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| Michigan kicker Garrett Rivas(38) is mobbed by his teammates after kicking the game-winning field goal with 47 seconds in the 2003 game for the "Little Brown Jug". |
In 1903, the Michigan Wolverines traveled to Minnesota to take on the Golden Gophers looking to win their 29th game in a row.
However, the Gophers tied Michigan 6-6 leading to a wild celebration that caused the Wolverines to leave the field early and leave behind a water jug that coach Fielding H. Yost used to paint the scored of the all the wins Michigan had complied during their 28-game winning streak.
The jug was given to Minnesota athletic director L.J. Cooke who had the white jug painted brown in Minnesota colors with the score of the game printed in large numbers.
Michigan and Minnesota would not meet again until 1909 when Cooke met with Yost to discuss creating a tradition where the winner of the game would carry the jug for one year.
Yost agreed and thus the rivalry for the "Little Brown Jug" began.
The rivalry would eventually become one-sided in Michigan's favor as the Wolverines got to carry the jug after many victories though the Gophers had a nine-game winning streak from 1934-42 and won the Jug six of eight years between 1960 + 1967.
Entering the 2003 game, the Gophers felt they had their best chance to win the jug since 1986, the last time they had defeated Michigan, as Minnesota entered the game ranked #17 with a 6-0 record as they hosted the #20 ranked Michigan Wolverines at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
The Gophers were coached by Glen Mason, who was in his seventh year in Minneapolis and had built the Gophers into a contender in the Big 10 with a dominant running game that featured Marion Barber III, Lawrence Maroney, and Thomas Tapeh to lead Minnesota to its best start since 1960.
While the Gophers were riding high, the Wolverines entered the game with a 4-2 record having just lost to Iowa the week before.
Michigan was coached by head coach Lloyd Carr who was in his ninth season as the head coach of the Wolverines and were lead on offense by senior quarterback John Navarre and running back Chris Perry, who entered the game as the fifth leading rusher in the country.
Because the Gophers shared the Metrodome with the Minnesota Twins, who were currently in the MLB playoffs playing against the New York Yankees, the game was moved from Saturday afternoon to Friday night on ESPN, giving the game a big game feel as many across the country and a sold out Metrodome to watch the most highly anticipated Michigan-Minnesota game in years.
After forcing the Wolverines to punt on their opening possession of the game, the Gophers took over at their 20-yard-line where they put together a 12-play, 80-yard drive primarily on the ground as they ran the ball nine times on a drive which ended with a 20-yard touchdown run by Barber to put Minnesota on top 7-0 midway through the first quarter.
The score remained 7-0 going into the second quarter when the Gophers drove 89 yards on 10 running plays, culminating with a eight-yard touchdown run by Maroney to increase Minnesota's lead to 14-0 with 9:17 left in the second quarter.
Neither team could muster another scoring drive for the rest of the half so the Gophers went into the halftime break with a 14-0 lead.
Minnesota had held Michigan to just 77 yards of total offense in the first half while the Gophers ran for 175 yards in the first 30 minutes.
The Gophers hoped to continue this trend in the second half as they got the ball to start the final 30 minutes.
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| Minnesota running back Marion Barber III carried the ball 21 times for 197 yards and scored a touchdown as the Golden Gophers ran for 424 yards on 53 carries. |
However, the Michigan defense would force Minnesota to punt on their opening possession of the second half to give the Michigan offense the ball at their 20-yard-line.
That is when the Wolverines put together their best drive of the game as they drove to the Minnesota 36-yard-line in six plays when they decided to go deep into their playbook and pull out a trick play as Navarre threw a backward lateral to wide receiver Steve Breaston who then threw a pass downfield for Navarre, who made the catch and ran it in for the 36-yard touchdown to put Michigan on the board and cut the Gophers' lead to 14-7 with exactly 11 minutes left in the third quarter.
Minnesota would respond by relying on not just the running game of Barber as he carried the ball three times for 21 yards, but also his receiving game as he caught two passes for 31 yards to lead Minnesota to the Michigan 38-yard-line when Maroney busted loose for a 38-yard touchdown run to push the Gophers' lead back to 14 points at 21-7 with 8:04 left in the third quarter.
Michigan would get the ball back at their 20-yard-line and immediately drive into Minnesota territory as Navarre completed three passes in a row totaling 44 yards to put the Wolverines at the Gophers' 46-yard-line.
The next three plays would pick up nine yards setting up a 4th & 1 from the Minnesota 37-yard-line when Carr decided to go for the 1st down.
However, the gamble did not pay off as Navarre's pass for Perry was incomplete, giving the ball back to the Gophers at their 37-yard-line.
The Wolverines would hold Minnesota to a three-and-out to get the ball back at their 15-yard-line only to have Navarre be intercepted on the very next play on by Minnesota cornerback Justin Isom, whose eight-yard return gave the Gophers the ball at the Michigan 26-yard-line.
Four plays later, the Gophers were in the end zone as Tapeh punched it in from two yards out to give Minnesota its largest lead of the game at 28-7 with 58 seconds left in the third quarter.
It seemed like the Gophers were on their way to snapping their 16-game losing streak to the Wolverines as they held a three-touchdown lead with a dominant running game that would take time off the clock.
