Minnesota Golden Gophers football

History

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. With the exception of 1906, the Gophers and Badgers have played each other every year since then. The 132 games played against each other is the most played rivalry in Division I-A college football.

Early years

The sport's beginnings were humble. Students began gathering to play the game recreationally and its popularity grew.

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. The team gained their first coach in 1883: Thomas Peebles, a philosophy professor who also recruited a cheer team for the football players, which later established him as the father of American cheerleading. Like many of the early coaches, his term lasted just one year.

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, the school's first full-time salaried coach, signaled the end of the early, chaotic days.

Glory years

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. Those two seasons comprised most of an 18-game winning streak that stretched from 1939 to 1942.

Fall from power

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. Instead, Bierman continued to use two-way players and the single-wing formation.

Off the field, Bierman had to contend with the most conservative administration in the Big Ten. President James Morrill's public and private advocacy for the less-professional rules of the pre-World War II era led Minnesota to become the only Big Ten school to vote against the 3 most consequential conference decisions in the immediate post-war years: the legalization of athletic scholarships in 1949, and the 1946 and 1950 Rose Bowl deals.

Return to prominence

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. Minnesota's last Big Ten title was in 1967, tying the Indiana Hoosiers and Purdue Boilermakers atop the standings.

Recent history

After their 8–2 record in 1967, the Gophers did not win 8 games in a season again until they finished 8–4 in 1999. Their 10–3 record in 2003 gave the Gophers their first 10 win season since 1905.

The 2006 team had the dubious distinction of blowing a 38–7 third-quarter lead in the Insight Bowl against Texas Tech, losing 44–41 in overtime. The collapse, which was the biggest in the history of Division I-A postseason football, directly led to the firing of head coach Glen Mason. On January 17, 2007, Tim Brewster was officially announced as the next head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

In 1981, the Gophers played their last game in Memorial Stadium and played their home games in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome until 2008. The Gophers moved back to campus with a 20–13 win against Air Force on September 12, 2009, when their new home, TCF Bank Stadium, opened.

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. On December 6, 2010, Jerry Kill, former Northern Illinois University head coach, was hired to take over the University of Minnesota football program.

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. After being revitalized in the Big Ten contention, The Gophers were awarded an appearance in the Citrus Bowl on January 1 against Missouri.

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. Fleck led the Broncos to a 13–1 season in 2016 that resulted in a Cotton Bowl appearance against Wisconsin

In 2018, the Gophers defeated the Badgers to reclaim Paul Bunyan's Axe and end a 14-season losing streak.

In 2019, the Gophers turned in a historic season, going 11–2 (7–2 in conference play) including a home victory against No. 4 Penn State 31-26, their first victory over a top 5 team in 20 years. The win also marked the first time since 1904 that the Gophers started out a season 9-0.

Conference affiliations

• Independent (1882–1891)
• Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the Northwest (1892–1893)
• Independent (1894–1895)
• Big Ten Conference (1896–present)
  • Western Conference (1896–1952)
  • Big Ten Conference (1953–present)

All-time Big Ten records

Championships

National championships

Minnesota has been selected nine times as national champions from NCAA-designated major selectors, including four (1936, 1940, 1941, and 1960) from the major wire-service: AP Poll and/or Coaches' Poll. Minnesota claims seven (1904, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1940, 1941, and 1960) of these championships.

Toledo Cup

Main article: Toledo Cup

The Gophers were the inaugural winners of the Toledo Cup national championship trophy in 1934 and repeated the feat in 1935 and 1936. The poll's rules stated the traveling trophy would be retained permanently by the first team to win it three times; Bernie Bierman's teams completed the three-peat without any other team winning the cup. The Toledo Cup is currently displayed in the lobby of the Gibson-Nagurski Athletic Center at the University of Minnesota.

Rockne Memorial Trophy

Main article: Dickinson System#Rockne Trophy

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.

With professor Frank Dickinson retiring from the ratings business, the new Williams Trophy was instead linked to the nascent AP Poll and served as the first AP Trophy.

Conference championships

Minnesota has won 18 conference championships, 11 shared and 7 outright.

† Co-champions

Division championships

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). Minnesota has shared one division title, in 2019.

† Co-champions

Bowl games

Main article: List of Minnesota Golden Gophers bowl games

Minnesota has played in 26 bowl games, amassing a record of 14–12.

;Bowl record by game

Head coaches

Rivalries

Wisconsin

Main article: Minnesota–Wisconsin football rivalry

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. Minnesota currently leads the series with a record of 64–63–8 through the 2025 season.

