The wooden carriage is painted the school color of the team in possession, navy blue for Nevada or scarlet for UNLV.

In 1967, Bill Ireland was hired by Nevada Southern University (the predecessor to UNLV) to coach their new football team[2] and by 1969 came up with the idea to have a trophy as a symbol of the rivalry between the two schools.

[3] The cannon contains a 55 millimetres (2.2 in) barrel, weighs 545 pounds (247 kg), and cost $10,000 to build, making it the heaviest and most expensive trophy in college football.

[5] In 1978, following Nevada's first victory over UNLV in four seasons, Chris Ault convinced security at McCarran International Airport to allow the team to disassemble the cannon and take it as carry-on luggage back to Reno.

[5] The team had to figure out how to break down the cannon, a task that was usually done by the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, which UNLV did not have in 1978.

Before many NCAA members relaxed alcohol sales policies at football games in the 2010s and 2020s, Sam Boyd Stadium and Mackay Stadium were two of the few NCAA football venues to sell alcohol to all spectators of legal age on game day.

After the game, UNLV player Quincy Sanders threw his helmet in the direction of Nevada head coach Chris Ault.

The MW eliminated its football divisions after the 2022 season, but the Nevada–UNLV game was designated as an annual matchup in the new scheduling model.