David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

100 Special Number as U Gets Jug Win over Michigan

Posted on October 4, 2026October 4, 2026 by David Shama

Minnesota scored a win for the history books yesterday with its 20-14 victory over Michigan in the 100^th game to determine possession of the Little Brown Jug. The victory also gave P.J. Fleck his 100^th career (Gophers and Western Michigan) coaching win.

Gopher football coach P.J. Fleck — P.J. Fleck

The Gophers defeated the Wolverines at home for the first time since 1977 and only third time this millennium. An emotional Fleck said other than marrying his wife and birth of his children, Saturday may have been “the best day” of his life.

Fleck crowd surfed on the set of Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” prior to the 11 a.m. game. After the game, as usual following a victory, the exuberant 45-year-old did his surfing routine in the locker room with his jubilant players.

Thousands from the delirious sellout crowd stormed the field in celebration following the nationally televised game. Stadium speakers blasted “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers. It was a troll on the visitors with the song being a favorite at Michigan Stadium.

The Gophers, 4-1 overall, have started the Big Ten season 2-0 for the first time since 2019. That team finished 11-2 including a bowl win over Auburn and excelled at one score wins.

The 2026 Gophers had a big three-point win at Washington last weekend and sustained success against the Michigan team ranked top 25 earlier in the year.

Minnesota’s program has a long history of losing games following quality upsets against prominent foes. That was the case in 1977 when Minnesota defeated No. 1 Michigan 16-0 at old Memorial Stadium. The next two Saturdays the Gophers lost Big Ten games.

But yesterday for Gopher fans was a time to savor a Jug triumph and remember the best of the past in the series. Minnesota not only has the win in the 100^th matchup but also won in the 50^th meeting when the Gophers upset No. 5 Michigan in Minneapolis in 1953.

The all-time record in battles for the Jug stands at 73-24-3 in Michigan’s favor. The rivalry wasn’t always so lopsided in the battle for possession of college football’s oldest travelling trophy that had its inception after the 1903 tie between the two schools. The Gophers beat Michigan nine consecutive times from 1934-1942. And took three straight from 1960-1962.

The old-timers revered the Jug rivalry. Mike Wilkinson, now in his 80s and author of the biography on former Gophers’ coach Murray Warmath, posted this on the Sports Headliners website last week: “My old man used to say that if…(Minnesota) lost every game and its lone victory was against Michigan then the season was a success.”

Well, the Gophers will get more wins than the Little Brown Jug triumph this year but the victory will stand close or at the top of 2026 highlights. Wouldn’t it be something if for the first time since Warmath’s 1967 team the Gophers swept all three of their most historic and important rivalry trophies, adding Floyd of Rosedale and Paul Bunnyan’s Axe to the showcase?

Worth Noting

Sailgating on Lake Washington was a hit with Gophers fans who arrived at the Husky Stadium docks after partying and prior to kickoff for last weekend’s game with Washington. The stadium not so much. It is over 105 years old and needs upgrades such as lighting, signage and video boards.

In a cool tie to the past Sports Headliners reader Steve Hunegs reported via email he stayed at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle. That’s the same place (then the Olympic Hotel) the 1941 Gopher team stayed when Minnesota’s defending national champions won 14-6 on their way to a second consecutive title.

The 2026 Gophers stayed in a Seattle suburb.

A total of 19 former men’s Gopher hockey players were on opening night NHL rosters when the season began last week. No NCAA program has more all-time NHL alums than the Gophers with over 130.

Minneapolis-based attorney, sports historian and Sports Headliners advertiser Marshall Tanick will be the keynote speaker next Sunday (October 11) for a program at the Brookview Recreation Center in Golden Valley. Tanick’s presentation is “Jews in Baseball” and will be a highlight of the annual meeting of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest (JHSUM).

Tanick’s presentation will include legendary pitcher Sandy Koufax’s famous absence in the 1965 World Series of his Dodgers against the Twins when he sat out a game because of Yom Kippur. Also, insights on Hank Greenberg’s pursuit of Babe Ruth’s single season home run record, All-Star catcher and World War II spy Mike Berg, the Jew who wrote “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” (before he ever attended a game) and the Jew who fixed the 1919 World Series. More information is available at https://www.jhsum.org/.

