In 1903, Fielding Yost was the best college football coach in the country. He was also perhaps the most paranoid.
His Michigan Wolverines were winners of 28 straight games heading into their matchup with Minnesota in Minneapolis. However, Yost feared that the Gopher fans might somehow contaminate the water supply the players would use during the game and give their home team an unfair advantage. (Yes, worry about cheating existed back then as well). So Yost told a student manager to buy something to carry water in that they could take to the game. The manager bought a five-gallon jug for 30 cents. The game was a titanic struggle, and Michigan led most of the way, but Minnesota scored a late touchdown and the game ended in a 6-6 tie. The Wolverines and Yost walked off of the field and went home to Ann Arbor, leaving the jug behind. Upon finding it, it was presented to the Minnesota AD and turned into a memento of the game for the Gophers. They painted it brown and marked the score on it – Minnesota’s 6 in a much larger size than Michigan’s, of course. The schools didn’t meet again for six years. When they did, in 1909, Yost was still Michigan’s head coach, and Minnesota AD (also in the same position as in the 1903 game) presented him with an interesting proposition – how about they use the jug as a trophy of sorts for the winner of the game? Yost agreed, and thus began the tradition of the Little Brown Jug – the most competed-for trophy in college football history. (The Territorial Cup, given to the Arizona-Arizona State winner, is an older trophy, but because it was lost for decades it wasn’t used as a travelling trophy until 2001.) Michigan has had the jug for all but four years since 1968, but Minnesota currently holds it due to a 30-14 win last year. The teams meet on Saturday for the 102nd time; it will be the 95th time the Jug is awarded.
Everyone following college football who isn’t primarily an ACC fan probably knows more about the Atlantic Division. That’s the division that includes Clemson and Florida State. But the other division is shaping up to be really interesting! There are not one, not two, but three teams in the ACC Coastal division that are still undefeated in conference play! Pittsburgh, Duke, and North Carolina are a combined 10-0 in the ACC, and each is 6-1 overall. A quick view of each:
- Pittsburgh’s lone loss was 27-24 to Iowa, who is still unbeaten. They are Cardiac Cats: all of their games but one have been decided by eight points or less.
- Duke’s one loss was to Northwestern. They have won low-scoring games (9-7 over Boston College) and high-scoring ones (45-43 in four OT against Virginia Tech last week). They have the 6th-best scoring defense in the country.
- North Carolina has shaken off their season-opening loss to South Carolina to win six straight, putting up 38 points or more in all but one of those games.
These three play each other within the next three weeks, so the cream will rise to the top soon.
In small-school news, it’s time for the annual Mount Union report! The Purple Raiders won their 100th straight regular season game by beating Wilmington 69-0. They haven’t lost a regular season game since 2005, when Ohio Northern beat them 21-14. Since then, their average margin of victory in those 100 games is 43 points (49-6). Exactly six of those games have been decided by single digits. They’re 7-0 already this year, and it looks like there’s no stopping them at least until the Divison III playoffs. One other thing: that single loss in 2005 is their only regular season loss since 1994’s sixth game against Baldwin-Wallace; since then, in the regular season, they’re 210-1!
Congratulations to Jhutto, who takes week 8 honors with 184 points! In second place was Maestro, with 181 points, and bevo was third with 178.
Standings after eight weeks (dropping two lowest weekly totals):
| 1st | JagRag | 1287 |
| 2nd | JG Bama | 1283 |
| 3rd | AllySun | 1279 |
| 4th | Ralphie | 1277 |
| 5th | rocky tide | 1273 |
| 6th | bevo | 1269 |
| T-7th | AUBrian | 1266 |
| T-7th | Jhutto | 1266 |
| T-9th | Jeff4Bama | 1264 |
| T-9th | Crimson White | 1264 |
This week’s games don’t feature a lot of top-25 teams facing each other, but every game except two are conference games, so it’s still going to be a tricky week to navigate! The first game is North Carolina versus Pittsburgh, Thursday, October 29th at 7 PM ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!