RIP Michigan-Minnesota rivalry
Michigan will play Minnesota twice in the next 8 seasons, both in Minneapolis.
The earliest we could possibly play them at home again is 2026.
Series that has been played 103 times and went uninterrupted from 1919-1998. Two year hiatuses happened in 1999-2000, 2009-2010 and took a year off in 2016. 2 meetings in the next 8 seasons.
But hey, we get those Rutgers and Maryland games every year! Who needs tradition that goes before this wonderful league was even created when you have cable subscribers, a booming industry that has a bright future.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:52 PM ^
We just declare the Rutgers game as an alternate Jug Game. We act like we are playing Minnesota. The band plays the Minnesota fight song as the guest team. We do a Minnesota themed half time show. We hire a fake Goldy Gopher to walk the sidelines. It’s not like there’s any danger of losing the jug..... [Ok, there was the Brady Hole f-up, but he’s not here anymore]
August 29th, 2018 at 7:35 PM ^
This is a brilliant idea and I'm not even joking.
August 29th, 2018 at 4:50 PM ^
The Little Brown Jug game has always been special to me because it seemed to happen around my birthday a lot when I was a kid. So this is pretty disappointing.
August 29th, 2018 at 4:54 PM ^
That really sucks. Yes, that rivalry was lopsided but the little brown jug has so much history. The B1G and college football care about money, nothing else.
August 29th, 2018 at 4:54 PM ^
It's the trophy game that spawned hundreds of lame as hell copycats in college football, where other schools picked fairy tale characters or objects at random to play for (Illinois and OSU play for a freaking turtle) that are beyond embarrassing.
The jug has such a great story and was part of an actual Michigan/Minnesota game over 100 years ago. Even with the lopsided history, it's a travesty that this game will be played so rarely in the coming years because Maryland and Rutgers had to be added to the conference.
I really don't like this.
August 29th, 2018 at 4:57 PM ^
Convinced wife to move to Minnesota to get kids a good education. Secretly wanted to move to a location I could watch Michigan play football every other year. Wife happy with great schools. Trueblueintexas not so happy with B1G scheduling.
August 29th, 2018 at 6:00 PM ^
trueblueintexas lives in MN? I'm confused.
August 29th, 2018 at 7:06 PM ^
Life is a shit sandwich, but if you have enough bread, you dont taste the shit.
Trueblueintexas needs more bread.
August 29th, 2018 at 4:59 PM ^
Our largest comeback ever - down 28-7 in 2003 at Minnesota at start of 4th Qtr (shown here), we score 31 points and beat them in regulation 38-35. Still can't believe we did that.
Going to miss playing the Gophers - we pretty much have had their number. If my math is correct, over the last 50 years, starting in 1968, we are 41-4 against them. That Brown Jug must get homesick when it has traveled to Minnesota...
August 29th, 2018 at 5:04 PM ^
12-0 in the Metrodome, 2-0 in TCF Bank Stadium.
Haven't lost to them in Minneapolis in over 40 years. Remarkable streak.
August 29th, 2018 at 8:09 PM ^
Was that when Navarre was slinging the rock around?
August 29th, 2018 at 5:00 PM ^
In a big conference there are going to be some broken eggs like this.
This stinks because of the Jug's tradition. It stinks for me personally because Michigan at Minnesota is my best chance to see Michigan play in person. I've been here for nine years and Michigan has visited twice. Two more times, I guess.
It would stink if this were Iowa or Wisconsin, too. It's the "new Big Ten." With a lot of downsides.
August 29th, 2018 at 7:13 PM ^
Quick solution that might remedy this issue a bit: kick Maryland and Rutgers to the motherfucking curb.
August 29th, 2018 at 10:09 PM ^
And PSU and MSU
August 29th, 2018 at 5:06 PM ^
Need to mix things up. The other division is like the participation division.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:07 PM ^
I don't understand why these crossover series have to go on year after year? Couldn't they rotate the opponents each year? Or have one dedicated crossover game and rotate the other two? In our case, having Minnesota as the dedicated crossover opponent would make perfect sense. But this is the B1G and we don't have time for rational solutions.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:08 PM ^
I hate Jim Delany more than I hate ISIS.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:33 PM ^
Makes sense.
Even ISIS didn't try to expand its footprint into New Jersey to pick up more followers.
August 29th, 2018 at 7:15 PM ^
LOL, well done, sir.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:11 PM ^
I'd rather play B1G West teams than OOC teams, or half the B1G East teams for that matter.
August 29th, 2018 at 8:47 PM ^
I still consider 2/7ths of the Big Ten East to be OOC games
August 29th, 2018 at 5:17 PM ^
I hope we ditch the divisions soon and just go with 2-3 permanent rivals while cycling everyone else through as quickly as possible.
The current media rights expire around 2023, so if the conferences realign in response, these schedules might not be permanent.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:18 PM ^
Silver lining: the jug's not going anywhere for a while?