It will be stunning if Ryan Jeffers returns to the Twins next season. There’s no strong indication from the front office or ownership the Twins intend to give the free agent starting catcher a multi-year deal to lock him up.

The 29-year-old Jeffers is among MLB’s best at his position and at his age he may never again have the opportunity to land a career best contract. The Twins would be smart to at least offer him a one-year $23 million deal that guarantees the franchise a compensatory draft pick if Jeffers signs elsewhere.

The Twins will have a gaping hole in the lineup without the catching and hitting prowess of Jeffers. Owner Tom Pohlad is on record with intending to expand the team payroll, but it looks like the club prefers to spend the money elsewhere.

The view here is the team would be better off parting with the 32-year-old often injured Byron Buxton and use some of that money to sign Jeffers. He has a no-trade $100 million contract with the Twins that runs through 2028. The pros outnumber the cons for huddling during the offseason and figuring out a new home for the long-time fan favorite.

Tim Connelly, the basketball boss of the Timberwolves who open their season later this month, said last week he believes his team is championship caliber. BetMGM agreed last week listing the Wolves odds of +2500 (same as the Cav’s and Nuggets) as tied for sixth best among NBA contenders.

The top five are the Thunder and Spurs (tied at +260), Sixers (+850), Knicks (+900) and Celtics (+1400).

Connelly said Wolves Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett, now a team ambassador, will not have a “day to day role” with the club, perhaps indicating he won’t be a prime decision maker on personnel.

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Voices of Past Call for Gophers to Cook Wolverines

Posted on September 30, 2026September 30, 2026 by David Shama

Pay attention now if you have a pulse for University of Minnesota football. It’s Michigan week and the Golden Gophers have an opportunity Saturday to connect with their glorious past.

Make a visit to campus this week. Walk over to the old site of Memorial Stadium where the McNamara Alumni Center now stands at 200 Oak Street Southeast.

And listen!

Can you hear the voices of five-time national championship coach Bernie Bierman and his Heisman Trophy winner Bruce Smith? Wait, isn’t that southern drawl coming from coach Murray Warmath? And that’s two-time Big Ten MVP Paul Giel admitting even in the afterlife “The Minnesota Rouser” still gives him chills.

Maybe hear the chorus of other voices chanting, “Wish Again, Michigan!”

Long ago it was a given that Michigan and Minnesota would be in the hunt for Big Ten and national championships. Both schools approached their matchups with confidence and that’s what spurred the “Wish Again, Michigan” pinback buttons that Gopher fans proudly wore at home games.

This was a rivalry worthy of newsreels in movie theaters across the country. It was rooted in the greatness of two proud programs and encapsulated in a piece of crockery, the Little Brown Jug.

Minnesota-Michigan football rivalry trophy — Photo courtesy of University of Minnesota

In November of 1903, a day after Michigan and the Gophers played to a 6-6 tie in Minneapolis, U custodian Oscar Monson brought a water jug to athletics director L.J. Cooke. According to lore, Monson said in his Scandinavian accent: “Yost (the Michigan coach) left his jug!” The Gophers painted the jug and from there was born the oldest travelling rivalry trophy in college football.

The jug has mostly been “ay-wall” in the city of lakes since 1968. The Gophers have defeated Michigan four times during that span in the famous series that stands 73-23 and 3 ties in favor of the lads from Ann Arbor.

Three of the four most recent Minnesota wins were on the road. The one home victory came in 1977 when the 4-2 Gophers staged a dramatic upset against a then No. 1 ranked Michigan team. Minnesota punished Bo Schembechler’s Wolverines that day in game that had a roaring crowd at Memorial Stadium delirious over the 16-0 upset.

Butch Nash played for the Gophers in the 1930s and then was an assistant coach over five decades at his alma mater. He reveled in the Michigan-Minnesota Little Brown Jug rivalry. It was Nash who spoke from the heart about the importance of the rivalry to Gopher players and coaches before the wins in 1977 and 1986.

