Always Rivalry Week: Iowa, Minnesota, and one of college football’s great trophies

With more than 130 schools and more than 130 years of history, there’s a rivalry every week somewhere in college football. Some are titanic clashes, some are petty border disputes, but all of them mean the world to the rivals involved. This season, we’ll let you in on the triumphant, the heartbreaking, and the ridiculous from rivalries all over the country. Today: some good old-fashioned B1G hijinks.

The schools: The Iowa Hawkeyes and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Unlike some schools, whose Big Ten tenure can still be counted in days, Iowa and Minnesota have been there from the jump. Minnesota was a part of the conference formation in 1896, and Iowa joined three years later. Between them, they claim 12 poll-voted national titles, none since 1960 — a year where they both claimed the title. Awkward.

The series: Overall, Minnesota leads 63-52-2. Iowa has a one-game edge in the trophy exchange, 44-43-2. Iowa has won 18 of the last 22 and eight of the last nine … but Minnesota is the defending trophy-holder thanks to last year’s 12-10 barn-burner.

The trophy: The Floyd of Rosedale trophy is a behemoth, 98 pounds of solid bronze. It’s tough to handle, but a whole lot easier than an actual pig, which the competing state governors wagered in 1935. Rather than swapping the pig back and forth, the schools had a trophy created, and began awarding (and exchanging) that the next year.

“I was kind of naïve to it until they came across the field after the 12-10 win out there in 1981,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz recalled earlier this week, “and I thought, boy, they’re pretty enthusiastic about shaking hands, and then I realized they wanted to come get the trophy that was right behind us.”

Notable games

1903: So, you think Iowa’s inability to score is a new phenomenon? Get this: The Hawkeyes once had a run where they scored just 4 points against Minnesota … over 20 years. Iowa and Minnesota began playing in 1891. Iowa scored 4 points in that game, and wouldn’t score another point against Minnesota until 1911. The highlight/lowlight of that run: a 75-0 Minnesota blowout in October 1903. Ouch.

1934: This 48-12 Minnesota victory was significant for several reasons. First, the game featured Ozzie Simmons, one of the few Black players of the era. Minnesota players battered Simmons so hard that he left the game. One sportswriter described the day in the kind of language you just don’t see much anymore: “The wild attack of the rampaging Norsemen struck without warning in the opening minutes of the battle. The vicious Vikings ran amuck, leaving destruction in their wake as they plowed and pounded through the Iowa defense.”

Another historical footnote: The game was called on the radio by a young reporter named Ronald Reagan, who would go on to bigger things.

1935: Iowa fans were justifiably enraged by Minnesota’s treatment of Simmons the year before, and threatened the Gopher players and coaches if anything similar happened again. “If the officials stand for any rough tactics like Minnesota used last year,” Iowa Gov. Clyde Herring said, “I’m sure the crowd won’t.” Minnesota Gov. Floyd B. Olson defused the tension by wagering a pig on the game’s outcome. Herring accepted, and the game — another Minnesota victory, but only by 13-6 — went on without incident.

1960: Iowa was ranked No. 1 and Minnesota ranked No. 3 when 1960’s version came around. Minnesota won, 27-10, and would go on to claim the AP poll title. But Iowa went on to knock off Ohio State and Notre Dame, and won the Litkenhous Poll — there were an awful lot of polls in those days — so both schools claim 1960 as a title year.

2019: There haven’t been many matchups in this series where both teams were ranked, but in 2019, No. 7 Minnesota was undefeated and facing No. 22 Iowa in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes raced out to a 20-3 lead and held on for a crushing 23-19 defeat to end Minnesota’s perfect season.

2023: Controversy! Trailing 12-10 with barely a minute remaining in the game, Iowa return man Cooper DeJean waved his hand as he ran toward a punt, then picked it up off the bounce and returned it for a go-ahead touchdown. Or did he?

Refs ruled that he had been waving his hand in what appeared to be a fair-catch signal, making the ball dead where he caught it at midfield. Iowa wasn’t able to move into field goal range, and Minnesota claimed the series’ most recent victory. The win marked Minnesota’s first win in Iowa City this millennium.

This year: This is the earliest that the two schools have ever squared off; the game usually fell in late October to mid-November. Ah, the joys of conference realignment. Both teams come into the game at 2-1, and this marks their first conference game of the 2024 season. Per BetMGM, Iowa is a 2.5-point favorite, and the over/under is 35.5, exactly as you’d expect. The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be shown on NBC and Peacock. Pig trophy ceremony to follow.