the keg of nails is a traveling trophy continuously-awarded to the winner of the american college football rivalry game between the cincinnati bearcats and louisville cardinals. the rivalry has stretched over the span of four conferences from the missouri valley conference, to the metro conference to conference usa, and more recently in the big east conference, which in 2013 was renamed to the american athletic conference. it is believed to be the oldest rivalry for the louisville football team and the second oldest for cincinnati, only behind the annual game with the miami redhawks.