In 1986 quarterback Rickey Foggie’s fourth quarter running set up a game-winning Chip Lohmiller field goal for a 20-17 win over No. 2 ranked Michigan in what would be a 6-5 regular season for Minnesota. First-year head coach John Gutekunst was in his first season and had taken over for miracle worker Lou Holtz whose savvy moves in two seasons at Minnesota included bringing Nash out of retirement to be a volunteer coach.

In 2005 running back Gary Russell’s 61-yard sprint down the sidelines positioned Jason Giannini for a game-ending field goal and a 23-20 Minnesota win. Gopher coach Glen Mason was so excited that after his 5-1 team returned home, he brought the jug with him when he and his wife went out to dinner.

Among the highlights of coach Jerry Kill’s career at Minnesota was his 30-13 road win over the Wolverines in 2014. Quarterback Mitch Leidner ran for a touchdown and passed for another in the victory. A 30-yard interception return for a touchdown by De’Vondre Campbell was part of a defensive performance that saw the Gophers limit Michigan to 171 yards in total offense as Minnesota opened the season 4-1.

Warmath, who enjoyed his Jack Daniels, probably found the whiskey extra smooth when he celebrated wins over Michigan three seasons in a row from 1960-1962. The Gophers were national champions in 1960 and played twice in the Rose Bowl (1961 and 1962) during a stretch when Minnesota went 22-6-1.

Two of the three wins by Warmath’s teams came in Ann Arbor but the one home game is the most memorable. All-American Minnesota quarterback Sandy Stephens (who also played defensive back) had a game in Memorial Stadium on October 28, 1961 that is one of the highlights of his career.

The Wolverines led 20-8 in the fourth quarter. That set up one of the great Minnesota comebacks in Little Brown Jug history. Minnesota rallied to win 23-20 in the closing minutes with big plays including a one-handed interception by Stephens of a Michigan pass late in the game that ended any Wolverine hopes of winning.

Stephens ran 63 yards for a touchdown to give Minnesota its first score of the game when trailing 13-0. Married just days before, he was among multiple heroes on offense and defense. “Sandy played a hell of a game. He must have been playing for his new wife because he never played that well for me,” Warmath joked in his biography The Autumn Warrior.

Leave it to Giel to play one of the most extraordinary games of his career against Michigan. The Wolverines came to Minneapolis ranked No. 5 in the country and the Gophers were a mediocre team who would have been a lot worse without their All-American run-pass superstar.

In the 1953 game the senior halfback from Winona scored two touchdowns and passed for a third in a 22-0 victory. The upset came in the 50th anniversary game of the Little Brown Jug!

Bierman won national championships at Minnesota in 1934-1936, and 1940 and 1941. His first three national title teams didn’t allow Michigan to score a single point as the Gophers outscored the Wolverines 100-0! The “Grey Eagle’s” 1940 squad won 7-6 against Michigan and the next season beat the Wolverines 7-0 in front of more than 84,000 fans in Ann Arbor.

Those undefeated 1940 and 1941 teams included Gopher football immortal Bruce Smith from Faribault. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1941, the only Gopher in history to earn college football’s most coveted individual award. He fit the profile of the All-American boy of that era, and Hollywood even made a 1942 movie about him titled “Smith of Minnesota.” (Don’t bother to ask if any other Gophers had movies made about them.)

Gopher Heisman Trophy legend Bruce Smith — Mural in Faribault

It was in 1940 that Smith may have starred in his most revered game. Playing on a muddy field against Michigan at Memorial Stadium, the Wolverines took a 6-0 lead. But Smith, a halfback in the single-wing offense, ran 80 yards through the muck for a touchdown that along with an extra point gave Minnesota a 7-6 win.

Smith was destined to be special. His father Lucius Smith played tackle and kicked for the Gophers about 30 years before his son became a hero at Minnesota. In 1910 the Gophers and Michigan, both undefeated, played a game to decide the national championship. The Wolverines won 6-0 in Ann Arbor and for some unknown reason Lucius held himself responsible for the painful loss. Legend is he vowed to have a son who would avenge the defeat.

