The Gophers football program has three main trophy games it plays almost every season: Michigan for the Little Brown Jug, Iowa for Floyd of Rosedale and Wisconsin for Paul Bunyan's Axe.

The Gophers have not won all three trophies in the same season since 1967, when they beat Michigan 20-15, Iowa 10-0 and Wisconsin 21-14 on the way to winning a share of the Big Ten title.

It is premature to talk about the Gophers getting a sweep this year, since they are only one-third of the way there after a win over Michigan, but at the very least the opportunity presents itself — a rarity, as you will see — as the Gophers prepare to face Iowa on Saturday. Here's a glance at what has transpired in those trophy games since 1967:

• From 1968-2013, the Gophers faced all three opponents in the same season 42 times. In the other four seasons, they faced Iowa and Wisconsin but not Michigan (all of those seasons have happened since 1999).

• In 10 of those 42 seasons, the Gophers won two of the three trophy games. But in only one of those cases — 1986 — they won the first two, giving them a chance for the clean sweep. That season, John Gutekunst's Gophers beat Wisconsin 27-20 and upset Michigan 20-17 in consecutive November road games before falling the next weekend 30-27 at home to Iowa.

• The last time the Gophers won even two of the three games, in any order, was 1990. In the 19 other completed seasons since then in which Minnesota has played all three teams, the Gophers have been swept 10 times and gone 1-2 the other nine times. On only three occasions — 1993 and 1994 against Wisconsin and in 2005 against Michigan — did the Gophers win the first of the three trophy games, which they of course also did this season.

Gophers players celebrated with Floyd of Rosedale after beating Iowa in 2011. The Gophers could reclaim him Saturday as they pursue earning all three trophies available to them for the first time since 1967.

• The early part of this time frame was far more kind to the Gophers. In five of the seven seasons from 1969-75, the Gophers won two of the three trophy games. In each of those five seasons, the two wins were over Iowa and Wisconsin. The Gophers also enjoyed a relative stretch of good performances from 1984-1990, going 2-1 four times in that span.

• The low point? While it's true Tim Brewster never beat any of those three teams, the worst single season was almost certainly 1983, the final year under Joe Salem and also the same year of the infamous 84-13 loss to Nebraska. The Gophers were swept in the trophy games by a combined score of 175-37 that season.

Michael Rand