The Little Brown Jug is back in Minnesota. The Gophers defense overwhelmed Michigan and quarterback Bryce Underwood on Saturday in a 20-14 victory that was their first over the Wolverines since 2014.
However, it's the first time in nearly 50 years that the University of Minnesota has beat Michigan in Minneapolis to take back the oldest trophy in college football in front of the home fans. The battle for the Little Brown Jug dates back to 1903, and since 1968 has been dominated by the maize and blue, especially in Minnesota.
This is just the fifth time in those 58 years the Gophers have hoisted the Jug and only second time at home. To illustrate the home futility, the Gophers never beat Michigan in the Metrodome. Their last win in 1977 was at old Memorial Stadium prior to last Saturday's win.
The victory sent students streaming onto the field in celebration with the team.
When you beat Michigan at home for the first time in almost 50 years, you run to get the Little Brown Jug and you definitely get to storm the field! What a win for for the @GopherFootball team and PJ Fleck! https://t.co/fVGGquQEaC
— News Talk 830 WCCO (@wccoradio) October 3, 2026
"This is what college athletics is all about," Gopher head coach P.J. Fleck said after the game. "And I was gonna start with that, whether we won or lost. That moment, memory and that experience in that stadium for 3.5 hours is what the college student-athlete experience is still all about."
The Wolverines had won 35 of their last 38 games in the 134-year-old series. The Gophers have been able to win a couple of games at Michigan, but it has been since Oct. 22, 1977, since Michigan lost at Minnesota, a 16-0 shutout at Memorial Stadium when the Wolverines were the No. 1 team in the Associated Press poll.
Certainly, this is not a #1 ranked Michigan team. They have struggled under first-year coach Kyle Whittingham, who comes to Ann Arbor after 20 years of success at Utah.
“I've been in this profession 40-some years, and this is the biggest challenge I’ve had,” new coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We will get it figured out. I promise you that. I'm not sure what the timeline is, but we will get it figured out.”
A gift of a win over Western Michigan, a last-second loss at the hands of Iowa, and now this loss to Minnesota is not what Wolverine fans are used to. Still, Michigan and their resources dwarf Minnesota's, something Fleck is happy to point out.
"We don't have a bunch of 5 stars on our team. We don't have any 5 stars on our team," Fleck says about his roster of players at Minnesota. "This was going to come down to playing our style of football, dictating the terms of the fight, dominating and being the best team. I thought we dominated in every phase."
Coach PJ Fleck drank from the jug before he joined the players in the locker room. He promptly jumped up and did a little surfing. Fox sent its “Big Noon Kickoff” pregame show for the first time to Minnesota, where Huntington Bank Stadium was striped out with fans wearing maroon and gold alternating by section. Fleck crowd-surfed from the studio stage into a sea of students in front of the hockey arena across the street.
SURF’S UP 🌊〽️ #RTB #SkiUMah #Gophers https://t.co/sQmnqHFKk6
— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) October 3, 2026
Fleck says having the national "Big Noon Kickoff" broadcast from the stadium made the day even more special. He also said postgame that other than marrying his wife, and having his kids, it's probably the greatest day of his life.
The Gophers are unbeaten in Big Ten play by winning on the margins, playing solid on defense, opportunistic on offense, and winning on special teams.
Next up, they'll head to lowly Purdue where the Gophers are favored by 4.5 before a bye week. After that, it gets very, very difficult with a home game against 20th ranked rival Iowa, and at defending national champion Indiana.
