Michigan Vs. Minnesota Might Not Be Sexy, But It's Historic
Tonight’s Michigan vs. Minnesota game is not the sexiest matchup on the college football schedule this weekend. But what it lacks for in cache it more than makes up for in history. It's the oldest trophy game in the sport.
Yup, its older than the Egg Bowl, The Red River Rivalry, and the Jeweled Shillelagh (which is basically a giant mallett...I think). The origins of the tradition go back to 1903, which is also the same year that:
So yeah, a lot has changed. But how did this rivalry get started?
Michigan And Minnesota's Tradition Was Born Out Of Fear
Like any game with such stakes, it has a nickname: “The Battle For The Little Brown Jug.” The story begins in 1903, when Michigan traveled to Minnesota for a heavyweight matchup. The Wolverines were the defending national champions, and the Golden Gophers were 7-0 that year and had outscored opponents 506-6 .
Before the game started, Michigan head coach Fielding Yost feared the Gophers would try to tamper with his team’s water supply. He ordered student manager Tommy Waters to buy a jug for 30 cents, which means it would be about $40 in today’s economy. That's definitely a stretch, but the best inflation calculator I could find only goes back to 1913 (again, I told you this contest was old), and 30 cents back then is equal to about $9.40 today.
Former Minnesota defensive back Cedric Thompson holds up the Little Brown Jug for Minnesota in 2014. It's the last time the Gophers won this historic matchup. (Photo by Lon Horwedel/Icon Sportswire/Corbis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Anyway, the game ended in a 6-6 tie. After the Gophers evened the score, fans rushed the field, and the jug was lost. Minnesota equipment manager Oscar Munson confiscated the jug, wrote the score of the game on the side, and he and athletic director L. J. Cooke kept the jug safe.
The two programs didn’t play again for another six years. Yost asked Cooke just days before the matchup if he could have the jug back, which prompted a response from Cooke that heightened the stakes for the game.
114 Years Later, Michigan And Minnesota Still Want That Little Brown Jug
Cooke suggested to Yost that instead of simply handing the jug back, the teams should duke it out to see who would own it.
Yost thought that would be a great tradition to start. The Wolverines won 15-6 to get their jug back, and the tradition of the jug going to the winner was officially born. Since those meetings, the score of every game the two sides have played is inscribed on the sides of the jug.
Michigan's Devin Bush holds the Little Brown Jug following Michigan's 33-10 win in 2017. Michigan has done most of the winning in this rivalry. (Photo by Lon Horwedel/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The programs have had differing trajectories since that historic meeting in 1909. The Wolverines have won six outright national titles and one co-title, while remaining one of the marquee teams in the sport. The Gophers won three national championships in a row from 1934-1936, but haven’t otherwise experienced much success.
Michigan has a stranglehold on the head-to-head record as well, with the series at 76-25-3. Unsurprisingly, the No. 2 Wolverines are the 19-point favorites for tonight’s game.
But that doesn’t mean the outcome is already written. Anything can happen when bragging rights and a little brown jug are on the line.