The photo had everything going for it: a bronzed pig, a sea of maroon, and a baby with a giant bow perched right on top of one of college football’s most recognizable trophies.
That baby is Winnie, and her dad is Gophers punter Tom Weston.
After Minnesota’s 13-10 win over Iowa on Saturday, the Floyd of Rosedale made its way back to the Gophers in a scene that produced a flood of images and videos. But Weston’s Sunday post on X - with Winnie balanced on Floyd while her mother, Tia Medve, held her up from the stands - quickly became the one everyone wanted to see. Weston, a senior from Perth, Australia, wrote: “Hang it in the Louve” - a nod to Paris’ famous art museum.
Winnie was born in Australia earlier this year, and in Minnesota last weekend she became the unlikely star of the celebration. The photo showed her with a maroon bow stretched across her tiny forehead and noise-protecting headphones over her ears, while hundreds of fans packed the background. Gophers offensive lineman Tony Nelson is smiling in the foreground, and the whole thing came together amid Minnesota’s first home win over Iowa since 2014.
P.J. Fleck showed the picture to his team on Sunday, and he didn’t hold back on how striking it looked.
“A cool moment and memory,” Fleck told the Pioneer Press. “All the players around them.
That’s what the picture encompasses, for me, is how happy and prideful they are. …
“It looks Photoshop. It looks AI, and it’s not.”
Weston’s afternoon on the field was no sideshow, either. He handled nine punts for a 41.8-yard average, with two landing inside the 20. His biggest sequence came in the fourth quarter with the game tied 10-10: a 32-yard punt was returned 32 yards by Iowa’s Evan James, who then fumbled and gave Weston the recovery at Minnesota’s 15-yard line.
Minnesota had to punt again after an illegal formation penalty, and Weston delivered a 46-yard kick that James could only return 3 yards. An Iowa penalty during the return backed the Hawkeyes up to their own 32. Iowa punted three plays later, and Minnesota closed it out with the game-winning drive.
Weston also handled the holding duties on Luke Drzewiecki’s 46-yard field goal as time expired and on his 31-yard field goal in the first quarter.
Back inside the Larson Football Performance Center, the trophy room had to be shuffled to make space for Floyd. The Gophers already had Paul Bunyan’s Axe in the right case after their 17-7 win over Wisconsin on Nov. 29, 2025, and the Little Brown Jug in the left case after their 20-14 win over Michigan on Oct.
- To fit Floyd between them, the staff moved in another square trophy case over the weekend.
“We made one more play than (Iowa) did, especially with three minutes to go,” Fleck said. “… We made the play, got the win and Floyd of Rosedale is back in Minnesota.
He’s in his pen over there in the trophy room. He’s all set.”
Minnesota’s new football complex opened in 2018, so the program had never had all three rivalry trophies on display together there. The last time the Gophers possessed all three at once was in October 1978.
The Gophers are 5-2 and 3-1 in the Big Ten heading into Saturday’s game at fourth-ranked Indiana, where they’ll be a 20-point underdog. ESPN’s College GameDay will be in Bloomington for the matchup.
Drzewiecki was named the Big Ten special teams player of the week on Monday after his two field goals. The kickoff time for Minnesota’s home game against No.
6 UCLA on Nov. 7 will be released this weekend.
In Other News...
Gophers Beat Iowa With A Formula Hawkeyes Fans Know Too Well
Minnesotas win over No. 15 Iowa looked a lot like the kind of game Hawkeyes fans have spent years expecting to control. The Gophers leaned on defense, special teams and sheer toughness to take back the Floyd of Rosedale trophy, while Iowa never found the sort of offensive rhythm needed to turn field position and pressure into points.
The tone of the afternoon changed early with a blocked punt on Iowas opening possession, and Minnesota kept making the kind of gritty plays that tend to decide this rivalry. Iowa finished with four turnovers and few big plays to fall back on, while Luke Drzewieckis long field goal gave the Gophers a crucial cushion they would not surrender. [Read more 🡒]
Gophers Suddenly Have A National Spotlight And Bigger Stakes Saturday
Minnesota heads into Saturday with a little more national attention than usual, as ESPNs College GameDay will set up on the Indiana campus for the Gophers matchup with No. 6 Indiana at Memorial Stadium. Its the kind of stage that brings extra eyes, extra noise and a reminder that a late-season Big Ten game can carry far beyond the usual conference stakes.
For P.J. Flecks group, it also adds a familiar wrinkle to an unfamiliar setting. This is the second time Minnesota has been part of College GameDay under Fleck, though this time the Gophers are the road team, and they arrive with some momentum after last weeks 13-10 win over Iowa. That victory gave Minnesota multiple rivalry trophies at once for the first time since 1978, and now the challenge is carrying that energy into one of the leagues biggest road environments. [Read more 🡒]
Luke Drzewiecki Is Turning Minnesotas Kicking Game Into A Real Edge
Luke Drzewiecki has quietly become one of Minnesotas most reliable weapons, and the latest recognition only reinforced it. After making two field goals in the win over Iowa, he was named the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week, adding another honor to a season that has already seen him collect the award twice.
The bigger story for the Gophers is how steady he has been under pressure. Drzewiecki has not missed a field goal in his last 23 attempts, a run that dates back to last season and stands as the longest active streak in the nation. For a Minnesota team looking for every edge it can get in close games, that kind of consistency changes the feel of late-game situations. [Read more 🡒]