Only five miles separate Morgan State University and Towson University, but it’s been nearly a decade since their football teams last played each other. That will change this Saturday at 6 p.m.
The Morgan State University Bears and the Towson University Tigers will play for the first time since 2011, the initial installment of a series dubbed the “Battle for Greater Baltimore.” The rivalry game is scheduled to take place through the 2020 season, with teams alternating locations each year.
The ongoing matchup is something that both sides wanted and worked toward, especially Towson.
When he arrived in Baltimore, Tigers athletic director Tim Leonard said it wasn’t clear why Towson, a member of the Colonial Athletic Conference, always played teams in Morgan State’s conference—the historically Black Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference—but never the Bears.
“It made no sense to me; we have a school right down the road with tremendous history and tradition,” said Leonard, “so let’s have fun with it and make it a rivalry.”
The absence of a game between the two schools happened relatively recently, however. The two programs played almost annually from 1979 to 2011, with Towson leading the all-time series 17-6 and winning the previous 12 home games. When he was appointed in 2016, Morgan alumni made it very clear to new athletic director Edward Scott that they wanted to see this matchup back on the schedule, often visiting him and asking what he thought of the game.
“When I got here, Tim reached out to me in my first two weeks,” Scott said. “He and I sat down together and said, ‘let’s make this happen. The students definitely want it. They see each other across town; they eat at the same restaurants.’”
The big game will be televised, and Leonard said that he hopes to create an atmosphere “like that of a bowl game.” The two programs hope that the game convinces in-city recruits to stay home, rather than going to the University of Maryland or going out of state to play football.
“This is our big time,” Morgan State head coach Fred T. Farrier told pressboxonline.com. “Absolutely in recruiting, that makes a kid feel excited about playing at one of those institutions and wanting to be a part of and contribute to the success on the field at two places where you’re going to get a phenomenal education.”
More importantly, they see it as a way to bring a city together through the game of football, and eventually hope to move the annual matchup to M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens.
“For one day and one day only it’s our city, our football teams, the way it’s supposed to be. It’s about community,” said Rob Ambrose, Towson University head football coach.
The two teams hope to develop a trophy for the game, but what form it will take and what it will be named are still unknown.