Gopher Fans Ecstatic As MN Wins Little Brown Jug

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - The Gophers defeated the University of Michigan Saturday in the longest running trophy battle in college football history.

About 100,000 Wolverine fans fell silent when the maroon-and-gold hoisted the Little Brown Jug.

The Gophers won 30-14.

Dozens of gopher fans headed to the U Saturday night to greet the team as the buses rolled up to campus after their big win against Michigan.

They cheered the players but also wanted to get a glimpse of the Little Brown Jug.

That coveted trophy has not been in Minnesota since 2005.

For the team, this win gives them a huge boost of confidence looking ahead to the rest of the season.

"It's just huge for us," quarterback Mitch Leidner said. "It's huge for the state of Minnesota, huge for a team."

The Gophers took the lead in the 2nd quarter and dominated the rest of the game.

Over the past couple of years, Coach Kill's seizures have dominated a lot of the headlines in Gopher football.

That's not the case this year and many fans also commented last night that they are very happy the U stuck by coach Kill through all of it.

The Little Brown Jug is the oldest trophy game in college football, starting in 1909.

The story goes that Michigan, in a 29-game win streak at the time, bought the jug out of concern that Minnesota wouldn't give them clean water.

The team left behind the jug when the Gophers and Wolverines tied.

Michigan's coach wanted the jug back and the Gophers' athletic director told him, "If you want it, you'll have to come up and win it."