This past Monday, Kyle Whittingham started his week as head coach of the Michigan football team with a presentation.
“We watched a couple of videos on (the Michigan-Minnesota rivalry),” wide receivers coach Micah Simon told the media on Wednesday. “We watched a video of us, keeping the jug on our sideline and watched the video of those guys coming to our sideline taking it, so it means a lot.”
The Wolverines and Golden Gophers have a rivalry. It’s not as pronounced as Michigan’s blood feuds with Ohio
State or Michigan State, or the two program’s eternal grudge match in ice hockey. But it’s there. It’s real. And this Saturday, it’s going to be played for the 100th time.
Historically, the Little Brown Jug game has been decidedly dominated by the Wolverines, as Michigan holds a 74-23-2 all-time record. And that hasn’t changed much over the last decade, as the Wolverines have won nine of the last 10 matchups.
But history is a fickle mistress. And the Gophers are riding into Saturday’s matchup with the confidence they need to rewrite the books and secure an upset victory.
“They’re probably feeling pretty good about themselves right now after their win at Husky Stadium, which has traditionally not been easy to do for anybody,” Whittingham said. “And so they’re playing with a lot of confidence, a lot of passion, a lot of energy. Sometimes teams start feeling too good about themselves, and then there’s the wounded animal from coming off a loss, they’ll be angry and ready to fight. I mean, there’s many different ways you can look at it. We’ll just see what happens.”
Minnesota is riding the high of a 27-24 upset victory at Washington. Husky Stadium is a famously intimidating environment to play in, marking the Gophers’ effort one that should put a Michigan team reeling from a shock loss to Iowa on high alert.
Quarterback Drake Lindsey turned in a standout effort, going 21-for-29 and tossing for 204 yards and three scores. When speaking to the media this week, Michigan linebacker Aisea Moa praised Lindsey, calling him a “great player with a great arm.” Minnesota’s defense also turned in an inspiring performance, forcing two turnovers out of Washington quarterback Demond Williams and sacking him on seven occasions.
“(They’ve got an) excellent defense and a lot of guys returning … their front is disruptive,” offensive line coach Jim Harding said this week. “It’s a great group to go against, and they’re coming off a great win against UW this last week. So we have our hands full.”
The Gophers’ buoyed confidence comes at the wrong time for the Wolverines. Michigan suffered one of its most frustrating losses in recent memory to Iowa, allowing the Hawkeyes to drive 91 yards for a walk-off touchdown in the final seconds of the game. It was a deeply deflating loss for an undefeated team scaling the polls to incur at home, and will surely leave the Wolverines slightly rattled, and that’s something they don’t need Minnesota to have in its back pocket.
Throw in the heightened emotions associated with a rivalry game — one where the Gophers are historic underdogs — and if Michigan can’t rein itself in and taper out the discipline issues that proved costly against the Hawkeyes, this could turn into a second consecutive upset.
