CRAWFORDSVILLE, Indiana – The ISC Sports Network, DePauw University, and Wabash College will partner to broadcast the 127th Monon Bell Classic to be played between the Tigers and Little Giants on Saturday, November 13 in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
The latest installment in the classic football series will be played at the new Little Giant Stadium on the Wabash campus with kickoff slated for 1:07 p.m. (EST). Tickets for the game will be available in the coming weeks.
The ISC Sports Network is an all-Indiana sports cable channel/website/production company that is entering its second decade providing coverage to a variety of levels of sports across the state and beyond. ISC produces hundreds of high school sporting events each year, and has been a longtime production partner of college sports in the Indianapolis metropolitan area.
“The Monon Bell game is a time-honored tradition for both schools,” Wabash head football coach Don Morel said. “I constantly hear stories about people gathering in at alumni parties in cities across the country and in their homes with friends, and they have so much fun watching the game.”
“Our student-athletes and staff are thrilled to be competing for conference and NCAA championships this year, and I know our entire DePauw University family, including alumni, parents and friends, are excited about the return of the Monon Bell game,” said Stevie Baker-Watson, AVP for Student Wellness and the Theodore Katula Director of Athletics. “This game is part of our institutional history, and we are grateful it will again be available to our alumni, parents, and friends all over the world through several digital streaming platforms.”
The 127th Monon Bell Classic will be seen on WNDY-TV in Central Indiana, Comcast/Xfinity 81 in many parts of the state, on 10 partner cable systems that carry ISC TV on a full-time basis, and through the ISC’s social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, as well as Amazon Fire, Apple TV, Roku, Google Play, and Chromecast. Fans will also be able to watch the game by downloading the ISC Sports Network app or through ISCSportsNetwork.com.
“The Monon Bell Classic is perhaps the most iconic brand in all of small college athletics,” Greg Rakestraw, ISC vice-president, said. “And it certainly is one of the dates that gets marked every year for sports fans across the state. We are absolutely thrilled at ISC to be able to bring the game to our audience, as well as talk up this wonderful event in the weeks leading up to the big game during high school football telecasts and weekly on Query & Schultz.”
Viewers will also be able to watch the broadcast on both the DePauw and Wabash regular live streaming services. The broadcast will also be available on the new Wabash Video Network app, available later this year through the Apple Store and Google Play.
The Monon Bell Classic was first televised in 1977 by ABC on a regional basis; national telecasts began in 1984; and the game has been seen on ESPN2, AXS-TV/HDNET, and FOX Sports Midwest/Indiana, among other outlets.
DePauw and Wabash first met on the gridiron in 1890. In 1932, a locomotive bell from the Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville Railroad Company, also known as the Monon Line, was donated and became the winner’s trophy each year. In the all-time series, Wabash holds a 62-55-9 lead. Since the Monon Bell entered the rivalry in 1932, Wabash leads 43-38-6. DePauw won 17-13 in the last meeting between the two teams in 2019.
The Monon Bell was voted Indiana’s best college sports rivalry by fans of ESPN, and is noted in the DVD collection, ESPNU Honor Roll: The Best of College Football, as one of the nation’s best annual clashes. The DePauw-Wabash rivalry was also featured on CBS’ Sunday Morning and has twice been spotlighted in Sports Illustrated. The annual DePauw-Wabash clash is also detailed in Rites of Autumn: The Story of College Football, a book by Richard Whittingham. Indianapolis Monthly listed experiencing the game among “50 Things Every Hoosier Must Do.”
In 2013 and 2015, ESPN’s College GameDay included the Monon Bell in a look at great college football rivalries.
Twenty-three Monon Bell Games have been preserved on commercially produced DVDs and are available in the Wabash College Bookstore and online. Every game between 2000 and 2018 is available, as well as special edition DVDs from the 1977, 1984, 1993, 1994 contests.
The previous 126 games are commemorated in video vignettes known as “Monon Memories,” which were created by Ken Owen, DePauw ’81, and can be found on YouTube.