The oak bust, displaying a picture of Sitting Bull, designed in 1953 after a suggestion by newspaperman Al Neuharth.

[2] The inspiration for the trophy was a minor 1953 dispute over which state was home to the final resting place of the famed chief, after it revealed that Sitting Bull's family members had exhumed and reinterred what they believed to be his remains, moving them from Fort Yates, North Dakota to Mobridge, South Dakota.

[2] In 2000, the Sitting Bull Trophy retired, amid the ongoing NCAA controversy over the use of Native American names and symbols by its member institutions.

The two teams have met 101 times on the football field, with North Dakota currently holding a 63–33–5 edge in the all-time series.

North Dakota joined the Missouri Valley Football Conference in 2020, renewing the annual rivalry.