Inside the Big Ten's love of traveling rivalry trophies — Pigs, axes, buckets and beyond

New York Times

3 days ago

Editor's note: All week, The Athletic is writing about college football rivalries at a moment of change in the sport. Read our ranking of the top 100 rivalries here and also vote for your favorites.
On Halloween 1903, Michigan coach Fielding Yost bought an oversized water jug to sit on his team's sideline during the Wolverines' game at Minnesota. When the Gophers tied the score at 6-6 with two minutes remaining, the crowd of more than 20,000 people and maroon-painted livestock stormed the field. The game was ruled a draw, and Yost left his jug on the field.
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When Yost asked for it back, Minnesota athletic administrator L.J. Cooke responded, 'If you want it, you'll have to win it.' In 1909, Yost reclaimed the Little Brown Jug and, in the process, ignited the Big Ten's love affair with symbols of victory.
Nearly 12 decades later, traveling trophies remain a foundational part of Big Ten football, and nowhere is that more apparent than in Minnesota. The Gophers compete for trophies with four Big Ten teams, and three rank as the most recognizable in college football. In many ways, they have become more iconic than the games themselves.
'That's the great thing about being at the University of Minnesota,' Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said. 'College football is about the pageantry and the tradition, and we're keeping that at the University of Minnesota. Our fans are really excited about that, especially with Wisconsin and Iowa.'
In an atrium outside Minnesota's locker room, there is a glass case for the Little Brown Jug, which Michigan has retained since 2015. There's a dedicated pig pen for Floyd of Rosedale, the 98-pound bronze hog for which the Gophers have played Iowa since 1935. There's a holding cell for Paul Bunyan's Axe, which goes to the Wisconsin-Minnesota winner. In addition, there's a spot for the Governor's Victory Bell against Penn State.
The Pig, the Axe and the Jug are organic, magical and historic; the Governor's Victory Bell doesn't share in that longevity. Minnesota has played Wisconsin (134 games), Iowa (118) and Michigan (106) since the 1800s, while the Gophers and Nittany Lions have met just 16 times.
Therein lies the duality of the Big Ten's trophy culture. Winning is important, but the keepsake is immortal. Before 2020, players would dash across the field to grab their prize within a few feet of the losing team. That regularly led to scuffles, so trophies are now placed in end zones.
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Trophies have become embedded in Big Ten lore, with replicas appearing on T-shirts and Christmas ornaments sold by shops throughout the Midwest. They often tour their home states and appear at state fairs. Fans bring clones of Paul Bunyan's Axe to tailgates before the Minnesota-Wisconsin game. Both Fleck and Iowa counterpart Kirk Ferentz have Floyd of Rosedale caricatures in their offices.
But the passion for prize hardware goes beyond the Upper Midwest states of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. It's the entire league. With 21 recognized traveling trophies, the Big Ten has by far the most trinkets of any football conference. Twelve of the trophies are at least 70 years old, and their stories provide a portal into Midwestern culture and the sport's early days. From the Old Oaken Bucket between Indiana and Purdue to the Paul Bunyan Trophy of Michigan and Michigan State, players rally around the symbol as much as the result.
Last year, Indiana capped an 11-1 regular season with a 66-0 win against Purdue, which was winless in Big Ten play. Instead of celebrating a likely College Football Playoff berth, sixth-year center Mike Katic ran straight for the Bucket, which the Hoosiers hadn't won since 2019.
'This is the happiest I've been in a long time,' Katic told reporters afterward. 'We haven't had the Bucket in five years. Getting it back in that fashion … I'm over the moon.'
Every trophy carries value because they all define victory. But when it comes to the Big Ten's trophies, there's one that squeals the loudest, and that's the pig that saved a rivalry.
Bitter feelings permeated the Iowa-Minnesota series well before their 1934 meeting, but they intensified after the Gophers' 48-12 victory. Tensions escalated at Iowa due to accusations that racism lay behind how the Gophers pulverized Hawkeyes running back Ozzie Simmons.
The rhetoric spun out of control the morning before the 1935 matchup. In a gathering at the state capitol in Des Moines, an Associated Press reporter overheard Iowa Gov. Clyde Herring allegedly say, 'If the officials stand for any rough tactics like Minnesota used last year, I'm sure the crowd won't.'
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By early afternoon, the story circulated throughout the Midwest, and Minnesota state officials issued threats to Herring. Gophers coach Bernie Bierman, who took his team by train across the Mississippi River and into Illinois, threatened to cut ties with Iowa.
Seeking to diffuse the situation, Minnesota Gov. Floyd Olson sent Herring a telegram and wagered a Minnesota prized pig against an Iowa porker. Herring accepted the bet. In a hard-fought but clean game between previously unbeaten teams, the Gophers prevailed 13-6.
Herring procured a 200-pound champion hog from Rosedale Farms in north-central Iowa, and it rode a private train car to St. Paul, Minn. After trading hands multiple times, the renamed 'Floyd of Rosedale' moved to a farm near Mabel, Minn., located about six miles north of the state border. The original pig died of cholera in 1936, and that year, Olson commissioned a bronze replica. For the ensuing nine decades, the teams have capped 'Hate Week' with a fierce battle for the pig.
