Big Ten Focus #3: Minnesota

 How about we start with a surprising piece of Big Ten tribia?  What school has the most conference titles, combined between shared and outright, aside from Ohio State and Michigan?  The Minnesota Golden Gophers, of course!  While the Gophers have not shared a conference title since 1967m and their last outright title was 1941, the Gophers have graced the top of the conference 18 times.  Most of this success came in the start of the 20th Century, as they had 8 conference titles (two outright) from 1900-1915.

Speaking of Minnesota and Michigan, they claim the longest-running football boondoggle (a physical award for winning the game) in college football.  The Little Brown Jug is an earthenware jug that is awarded to the winner of the Michigan-Minnesota game.  The rivalry predates the conference, starting in 1892.  The jug became the boondoggle award in 1903.  While a replica of the jug is now presented on the field, the original jug still exists (most college football boondoggles have long been destroyed or lost) and stored in a secure, temperature-controlled room on the campus of the current holder.  Michigan currently holds the jug, winning it in 2020.  Only three times have the "Battle for the Little Brown Jug" ended in a tie, and one of those was a scoreless 0-0 outcome.

Obviously, Minnesota is most success in ice hockey, and it one of only 25 Division I schools to have a women's ice hockey team, most of them in the Big Ten and Ivy League.  Ironically, the Minnesota Women's Ice Hockey team has won one more NCAA title than the men's team.

While most of the most successful former Gophers who played in the NFL were either on defense or the offensive line, a charter member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame was a Golden Gopher.  Bronco Nagurski was a running back and dominant linebacker for the Chicago Bears in the 1930s.  He was an All-American at Minnesota.  The award for the top defensive player in NCAA football, as determined by the Football Writers Association, is named for Nagurski.

Although Minnesota has had some lean years in the 2000s, their overall football record is 706-523-42, a 57% winning percentage.  They have gone to 22 bowl games, winning ten of them, including their last five appearances.  The Gophers have actually won five national titles, the last one in 1960.