Gophers' festive weekend would be capped by retaining Little Brown Jug

Winning the Little Brown Jug is one thing. Keeping it is another.

When Michigan visits Saturday, the Gophers will be trying to retain the 112-year-old traveling trophy over consecutive years for the first time since they beat the Wolverines every season from 1960 to '63.

Since then, the Gophers have won the jug six times, but the first five times in this stretch, Michigan took it right back the following year.

If the Gophers win this week — and as early 13 ½-point underdogs, that's a big if — they can keep the jug until at least 2017, because the teams aren't scheduled to play next year.

To understand how momentous this would be, rewind to last September, when the Gophers beat the Wolverines 30-14 at Michigan Stadium. It was Minnesota's first victory in the series since 2005.

"I don't think I've been able to experience a moment like that, running over to get the jug," quarterback Mitch Leidner said this summer. "I grabbed a cheerleader's megaphone, and I was screaming into it in the locker room. We got back to Minnesota, and all our fans are sitting outside our complex waiting for us. It was so cool."

The Gophers buckled the jug into its own first-class seat on the flight home from Michigan. There was so much demand from fans to see it, school officials established an appointment calendar. Requests for selfies with the jug still were coming into the football office this month.

They'll have 10 high school seniors making their official visits to campus this weekend, which starts Friday with a ceremonial groundbreaking for the $166 million Athletes Village project. Throw in the 6 p.m. Saturday kickoff on ESPN, with all the Halloween revelry, and this could be quite a showcase.

But the Gophers (4-3, 1-2 Big Ten) must play far better than they did when last seen, in their 48-25 home loss to Nebraska on Oct. 17.

No. 15 Michigan (5-2, 2-1) had a bye last week, just like the Gophers, so coach Jim Harbaugh had extra time to help the Wolverines get over their devastating loss to Michigan State on a muffed punt.

Michigan has vastly improved since firing Brady Hoke at the end of last season. His win totals with the Wolverines went backward each year after his first — 11, eight, seven, five — but Harbaugh has delivered an instant turnaround.

Offensively, the Wolverines have been fairly pedestrian. They rank 70th in the nation in scoring offense (28.6 points per game) but boast the nation's best scoring defense (9.3).

Kill said the Gophers used the bye week to get healthier, but he told WCCO that senior safety Damarius Travis will indeed miss the rest of the year because of a hamstring injury. Kill had hinted as much last week.

Besides Travis, Kill said three other defensive starters are questionable for the Michigan game: linebacker Cody Poock (unspecified injury), defensive end Theiren Cockran (foot) and defensive tackle Scott Ekpe (unspecified). That's a concern for a defense that yielded 203 yards rushing and 261 yards passing to Nebraska.

The news was slightly more encouraging for the offense. Kill said offensive lineman Josh Campion will remain out because of a concussion, but said center Brian Bobek will be back from his unspecified injury. Kill also said running backs Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks will be at full speed. The Gophers rushed for a season-low 65 yards against Nebraska and face a Michigan squad allowing only 64.7 rushing yards per game.

This starts a stretch of three consecutive prime time games against ranked teams. After, this Minnesota plays at No. 1 Ohio State and at No. 10 Iowa.

"When you get to play the best [teams], sometimes there's something to be said for that, you know," Kill said last week. "The better competition brings the better out of you. And I think if we can get some bodies healed up — which, that's what the off week's for — I think that could help us a whole bunch."