From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Little Brown Stein

Sports trophy

Summary

Sports trophy

Field	Value
wide	yes
name	Idaho-Montana football rivalry
image_size	285
team1	Idaho Vandals
team1logo	Idaho Vandals logo.svg
team2	Montana Grizzlies
team2logo	Montana Griz logo.svg
firstmeeting	1903,
Idaho, 28–0
mostrecent	September 25, 2025
#5 Montana 41,
#8 Idaho 30
nextmeeting	October 17, 2026
in Missoula, MT
total	90
series	Idaho leads,

largestvictory	Idaho, 46–0 (1945)
longeststreak	Idaho, 8, (1951–1959)
currentstreak	Montana, 2, (2023–2025)

Idaho, 28–0 #5 Montana 41, #8 Idaho 30 in Missoula, MT

| mark-size1 = 10 | mark-coord1 = | label-pos1 = left | label-color1 = black | mark-coord2 = | label-pos2 = right | label-color2 = black The Little Brown Stein is a rivalry trophy awarded to the winner of the college football game between the University of Idaho Vandals and the University of Montana Grizzlies, both members of the Big Sky Conference. The trophy is, as the name implies, a large stein mug with the results of all the games between the two painted on.

The game was not played for fourteen seasons (2004–2017), and Montana retained the trophy. The series resumed in 2018, when Idaho rejoined the Big Sky for football.

History

Idaho and Montana first met in football in 1903 and have played 88 times; the stein was introduced in 1938 at the 25th meeting. which also includes two Division I-AA playoff wins at home in the 1980s. Montana has had the upper hand since 1991, winning twelve of the last fifteen (). While Idaho was in Division I-A (FBS), from 1996 through 2017, the teams met only five times, with Montana winning the last four.

The schools are about 200 mi apart; Moscow and Missoula are on opposite sides of the lower Idaho panhandle, separated by the Bitterroot Mountains over Lolo Pass (U.S. Route 12).

Idaho hosted the game in southern Idaho at Boise in 1961, and in nearby Pullman, Washington, in 1970 and 2000.

Conferences

Both were members of the old Pacific Coast Conference (the forerunner of today's Pac-12); Montana departed after the 1949 season, and the PCC disbanded in the summer of 1959. In most years, the loser of the game was last in the PCC standings. Montana was in the Skyline Conference from 1951 through the 1961 season.

The universities were two of the six charter members of the Big Sky Conference in 1963, (although Idaho remained an independent in football until 1965) and their final season as conference opponents was in 1995. While Montana has been in the Big Sky since its inception, Idaho changed its conference affiliation multiple times from 1995 to 2018:

Idaho moved to the Big West for all sports in 1996, returning to Division I-A after 18 years in I-AA.
After the 2000 season, the Big West dropped football. Idaho became a football-only member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2001 while remaining a full Big West member.
Idaho joined the WAC for all sports in 2005 as part of a major NCAA conference realignment.
After the WAC experienced a near-complete membership turnover in the early 2010s, it dropped football after the 2012 season. Idaho football was an FBS independent for one season in 2013.
Idaho returned to the Big Sky in 2014 except for football, which rejoined the Sun Belt.
Idaho dropped back to FCS in 2018 and resumed football membership in the Big Sky.

Results

Years not played: 1904–13, 1918, 1943–44, 1954, 1963–64, 1996–98, 2004–17, 2020, 2024

Coaching records

Since 1945; Idaho led the first 29 meetings (through 1942) at ).