August 29th, 2018 at 7:18 PM ^
It's a lame way to keep it though. Defeats the whole, "come and get it" spirit of the thing.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:18 PM ^
Oh, if we could only wind back the clock and squash all talk of 'footprint".
I can hear Delany now: "Blah blah new traditions blah Rutgers blah....."
August 29th, 2018 at 5:18 PM ^
Yes, this sucks.
So does the flip in the schedule that has us on the same home/away schedule for MSU and OSU.
And while I agree that the Little Brown Jug ought to have more significance than what the schedule dictates, think of how shitty it must be, to be a history-devoted fan of Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Purdue or Iowa, all of whom have been in the Big Ten Conference since before the year 1900, and yet they all play in a different division from Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State.
It sucks, and I don't care what it means to the conference in terms of revenue, or cable tv packages or anything else.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:21 PM ^
Your grandfather's rivalry, really.
Well, at least we got a New Jersey recruiting pipeline out of the deal.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:25 PM ^
The BIG needs to implement the roommate switch!
The pods would be: Mich-OSU-MSU, PSU-Rut-Maryland, Ill-NW-IU-PU, and Neb-Iowa-Minn-Wisc
August 29th, 2018 at 5:42 PM ^
That's a pretty good idea for the B1G.
One drawback is that in 50% of years there would be (based on historical tendencies) one rather stacked division (U-M, OSU, MSU, Nebr, Iowa, Wisky) and one considerably less stacked division.
Fairly even divisions (based on historical tendencies, again) in the other 50% of years. The divisions in those 50% of years would look like the "outer/inner" idea that was floated for awhile before the B1G went East/West.
August 29th, 2018 at 6:32 PM ^
Well, we already have "stacked divisions" 100% of the time because the B1G West is a complete joke. Wisky is good, Neb might be decent, eventually, with Frost, NW is scrappy and Iowa is usually ok at home. That's not saying much for an entire division.
August 29th, 2018 at 8:32 PM ^
I agree, there would be some imbalance. I don't know how else you would break them up. I Guess the option would be to go with the Inner/Outer divisions full time.
Neb-Iowa-Wisc-Minn-PSU-Maryland-Rutgers
Mich-OSU-MSU-Ill-NW-IU-PU
That's as about as balanced as the B1G could get.
August 29th, 2018 at 5:29 PM ^
At least Minnesota will be able to say "We only lost to Michigan twice in the last 8 seasons"
August 29th, 2018 at 5:30 PM ^
BEAT NOTRE DAME!
August 29th, 2018 at 5:37 PM ^
I really like this rivalry, because it's
a) organic,
b) good natured on both sides (except when Minn. is coached to headhunt, but nvm), and
c) enduring
Anyone else get REALLY nervous every time an adrenaline-and-endorphines-wracked football player grabs The Little Brown Jug?? That thing has to be getting fragile...
August 29th, 2018 at 5:45 PM ^
New students are going to be walking down South University, see The Little Brown Jug, and think, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
August 29th, 2018 at 5:50 PM ^
To fix, why can't we:
1. Schedule an extra conference game every year?
2. Schedule them as a "non-conference" game.
It's a game that must happen....
August 29th, 2018 at 6:01 PM ^
They may care. I don’t.
August 29th, 2018 at 6:47 PM ^
Stinks.
August 29th, 2018 at 6:55 PM ^
That sucks. The B1G conference sucks. We added two shitty schools it Rutgers and Maryland just so the conference footprint could reach the east coast. It’s all about the $$$ at this point.
August 29th, 2018 at 8:45 PM ^
At least it's not in the precarious situation the Big XII is in.
August 29th, 2018 at 7:26 PM ^
Who's dick did PSU suck to get Illinois 4 strait years?
August 29th, 2018 at 7:35 PM ^
The B1G under Delany just totally sucks. We get shit on at every turn. The Little Brown Jug is like one of the best traditions in college sports. I don't get the B1G's future for protecting the schools as it is just all about TV money and Delany's $20MM annual bonus.
August 29th, 2018 at 7:41 PM ^
What a Shame....
Great pics.
August 29th, 2018 at 7:55 PM ^
I would be in favor of adding them to the non-conference schedule over some random MACrifice.
August 29th, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^
That would be great actually.
August 29th, 2018 at 8:08 PM ^
This saddens me.
August 29th, 2018 at 8:20 PM ^
If we didn't have a 9 game conference schedule already I would be fine with scheduling Minnesota as an OOC opponent to keep the Little Brown Jug tradition.
August 29th, 2018 at 8:34 PM ^
That's capitalism for ya.
August 29th, 2018 at 8:39 PM ^
I haven't paid for cable since 2008. I built a cheap linux box and hook it up to my TV. I control it with a wireless media keyboard w/ built-in trackpad. I find streams from reddit. The sooner these cable companies go under, the better.
August 29th, 2018 at 8:47 PM ^
Nobody gives a shit about playing Minnesota.