If you’re curious enough, it’s easy to find information about The Little Brown Jug, the oldest trophy in American college football.

The Univeristy of Minnesota football team had a 16 game losing streak over the last 19 years to the University of Michigan. The Gophers hadn’t won since an upset of then #2 Michigan at Michigan Stadium on the 15th of November in 1986. 1986! I was 10 years old and did not follow college football.

This weekend, the Gophers finally got that 800 pound wolverine off of their back with a big win over Michigan, again at Michigan Stadium, this last Saturday. It was a frustrating but exciting game to watch. The Gophers were always in it, but never seemed to be able to overcome and get ahead. They had tons of huge stops on 3rd down and a few big sacks.

Near the end of the game the clock malfunctioned and no one knew how much time was left. The referee had to keep time on the field. It was very frustrating to watch, and even the TV guys didn’t know the time except for a few occasions when the time must have been relayed up to the booth from the field. Minnesota got the ball with just under 3 minutes left after stopping Michigan. They ran a few plays, even got a first down, but were mainly just going for overtime. Michigan even called a few timeouts in expectation of getting the ball back and trying for one last score. But then, on 3rd and 9 from their own 26 yard line, super backup Gary Russell sprang an outside run for 61 yards to set up a chance for a game winning field goal. The Gophers ran a few plays to the middle of the field and finally called timeout with 5 or 6 seconds remaining. The freshman kicker, Justin Giannini, came on and made the 30 yard field goal for the win. A fantastic finish.

Here’s a picture of some of the Gopher’s planting the U’s flag at the center of the field after the game. I bet the Michy fans didn’t like that.

And, for an extra boost of fun for any Minnesota Golden Gopher fan, the Wisconsin Badgers had been upset 51-48 by the Northwestern Wildcats a little earlier in the day. Hooray!