Saturday’s game between Minnesota and Michigan will be the 89th time the two schools have played for the right to the Little Brown Jug and the 95th time they have met overall. Michigan holds an overall 67-24-3 margin on the Gophers dating back to the first meeting between the two teams in 1892. The two teams first played for the Little Brown Jug in 1903, with Michigan holding a 63-22-3 advantage in trophy games. Minnesota and Michigan met every season from 1929 until the Big Ten’s unbalanced schedule did not have the two schools playing each other during the 1999 and 2000 seasons. The Gophers won last year’s game 23-20 in Ann Arbor.
Saturday’s game, televised by ESPN in a 7:00 p.m. (EDT) kickoff, will be the first of Minnesota’s four trophy games this season as the Gophers try to retain the “Little Brown Jug.” The “Little Brown Jug” is the most famous of all football rivalry trophies. It dates back to the 1903 contest between the Gophers and Wolverines in Minneapolis. Fielding Yost and Michigan were destroying everyone in the nation and had won 28-straight games heading into their match up with the Gophers. When Minnesota scored a second-half touchdown to tie the game at 6-6, the 20,000-plus fans stormed the field, causing the game to be called with two minutes
on the clock. The following morning, Minnesota equipment manager Oscar Munson found an earthenware water jug and painted the score on it. Yost sent a letter asking for the jug to be returned and Dr. L.J. Cooke, Athletics Director at Minnesota, wrote back that they would have to win it back, and so began the legend
of the Little Brown Jug.
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Michigan enters this Saturday’s game with the Gophers with a perfect 4-0 record and the No. 6 ranking in the nation. The Wolverines followed three straight wins against Vanderbilt, Central Michigan and at Notre Dame with a 27-13 victory in their Big Ten opener against Wisconsin on Saturday. Michigan is led by junior
quarterback Chad Henne, who has completed 52 of 88, passes for 679 yards and seven touchdowns. Henne has found an explosive target this season in sophomore wideout Mario Manningham. Manningham has earned the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week award the past two weeks and has 16 receptions for 321 yards with six touchdowns on the season. The ground attack is controlled by Michael Hart, who leads the Big Ten in rushing with 119.2 yards per game. Hart also has five touchdowns on the ground. Defensively, the Wolverines boast the top defense in the conference and the fifth best in the nation, limiting their opponents to only 217 yards per game. The Wolverines also have the top rushing defense in the nation, allowing a mere 18 yards rushing per game. Individually, linebacker Lamar Woodley leads the conference in sacks with five.
Leading the Minnesota offense, senior quarterback Bryan Cupito is among the leaders in almost every passing category in the Gopher record book. Cupito is only one touchdown pass away from moving past current defensive graduate assistant Cory Sauter into second place all-time in career touchdown passes. Sauter and Cupito each have 40 career TD tosses. A favorite target for Cupito is tight end Matt Spaeth who ranks second all-time for career receptions by a tight end with 77, only six catches off the all-time lead held by Ben Utecht. He is also ranked second among tight ends in Minnesota school history for receiving yardage with 931.
Minnesota tailback Amir Pinnix is only 10 yards away from becoming the 38th player in Gopher history to reach 1,000 yards rushing for his career. Pinnix currently has 990 career rush yards. He would become the 11th player during Glen Mason’s tenure to surpass 1,000 yards rushing for a career.
Michigan is favored by –10 points by most sportsbook with the total set at 51.