Idaho

Head coach	Team	Games	Seasons	Wins	Losses	Ties	Pct.
Babe Brown	Idaho	2	1945–46	1	1	0
Dixie Howell	Idaho	4	1947–50	2	2	0
Babe Curfman	Idaho	3	1951–53	3	0	0
Skip Stahley	Idaho	7	1954–61	6	1	0
Dee Andros	Idaho	1	1962–64	0	1	0
Steve Musseau	Idaho	3	1965–67	3	0	0
Y C McNease	Idaho	2	1968–69	1	1	0
Don Robbins	Idaho	4	1970–73	3	1	0
Ed Troxel	Idaho	4	1974–77	2	1	1
Jerry Davitch	Idaho	4	1978–81	3	1	0
Dennis Erickson (a)	Idaho	5	1982–85	4	1
Keith Gilbertson	Idaho	4	1986–88	3	1
John L. Smith	Idaho	6	1989–94	2	4
Chris Tormey	Idaho	2	1995–99	2	0
Tom Cable	Idaho	4	2000–03	0	4
Nick Holt	Idaho	0	2004–05
Dennis Erickson (b)	Idaho	0	2006
Robb Akey	Idaho	0	2007–12
Paul Petrino	Idaho	3	2013–21	0	3
Jason Eck	Idaho	2	2022–23	1	1
Thomas Ford	Idaho	1	2025	0	1
Total	Idaho	61	1945–2025	36	24	1	****

Montana

Head coach	Team	Games	Seasons	Wins	Losses	Ties	Pct.
George Dahlberg	Montana	1	1945	0	1	0
Doug Fessenden	Montana	3	1946–48	2	1	0
Ted Shipkey	Montana	3	1949–51	1	2	0
Ed Chinske	Montana	2	1952–54	0	2	0
Jerry Williams	Montana	3	1955–57	0	3	0
Ray Jenkins	Montana	5	1958–63	2	3	0
Hugh Davidson	Montana	2	1964–66	0	2	0
Jack Swarthout	Montana	9	1967–75	3	5	1
Gene Carlson	Montana	4	1976–79	0	4	0
Larry Donovan	Montana	7	1980–85	2	5
Don Read	Montana	11	1986–95	5	6
Mick Dennehy	Montana	1	1996–99	0	1
Joe Glenn	Montana	3	2000–02	3	0
Bobby Hauck (a)	Montana	1	2003–09	1	0
Robin Pflugrad	Montana	0	2010–11
Mick Delaney	Montana	0	2012–14
Bob Stitt	Montana	0	2015–17
Bobby Hauck (b)	Montana	6	2018–25	5	1
Total	Montana	61	1945–2025	24	36	1	****

Last tie was in 1974 and the Big Sky enacted overtime for conference games in 1980; all Division I games went to overtime in 1996.
Two games in 1982 and 1988; regular season at Montana and playoff (I-AA) at Idaho: home teams won all four games
No games in 1954, 1963, 1964, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2004–2017, 2020, 2024

References

(October 20, 1948). "Vandals still seeking a win". Spokesman-Review.
Payne, Bob. (October 18, 1974). "Tips riding two-game win streak". Spokesman-Review.
(1943). "Football". Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho yearbook.
(August 27, 2018). "Montana tickets on sale to season ticket holders". University of Idaho Athletics.
Meehan, Jim. (September 28, 2003). "Idaho collapses in Montana". Spokesman-Review.
Bauer, Doug. (September 28, 2003). "Griz catch Vandals with pants down". Lewiston Morning Tribune.
Welsch, Jeff. (April 30, 2016). "Idaho's twice-bruised ego offers cautionary tale for Griz, Cats". Billings Gazette.
"Idaho opponents: vs. Montana". CFB Data Warehouse.
(November 18, 1961). "Idaho, Montana renew old football rivalry at Boise". Lewiston Morning Tribune.
(November 19, 1961). "Vandals repel late Montana bid for 16-14 upset victory". Lewiston Morning Tribune.
(November 8, 1947). "Montana eleven wallops Vandals". Bend Bulletin.
Missildine, Harry. (February 26, 1963). "Six western schools create Big Sky athletic conference". Spokesman-Review.
(February 26, 1963). "Big Sky is ready for league action". Spokane Daily Chronicle.
"Idaho football to Big Sky Conference".
Kasper, John. (September 25, 2013). "No. 48 Big Sky Innovation". Big Sky Conference.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

college-football-rivalry-trophies-in-the-united-states idaho-vandals-football montana-grizzlies-football

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Little Brown Stein — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report