A History of Football Rivalry: Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. UCLA Bruins
The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its inception in 1896 as the Western Conference. The team is currently coached by P. J. Fleck.
Early Years and Formation
The Minnesota Gophers college football team played its first game on September 29, 1882, a 4-0 victory over Hamline University. Eight years later in 1890, the Gophers played host to Wisconsin in a 63-0 victory. The sport's beginnings were humble. Once the sport had taken off, it was only a matter of time before a team was formed to play against other schools. Early teams were very loosely organized, not requiring all of the players to be students and not having designated coaches. The players on the team started to recruit faculty members who had played football at schools in the East to help organize the team. Some years, the football team played without a coach. Other years, they played with multiple coaches. In total, from 1882 through 1899, the team played 16 seasons of football and had 15 different coaches. As the years went by, the leadership structure started to become more formal. In 1900, the hiring of Dr. Henry L. Williams marked a turning point.
The Rise of the Golden Gophers
The Gophers enjoyed quite a bit of success in the early 20th century, posting winning records from 1900 to 1919. Head coach Henry L. Williams developed the "Minnesota shift", a predecessor to later quick line shifts, which was adopted widely. Also Henry L. Williams led Minnesota to one of the NCAA's longest unbeaten streaks of 35 games, from 1903 to 1905 with 34 wins and 1 tie.
In 1932, Bernie Bierman became the Gophers' head coach and led the Gophers to their first dynasty. From 1934 to 1936 the Gophers went on a run of winning three straight National Championships, the last Division I team to accomplish this feat. During the run, Minnesota went unbeaten in 28 straight games, 21 of which were consecutive victories. The school record for consecutive victories is 24, which spanned 3 seasons from 1903 to 1905. Led by halfback Bruce Smith, the Gophers also won two more national championships in 1940 and 1941, with Smith winning the Heisman Trophy in 1941.
The Bierman Era and Post-War Challenges
In the seasons immediately following the end of World War II, Bernie Bierman did not adopt the 2 most important innovations in on-field strategy: substituting the 60-minute player for two-platoon of offensive-only and defensive-only players, and the split-T offensive formation. Off the field, Bierman had to contend with the most conservative administration in the Big Ten.
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The 1960 National Championship and Rose Bowl Victory
After some mediocre seasons throughout the remainder of the 1940s and 1950s, the Gophers rose back to prominence in 1960 with their seventh national championship (because polling ended after the regular season, the Gophers were crowned AP and UPI national champions despite losing the Rose Bowl to Washington). That national championship followed a 1-8 record in 1958 and 2-7 record in 1959. Minnesota played in bowl games the two following years as well, in 1961 and 1962.
The Gophers earned their first berth in the Rose Bowl by winning the 1960 Big Ten title. The following year, Minnesota returned to Pasadena despite a second-place finish in the conference. The Ohio State Buckeyes, the Big Ten champions in 1961, declined an invitation to the Rose Bowl because of tension between academics and athletics at the school. Minnesota beat UCLA 21-3 to claim its first and only Rose Bowl victory.
Recent History and Coaching Changes
In 1981, the Gophers played their last game in Memorial Stadium and played their home games in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome until 2008. In 2010, after a 1-6 record to start the season, the Gophers football head coach Tim Brewster was fired. Jeff Horton served as the interim head coach going 2-3. In 2014, The Gophers reached an 8-4 record while going 5-3 in Big Ten games, falling just short of making the Big Ten Championship Game by losing to The Wisconsin Badgers in the season finale. In 2017, former Western Michigan Broncos coach P. J. Fleck was hired to take over from Tracy Claeys, who coached the Gophers from 2015-16. In 2019, the Gophers turned in a historic season, going 11-2 (7-2 in conference play) including a home victory against No. 5 Penn State.
National Championships and Trophies
Minnesota won Dickinson System national championships in 1934, 1936, and 1940. The three wins gave them permanent possession of the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy, which had been introduced in 1931. Following tradition, the university set their own new trophy into play and named it for former football coach Henry L. Williams.
Big Ten Conference and Rivalries
Big Ten Football adopted divisions in 2011, with the winner of each division playing for the conference championship. The divisions were known as Legends and Leaders from 2011 to 2013. In 2014, the divisions were realigned geographically into East and West. Minnesota competed in the Big Ten West Division (the Big Ten stopped using the divisional format beginning with the 2024 season).
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The Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry is the most-played rivalry in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The winner of the game receives Paul Bunyan's Axe, a tradition that started in 1948 after the first trophy, the Slab of Bacon, disappeared. Minnesota dominated the series for most of the first half of the 20th century, and Wisconsin similarly dominated the series from the early 1990s until 2018, accruing a 14-game win streak for the Badgers which gave Wisconsin its first-ever lead in the series in 2017.
The winner of the game is awarded the Floyd of Rosedale, 98 lb (44 kg) a bronze pig trophy. The trophy began in 1935, when, in an effort to deescalate tensions between the two teams and fan bases, Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson bet Iowa Governor Clyde L. Herring a prize hog against an Iowa prize hog that Minnesota would win the game. After Minnesota's victory, Governor Herring obtained a pig donated by Rosedale Farms and named the hog after Governor Olson, giving birth to Floyd of Rosedale.
The Michigan-Minnesota football rivalry is the first and oldest trophy game in college football history. The winner of the game is awarded the Little Brown Jug, a five-gallon earthenware jug. The jug was used by Michigan in the 1903 matchup to prevent Minnesota from tampering with its water supply, and, according to folklore, stolen from Michigan by a Minnesota custodian after the game. The trophy was officially rejected by both universities, although groups associated with each university continue to use the trophy as a fundraiser around the annual matchup.
Stadium
Since 2009, the Golden Gophers have played all their home games at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Huntington Bank Stadium is the football stadium for the Minnesota Golden Gophers college football team at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 52,525-seat on-campus "horseshoe" style stadium is designed to support future expansion to seat up to 80,000 people, and cost $303.3 million to build. The complex houses the team administrative offices, locker room, meeting rooms, equipment room, training room, and players’ lounges.
Retired Jerseys
Additionally, the Golden Gophers have retired two jerseys. These honors recognize exceptional players who have made significant contributions to the program.
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Coaches
Key Coaches in Minnesota Football History:
- Henry L. Williams: Developed the "Minnesota shift" and led the team to an impressive unbeaten streak.
- Bernie Bierman: Guided the Gophers to three consecutive National Championships from 1934 to 1936.
- P. J. Fleck: Hired in 2017, Fleck led the Gophers to a historic season in 2019.
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