The trophy is, as the name implies, the wheel from a horse-drawn wagon that is painted blue and gold, the school colors for both universities.

Although the two schools are in neighboring Northeast Ohio counties and are only approximately 10 miles (16 km) apart, they only played each other in football periodically since the first meeting in 1923.

The rivalry was contested annually over several periods of time, but none lasted longer than nine consecutive years prior to the current run.

[1][2] Akron rejoined the OAC in 1944 and the Wagon Wheel trophy was introduced when the series resumed in 1946.

[3] While Akron went 10–0–1 in the rivalry's beginning, Kent State proceeded to win the next 10 games, including the first 9 of the Wagon Wheel series.

Prior to Kent State's 58–18 win in 1954, Akron announced the series was being discontinued as being noncompetitive.

Kent State's 51–14 win in the 1974 game capped a stretch where the Golden Flashes went 11–0–1 against the Zips and tied the overall series.

The following year, 1980, Akron moved to Division I-AA, and began play in the Ohio Valley Conference.

[1][2] In 2011, the two schools began the Wagon Wheel Challenge, which counts all athletic contests in the sports where they compete head-to-head.

Initially, the challenge involved 15 sports, but was reduced to 14 from 2015 to 2019 after Akron eliminated their baseball program.

Following the reinstatement of Akron's baseball team and the addition of Women's Lacrosse at Akron in 2019, the challenge grew to 16 sports, but was reduced back to 14 after UA discontinued its men's cross country, men's golf, and women's tennis teams in 2020.

In sports with multiple meetings per season, whichever team wins the most games takes the full point.