When Minnesota and Iowa line up Saturday, the football matters. For the Gophers, it’s a chance to salvage a season that took a hit with a 41-13 loss to Purdue two weeks ago and to do it on homecoming against a ranked opponent that has made life miserable for them through the P.J.
Fleck era. For No.
15 Iowa, it’s about keeping a playoff path alive.
But this rivalry has always carried a second prize, one that has outlasted the generations of players and coaches: Floyd of Rosedale, the bronze pig.
For 90 years, the two border schools have played for that statue, and the odd tradition exists because the rivalry once needed calming. Floyd began as a wager between Minnesota governor Floyd B. Olson and was later cast in bronze so he could keep traveling back and forth across the border.
Olson’s purpose was bigger than a trophy. He wanted to cool tempers around one of the Big Ten’s early Black stars, Ozzie Simmons.
Simmons came to Iowa in 1933 after riding freight trains from a segregated school in Texas with hopes of playing college football. He was a gifted runner, and that made him a target almost immediately. Opposing players went after him with punches and knees, driven by his race as much as by his ability.
The abuse only escalated. Simmons was knocked out three times against Indiana, and Minnesota was no kinder in its 1934 blowout of Iowa.
Simmons later told the Star Tribune in 1988 that the Gophers defense “came in with knees high. ... What it amounted to was they were piling on, late hits.”
In Other News...
Gophers Fans Will Love This Floyd Of Rosedale Celebration Moment
The Gophers got more than a hard-fought 13-10 win over Iowa on Saturday. They got Floyd of Rosedale back, and the postgame celebration matched the moment, with the trophy carried through a crowd of Minnesota fans before the team later made room for it in the trophy cases alongside the rest of the rivalry hardware. Luke Drzewieckis two field goals were enough to earn him Big Ten special teams player of the week, a fitting footnote for a game decided by the kind of details these Border Battle showdowns usually turn on.
One of the more memorable scenes from the celebration quickly made the rounds online, adding a family touch to a rivalry trophy that already means plenty in Minnesota. It was the kind of image that fit the mood around the program after the win, and the sort of thing that tends to linger long after the scoreboard is forgotten, even as the Gophers keep moving through a week that has them looking at Floyd a little differently again. [Read more 🡒]
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 🡒]