Coaches have played their roles over the years, too. In 2020, Ferentz called three consecutive timeouts with a 35-0 lead and 19 seconds left in their 2020 game. When asked why, Ferentz said, 'I thought I'd leave the timeouts (in Minneapolis) and take Floyd with us.' During an Iowa loss at Minnesota in 2006, Ferentz kicked the trophy and broke his toe.
After a 12-10 win at Iowa in 2023, Fleck took Floyd of Rosedale to his home in the southwest suburbs to spend the night with him and his wife, Heather.
'I think everybody took that quote a little too seriously when I said that it slept with us,' Fleck said. 'But it was in the room.'
Fleck also gave in to some good-natured pettiness. On his way to the office the next morning, he rolled down the windows in his vehicle and drove slowly to the football complex.
'We have one of our neighbors who flies the Iowa Hawkeye flag very proudly,' he said. 'We just wanted to make sure they got a good glimpse out their Ring camera to see old Floyd. We had to see that flag a lot of years after our game.'
Floyd may have the best backstory, but Paul Bunyan's Axe has more swagger. Painted red on one side of the blade and gold on the other, Minnesota and Wisconsin battle for the Axe every year. The rivals played for the Slab of Bacon from 1930 to 1943, until Minnesota coach George Hauser declined it as an improper token during World War II food rationing.
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Wisconsin kept the Slab of Bacon, and then it was 'allegedly' misplaced until it turned up in a storage area in 1994. But it was updated annually with the scores of each game. In 1948, Paul Bunyan's Axe became the official traveling trophy, and Wisconsin has since refused to hand the Slab of Bacon back to Minnesota.
Other Big Ten trophy origin stories are lighter in tone but are just as important.
This year, Ohio State-Illinois and Purdue-Indiana celebrate the centennials of their traveling trophies. In 1925, the Buckeyes and Fighting Illini chose a live turtle to signify their long-lasting spirit of competition. The turtle died in 1927 and was replaced by the wooden Illibuck.
Indiana-Purdue ranks second among Big Ten schools in games played. In 1925, their Chicago alumni clubs wanted a traveling trophy and felt an 'Old Oaken Bucket' taken from a water well was 'the most typical Hoosier form of trophy.' They found one on a farm in southern Indiana, and it is believed to be around 180 years old.
Indiana and Michigan State have played for the Brass Spittoon since 1950 in the wake of the Big Ten's vote to admit the Spartans. The 200-year-old hardware came from one of Michigan's earliest trading posts. The Spartans and Wolverines play annually for the Paul Bunyan Trophy, a 4-foot replica of the legendary lumberjack. Michigan governor G. Mennen Williams donated it in 1953 after Michigan State officially joined the Big Ten.
Illinois and Northwestern met for the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk from 1945 to 2007, then retired that trophy and now play for the Land of Lincoln Trophy, modeled after Abraham Lincoln's hat. The Illini and Purdue compete for The Cannon, a six-inch-tall replica of the real cannon that was first brought to Champaign by Boilermaker students in 1905. It was hidden after the game near Illinois' football field, taken to a farm in central Illinois, and then donated back to the schools in 1943.
USC and UCLA began playing for the Victory Bell in 1942 and have since incorporated that trophy into the Big Ten. As a tribute to the first African-American football player to compete for both schools, Michigan and Northwestern began playing for the George Jewett Trophy in 2021.
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There are also new ones, like the Land Grant Trophy (Michigan State-Penn State) and the Freedom Trophy (Wisconsin-Nebraska). Iowa's rivalry with Wisconsin began in 1894, but the schools didn't start playing for the Heartland Trophy until 110 years later. The Hawkeyes also battle with Nebraska for the Heroes Trophy.
In addition, the Big Ten has five nonconference trophies: Cy-Hawk Trophy (Iowa-Iowa State), Apple Cup (Washington-Washington State), Shillelagh (Purdue-Notre Dame), Jeweled Shillelagh (USC-Notre Dame) and the Megaphone (Michigan State-Notre Dame).
Some are more well-known than others, but all of them have value, even the unsanctioned $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy between Minnesota and Nebraska. Some potential trinkets were shelved early, like Purdue-Iowa, because they could diminish the others' value. But the Midwestern obsession over trophies won't go away. Because in the Big Ten, they're synonymous with victory.
Before departing on the team bus for Camp Randall Stadium in 2018, Fleck gave every player a bottle of Axe Body Spray in a team meeting. He instructed the players to leave their mark inside the visitors' locker room after reclaiming Paul Bunyan's Axe.
'I said, 'After the game, we'll have an Axe party, and we'll be spraying our Axe,'' Fleck said before the four-hour drive. ''I want you to visualize that. It's going to happen.''
Minnesota won 37-15, and the players emptied their bottles in the visiting locker room.
'Everybody in 2018 remembers the win, but they all remember the smell of a locker, and that's what the 2018 team talks about,' Fleck said. 'They'll never look at Axe Body Spray the same.'
(Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; Photos: David Berding, Michael Hickey, Jamie Sabau / Getty Images)