose, California in 1857 and is California's first public institution of higher education. Due to the "private vs. public" institutional competitiveness and the close geographical proximity of the two schools, a natural "cross-town" rivalry was born.
The series ended in 1995, when Pacific dissolved its football team citing cost issues. At the conclusion of the rivalry, San Jose State led the series, 43–23–6 for a total of 72 matches. The Victory Bell was initially introduced in 1949.

## Historical overview

The 100-year series between San José State and Pacific began in 1895 with a game held at Pacific, which ended in a 0–0 tie. The first victor of the series came in 1898 when San Jose State won 18–0 at home. Pacific's first win of the series was a 34–0 in 1921 at home.
Ahead of the 1949 game, members of Pacific's Alpha Kappa Phi fraternity commissioned a bell to serve as the trophy for the series. The bell is two feet tall and waist-high on a rolling cart, it features an orange "P" for Pacific on half, and blue with a gold "SJ" for San Jose on the other half.
In 1969, San Jose State became a charter member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (which later became the Big West Conference), Pacific joined for football only, becoming a full member two years later, allowing the series to be a conference match-up.
In 1992, San Jose State had their ninth consecutive win, the longest win streak of the series. In 1995, Pacific's Board of Regents voted to disband the football team to save money for the athletic program, which was reported to have gone over $400,000 in debt.
After the dissolution of the series, the Victory Bell trophy was adopted and traded between the school's basketball teams, which happened until 2009. Since 2018, the Victory Bell has been on loan from San Jose State to the San Francisco 49ers Museum at Levi's Stadium as a part of an exhibit on Bay Area college football.

## Statistics

Overall, the series is notable for its large amount of blowouts, through the first 66 years (37 games) of the series the losing team only managed to score more than 7 points three times.
| Sources: | San José State | Pacific |
| Games played | 72 | 72 |
| Wins | 43 | 23 |
| Ties | 6 | 6 |
| Home wins | 20 | 12 |
| Road wins | 23 | 11 |
| Consecutive wins | 9 | 7 |
| Most total points in a game | 111 (1991) | 111 (1991) |
| Most points in a win | 64 (1991) | 46 (1923) |
| Most points in a loss | 35 (1966) | 47 (1991) |
| Fewest total points in a game | 0 (1895, 1935) | 0 (1895, 1935) |
| Largest margin of victory | 41 (1970) | 46 (1923) |
| Smallest margin of victory | 1 (1953, 1979, 1992) | 2 (1974, 1995) |
| Total points scored in series | 1,472 | 1,242 |
| Shut-outs of opposing team | 12 (1898, 1899, 1932, 1934, 1936, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1951, 1961, 1982, 1984) | 7 (1921, 1922, 1923, 1930, 1931, 1947, 1968) |

## Game results

| San Jose State victories | Pacific victories | Tie games |
| No. | Date | Location | Winner | Score |
| 1 | 1895 | San Jose, CA | Tie | 0–0 |
| 2 | 1896 | San Jose, CA | Tie | 6–6 |
| 3 | 1898 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 18–0 |
| 4 | 1899 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 6–0 |
| 5 | November 5, 1921 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 34–0 |
| 6 | November 24, 1922 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 23–0 |
| 7 | November 3, 1923 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 46–0 |
| 8 | October 26, 1929 | San Jose, CA | Tie | 6–6 |
| 9 | October 35, 1930 | Stockton, CA | Pacific | 27–0 |
| 10 | November 11, 1931 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 27–0 |
| 11 | October 8, 1932 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 7–0 |
| 12 | October 16, 1933 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 12–6 |
| 13 | November 17, 1934 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 13–0 |
| 14 | October 18, 1935 | Stockton, CA | Tie | 0–0 |
| 15 | October 10, 1936 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 8–0 |
| 16 | October 1, 1937 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 12–7 |
| 17 | October 14, 1938 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 19–6 |
| 18 | October 20, 1939 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 13–3 |
| 19 | November 8, 1940 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 28–7 |
| 20 | October 24, 1941 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 7–0 |
| 21 | October 17, 1942 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 29–0 |
| 22 | November 8, 1946 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 32–0 |
| 23 | October 31, 1947 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 14–0 |
| 24 | October 30, 1948 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 14–7 |
| 25 | October 28, 1949 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 45–7 |
| 26 | November 18, 1950 | Stockton, CA | Tie | 7–7 |
| 27 | November 23, 1951 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 7–0 |
| 28 | October 18, 1952 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 26–21 |
| 29 | November 7, 1953 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 7–6 |
| 30 | November 6, 1954 | Stockton, CA | Pacific | 13–7 |
| 31 | October 22, 1955 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 14–7 |
| 32 | November 10, 1956 | Stockton, CA | Pacific | 34–7 |
| 33 | November 9, 1957 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 21–6 |
| 34 | November 8, 1958 | Stockton, CA | Pacific | 26–13 |
| 35 | November 20, 1959 | Stockton, CA | Pacific | 20–7 |
| 36 | November 5, 1960 | Stockton, CA | Pacific | 26–20 |
| 37 | September 22, 1961 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 16–0 |
| No. | Date | Location | Winner | Score |
| 38 | November 11, 1961 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 29–26 |
| 39 | November 3, 1962 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 24–22 |
| 40 | November 30, 1963 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 32–20 |
| 41 | October 24, 1964 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 37–13 |
| 42 | November 6, 1965 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 52–21 |
| 43 | October 29, 1966 | Stockton, CA | Pacific | 38–35 |
| 44 | October 28, 1967 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 34–14 |
| 45 | November 2, 1968 | Stockton, CA | Pacific | 28–0 |
| 46 | November 22, 1969 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 15–12 |
| 47 | October 24, 1970 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 48–7 |
| 48 | October 30, 1971 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 28–18 |
| 49 | October 21, 1972 | Stockton, CA | Pacific | 38–28 |
| 50 | October 6, 1973 | San Jose, CA | Tie | 21–21 |
| 51 | October 26, 1974 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 29–27 |
| 52 | October 18, 1975 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 41–13 |
| 53 | November 13, 1976 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 50–30 |
| 54 | October 29, 1977 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 24–7 |
| 55 | November 11, 1978 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 33–31 |
| 56 | November 10, 1979 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 32–31 |
| 57 | November 8, 1980 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 28–23 |
| 58 | November 14, 1981 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 40–25 |
| 59 | November 13, 1982 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 31–0 |
| 60 | November 12, 1983 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 30–26 |
| 61 | November 17, 1984 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 33–0 |
| 62 | October 26, 1985 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 34–26 |
| 63 | October 25, 1986 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 44–15 |
| 64 | November 17, 1987 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 42–17 |
| 65 | October 15, 1988 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 35–17 |
| 66 | September 23, 1989 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 41–32 |
| 67 | September 15, 1990 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 28–14 |
| 68 | October 19, 1991 | San Jose, CA | San Jose State | 64–47 |
| 69 | November 14, 1992 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 28–27 |
| 70 | November 20, 1993 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 24–20 |
| 71 | November 19, 1994 | Stockton, CA | San Jose State | 28–15 |
| 72 | October 28, 1995 | San Jose, CA | Pacific | 32–30 |
| Series: San Jose State leads 43–23–6 |||||