October 31, 1903: The University of Michigan football team comes to Minneapolis to play the University of Minnesota. Michigan coach Fielding Yost, while a football genius, was a bit paranoid, and thought opposing fans might poison his water. So he sent student manager Thomas B. Roberts to buy something and bring it to him. He went to a local variety store and spent 30 cents on a 5-gallon earthenware jug. The game, at Northrop Field, ended in a 6-6 tie.
Afterward, Minnesota custodian Oscar Munson discovered, in his Scandinavian accent, "Yost left his yug." Supposedly, they contacted Yost and said, "Come and win it back." Michigan didn't even try until 1909, when they did win it back.
Ever since, the jug -- which is not little and not brown -- has been painted maize & blue with Michigan's winning scores on one side, and maroon & gold with Minnesota's winning scores on the other, and gone to the winner. Michigan dominates the rivalry 75-25-3, including the battle for the Little Brown Jug 71-23-2.
This rivalry means little to Michigan, because they have absolutely dominated it. Michigan went 18-2-1 from 1895 to 1932, 14-2-1 from 1943 to 1959, and has gone 44-4 since 1968, including 18 straight from 1987 to 2004. Minnesota won 9 straight from 1934 to 1942.
Henry L. Williams, who had been a star halfback at Yale, coached at Minnesota from 1900 to 1921, winning 8 titles in the league that became the Big Ten Conference, and has been retroactively awarded the 1904 National Championship. He went 136-33-11 at Minnesota, but only 1-5-1 against Michigan. Minnesota's arena, opening in 1928, was named Williams Arena in his honor. He died in 1931.
In contrast, Yost, for whom Michigan's 1923 arena (formerly hosting basketball, and now hockey) was named, coached Michigan from 1901 to 1926, going 165-29-10, including 9-1-1 against Minnesota. He won 10 Conference Championships and 6 National Championships. He died in 1946.
UPDATE: In 2026, the University of Minnesota renamed Williams Arena, nicknamed "The Barn," as "The Barn by Blue Cross and Blue Shield." Other than getting sponsorship money, there was no reason to remove Williams' name: There was no revelation of bigotry or a posthumous sex scandal that would have force the University's hand.
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October 31, 1903 was a Saturday. This was also the day that Hampden Park, Scotland's national stadium, opened in Glasgow. I have a separate entry for that event.
Baseball season was over. Basketball barely existed, and hockey hadn't yet turned professional. These other noteworthy games were played in college football:
* Army beat Vermont, 32-0 on The Plain in West Point, New York.
* Penn State beat Navy, 17-0 at Worden Field in Annapolis, Maryland.
* Yale beat Columbia, 25-0 at the Polo Grounds.
* Harvard beat the Carlisle Indian School, 12-11 at Soldier's Field in Boston. Jim Thorpe was too young to play on the Carlisle varsity, but they almost didn't need him. Two weeks later, on November 14, Harvard Stadium opened, and Harvard lost to Dartmouth. They still play there today.
* The University of Pennsylvania beat Bucknell, 47-6 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. A new stadium by that name would be built on the same site in 1922.
* Lafayette beat New York University, 8-6 at Ohio Field in The Bronx.
* Princeton beat Cornell, 44-0 at University Field in Princeton, New Jersey.
* And Rutgers beat Stevens Institute, 36-6 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
* One game that was meant to be played, but was not, was between Indiana University and Purdue University, on IU's campus in Bloomington. The Purdue Wreck led to its cancellation. I have a separate entry for that event.