That’s the kind of lore making the Little Brown Jug rivalry so iconic. Come Saturday, the Gophers get an opportunity to write another chapter they and their fans will remember for a long time.

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Big Apple Will Be No Retreat for QB J.J. McCarthy

Posted on September 28, 2026September 28, 2026 by David Shama

If quarterback J.J. McCarthy felt the impact of outside criticism during his tenure with the Vikings, he should know he is diving into the deep end of the pool in New York City.

Gotham is now home for the 23-year-old as of today when the Vikings sent him to the Giants for a 2027 fifth round draft choice. McCarthy, Minnesota’s first round draft choice in 2024, never did establish himself as the team’s long-term answer as the starter at the most important position on the field.

This despite head coach Kevin O’Connell declaring his protégé “the franchise quarterback” prior to the beginning of the 2025 season. McCarthy couldn’t achieve enough consistency to prompt a commitment from O’Connell who brought in veteran Kyler Murray to be the “man” during the past off season.

McCarthy’s subpar mechanics have been a repetitive topic of conversation in the northland and amateur psychologists have debated his level of confidence. While, of course, McCarthy didn’t acknowledge self-doubts, his mental outlook understandably could have been at least side-swiped by booing fans, media jabs and digital digs.

There’s no pretention here to know what’s inside McCarthy’s head but he is a long-time practitioner of meditation and mindfulness. And it will be no yoga camp or mental health retreat in New York where media and fans are capable of eating quarterbacks for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

If McCarthy wants a tutorial, he’s probably got the phone numbers of former quarterback teammates Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones on speed dial. They could tell stories about the raucous and often disapproving culture of the big city from their times with the Jets and Giants respectively. Darnold got an earful for not being the franchise savior and Jones was even booed on draft night.

J.J. McCarthy, Vikings QB, image by David Shama — J.J. McCarthy

This is a change, however, that McCarthy and his inner circle apparently wanted. He could have a shot at the starting job later this season, replacing 32-year-old journeyman Jameis Winston. Starter Jaxson Dart is injured and out for the season.

McCarthy will start out with the confidence of head coach John Harbaugh who almost certainly spoke with brother Jim Harbaugh prior to the trade. The latter was McCarthy’s head coach at Michigan in 2023 when the Wolverines won the national championship. There’s no reason to believe Jim gave his brother anything less than a positive endorsement about McCarthy.

The Giants get a quarterback friendly deal with McCarthy. He’s under team control through 2027, with a team option for 2028.

The Vikings apparently lost patience with McCarthy’s development. Why else would you move on so quickly from a No. 1 draft choice and the possibility of still becoming your starter in a quarterback cluster where neither Carson Wentz nor Murray have come close to dazzling and may not.

The view here is McCarthy didn’t cause problems internally for the Vikings. He was a solid teammate and could be among the first to congratulate another Viking on making a big play.

If the Giants finish around .500 or worse in the standings after this season, the fifth round draft choice could yield a top 150 or so player in the draft. This year the Vikings took Max Bredeson in the fifth round and the fullback projects as a valued part of the team for years to come. BTW, the best of modern day NFL fifth rounders include stars Tyreek Hill, George Kittle and Puka Nacua.

Don’t think the Vikings didn’t try to do better than a fifth round pick. That’s apparently the market value right now for McCarthy who in his 10 NFL career games has thrown 12 interceptions and 11 touchdown passes.

The Giants had a firsthand look at McCarthy in the preseason. He completed four of seven passes for 34, with no interceptions. He had moments when he looked hurried and produced no points of what would be a 13-10 preseason opening win over the Giants in New Jersey.

If McCarthy turns out to be an NFL bust, the deal will look like a good one for the Vikings. If he becomes a star in the Big Apple or elsewhere, and the Vikings are still on their marathon search for a franchise quarterback, well, let’s just say the jackals will be howling like never before.

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