Iowa

Main article: Iowa–Minnesota football rivalry

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. Minnesota leads the series with Iowa 63–53–2 through the 2024 season.

Michigan

Main article: Little Brown Jug (college football trophy)

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. Michigan leads the series 78–25–3 with the last game played in 2024.

Nebraska

Main article: Minnesota–Nebraska football rivalry

The winner of the Minnesota-Nebraska game is awarded the $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy, which is an unofficial trophy created by fans after a good-humored back and forth between the Twitter accounts for Minnesota mascot Goldy Gopher and a parody account for then-head coach Bo Pelini. 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. Minnesota leads the series with Nebraska 37–25–2 through the 2024 season.

Facilities

Huntington Bank Stadium

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 stadium was the temporary home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League for the 2014 and 2015 seasons while U.S. Bank Stadium was being built.

Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex

The complex houses the team administrative offices, locker room, meeting rooms, equipment room, training room, and players’ lounges. It is named after Gopher teammates from the 1920s, George Gibson and Bronko Nagurski.

Former venues

• Northrop Field (1899–1923)
• Memorial Stadium (1924–1981)
• Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (1982–2008)

Individual award winners

Retired numbers

The Golden Gophers has retired three numbers.

Retired jerseys

Additionally, the Golden Gophers have retired two jerseys. This honor is distinguished from "retired numbers" because the numbers of these players can be worn by any player normally.

National

Players

• Heisman Trophy :Bruce Smith – 1941

• Outland Trophy :Tom Brown – 1960 :Bobby Bell – 1962 :Greg Eslinger – 2005

• Jim Thorpe Award :Tyrone Carter – 1999

• Dave Rimington Trophy :Greg Eslinger – 2005

• John Mackey Award :Matt Spaeth – 2006

Coaches

• Amos Alonzo Stagg Award :Bernie Bierman – 1958

• Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year :Murray Warmath – 1960

• Paul "Bear" Bryant Award :Murray Warmath – 1960

Big Ten Conference

Players

• Most Valuable Player :Biggie Munn – 1931 :Pug Lund – 1934 :Paul Giel – 1952, 1953 :Tom Brown – 1960 :Sandy Stephens – 1961

• Offensive lineman of the Year :Greg Eslinger – 2005 :Aireontae Ersery – 2024

• Defensive Lineman of the Year :Karon Riley – 2000

• Freshman of the Year :Darrell Thompson – 1986 :Laurence Maroney – 2003

• Running back of the Year :Mohamed Ibrahim – 2020

• Receiver of the Year :Rashod Bateman – 2019

• Tight end of the Year :Maxx Williams – 2014

• Defensive back of the Year :Antoine Winfield Jr. – 2019

• Kicker of the Year :Emmit Carpenter – 2016 :Dragan Kesich – 2023

• Punter of the Year :Peter Mortell – 2014

Coach

• Coach of the Year :Glen Mason – 1999 :Jerry Kill – 2014 :P. J. Fleck – 2019

College Football Hall of Famers

Inductees as of 2024.

Pro Football Hall of Famers

Inductees as of 2017.

Canadian Football Hall of Fame

Inductees as of 2017.

Current professional players

NFL

List current as of September 27, 2025.

Other professional leagues

Other notable coaches and players

• Marion Barber Jr. – Retired NFL Running back
• Phil Bengtson – Retired NFL Head coach
• Rene Capo – Olympic judoka
• Gino Cappelletti – All-time AFL scoring leader
• Eric Decker – Retired NFL Wide receiver
• Gil Dobie – Won two national championships as head coach of the Cornell Big Red football team
• Tony Dungy – Retired NFL Head coach
• Verne Gagne – Professional wrestler; founder AWA
• Tony Levine – Head coach of the Houston Cougars football team
• Len Levy – American football player and professional wrestler
• Chip Lohmiller – Retired NFL Kicker
• Karl Mecklenburg – Retired NFL Linebacker
• Cory Sauter – Retired NFL Quarterback
• Darrell Thompson – Retired NFL Running back, current Gophers football radio announcer
• Rick Upchurch – Retired NFL Wide receiver
• DeWayne Walker – Current defensive backs coach Cleveland Browns
• Murray Warmath – Last head coach to lead Minnesota to the Rose Bowl and National Championship
• Bud Wilkinson – Won three national championships as head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners football team
• Norries Wilson – Head coach, Columbia Lions football team, first African American head football coach in the Ivy League
• Wayne Robinson Retired NFL linebacker, CFL and NFL coach

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of May 15, 2025

No opponents currently scheduled for the 2029 and 2031 seasons.

Notes

References

References

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