However, things were about to change on the Wolverines' ensuing possession.
Going to a no-huddle offense, Navarre would lead the Wolverines from their 20-yard-line to the Minnesota 45-yard-line as he hit four different receivers on four straight passes before throwing an incomplete pass as the third quarter came to an end with the Wolverines in Golden Gopher territory.
As the 4th quarter began, Navarre continued throwing and continued hitting passes as he completed his next five passes with the last one being a 10-yard touchdown pass to Perry to cut the Minnesota lead to 28-14 just 36 seconds into the fourth quarter.
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| Michigan running back Chris Perry only ran for 85 yards on 20 carries, but caught 11 passes for 122 yards and scored two touchdowns. |
Minnesota would get the ball back at their 20-yard-line and went to their reliable running game as they ran the ball two straight times for 11 yards to pick up a 1st down.
But on 1st & 10 from the 31-yard-line, quarterback Asad Abdul-Khaliq threw a pass that was intercepted by Michigan safety Jacob Stewart who ran it back 34 yards for a pick-six to bring the Wolverines to within a touchdown at 28-21 with 13:30 to play in the fourth quarter.
The Gophers would get the ball back at their 24-yard-line and ran the ball four straight times for 24 yards to set up a 3rd & 1 at their 48-yard-line when Abdul-Khaliq kept the ball and ran it for the 52-yard touchdown to push Minnesota's lead back to 14 points at 35-21 with 11:11 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Wolverines would get the ball at their 21-yard-line to start their next drive where Navarre continued firing as he connected with Perry for 13 yards to begin the drive, then hit Breaston for 14 yards on 3rd & 10 to give Michigan a 1st down at their 48-yard-line.
That is when Navarre found Breaston streaking down the left sideline and fired a 52-yard touchdown pass to bring the Wolverines to back within a touchdown at 35-28 with 10:18 left in regulation, the fifth touchdown scored between the two teams in a span of 5 minutes and 40 seconds.
Hoping to slow things down, the Gophers went back to Barber on their next possession as he carried the ball three straight times for 16 yards until a false start penalty and an incomplete pass forced a Minnesota punt giving the ball back to the Wolverines, who took over at their 40-yard-line.
Michigan continued the ride the right arm of Navarre, who completed four of his next five passes for 42 yards to drive the Wolverines to the Minnesota 13-yard-line.
After a three-yard run by wide receiver Braylon Edwards, Perry would get the call on 2nd down and run 10 yards for the game-tying touchdown with 5:48 left in regulation.
With their 21-point lead gone, the Gophers needed to put together a drive for the go-ahead score but went three-and-out and had to punt the ball to Michigan who took over at its 42-yard-line and 4:12 left on the clock.
The drive began with an incomplete pass followed by a four-yard pass to Jason Avant and a five-yard run by Perry to set up 4th & 1 at the Minnesota 49-yard-line with 3:29 remaining.
Michigan could have punted the ball back to Minnesota and hoped their defense would get another stop, but Carr decided to go for the 1st down which he got when Navarre sneaked over for two yards and a 1st down at the Gophers' 47-yard-line.
Following the 4th down conversion, Navarre completed a 14-yard pass to Avant to give Michigan a 1st down at the Minnesota 33-yard-line.
An incomplete pass and an one-yard run by Perry set up a 3rd & 9 when Navarre connected with Perry for 11 yards to give the Wolverines a 1st down at the Minnesota 21-yard-line.
Perry would run the ball for two yards on 1st down then got the ball on 2nd down and ran for three yards when disaster nearly struck when Minnesota defensive back Eli Wood knocked the ball loose causing a fumble, only to have to Michigan tight end Tim Massaquoi recover the fumble at the Minnesota 14-yard-line.
Following the near turnover, the Wolverines didn't take any chances as Navarre took a knee on 3rd down to set up the potential go-ahead field goal from 33 yards out by Garrett Rivas.
Rivas calmly made the field goal to give Michigan its first lead of the game at 38-35 with 47 seconds to go in regulation.
Minnesota would take over at their 20-yard-line with 47 seconds and one timeout as the Gophers went try and drive to at least at attempt a field goal to send the game into overtime.
However, the Gophers could not get going as their chances of forcing overtime evaporated when Michigan cornerback Markus Curry picked off an Abdul-Khaliq pass to help preserve the 38-35 win for the Wolverines and complete the greatest comeback in school history.
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| Michigan quarterback John Navarre completed 33 of 47 passes for 353 yards and threw two touchdowns plus caught a 36-yard touchdown pass from Steve Breaston. |
The comeback win over the Gophers sparked the Wolverines to a six-game winning streak that included a 35-21 win over Ohio State to give Michigan the Big 10 title and a trip to the Rose Bowl where they would lose to USC 28-14.
Meanwhile, the Gophers would finish the season with a 10-3 record after defeating Oregon in the Sun Bowl 31-30, marking the first time Minnesota had won at least 10 games since 1900.
As for the Little Brown Jug, the Gophers would not get their hands on it until 2005 when Jason Giannini kicked a 30-yard field goal with one second left to give Minnesota a 23-20 win and the Jug for the first time since 1986.
Since then, Michigan has gone 9-1 in the rivalry with the Gophers' only win coming in 2014.
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