Iowa plays four rivalry games with trophies during a normal college football season, none longer than the rivalry with Minnesota.
The Iowa-Minnesota football rivalry began in 1891 when the two schools faced off on the gridiron for the first time. Minnesota dominated that matchup 42-4.
After a ten-year hiatus from 1891 to 1901, the game resumed and has been played every year since 1931.
Minnesota dominated the rivalry in the early days, and has been dominated by Iowa in recent history.
Before the Hawkeyes and Golden Gophers take the field for game No. 119 in the storied rivalry, we take a look back at some key historical moments.
The 1934 controversy
The rivalry may have begun in 1891, but it reached its highest intensity during the 1934 meeting. Iowa had a star running back, Ozzie Simmons.
Simmons was one of the few black college football layers at that time, and came to the University of Iowa because he was not allowed to play football in his home state of Texas.
Simmons was electrifying in the running and return game, but that came to a screeching halt during Iowa's game against Minnesota.
Minnesota players allegedly targeted Simmons due to his race and made multiple late and overly physical hits on him, forcing him out of the game by halftime.
While his injuries garnered some media attention, no one dug into the allegations of racial targeting. This led to heated rhetoric before the 1935 game and the wager everyone remembers.
The heated rhetoric of 1935 and the Iowa-Minnesota wager
After the controversy surrounding the 1934 game, multiple Iowa fans sent threatening letters to Minnesota coach Bernie Bierman.
Iowa's governor, Governor Clyde L. Herring, ignited the feud even further by telling reporters before the game that "if the officials stand for any rough tactics that Minnesota used last year, I'm sure the crowd won't."
After Herring's statement, Bierman threatened to break off the athletic relationship between the two programs.
To calm the tensions, Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson proposed a friendly wager. If Minnesota won the game, Iowa would send the state a prized pig and vice versa.
Minnesota won the game 13-6 and collected its prized pig from Rosedale Farms near Fort Dodge, Iowa. They named him "Floyd."
The "Floyd of Rosedale" Trophy is born
After the 1935 game, it was decided that the two states could no longer wager a live pig, so Governor Olson had a sculptor craft a new image of Floyd.
Sculptor Charles Brioschi was tasked with the project, and he created a 98-pound bronze figure of Floyd, thus beginning the battle for the "Floyd of Rosedale."
Series history
Minnesota dominated the early portion of the series on its way to winning multiple championships. The Golden Gophers have a 63-53-2 record against Iowa, but Iowa has closed the gap recently.
The Hawkeyes have won nine of the last 10 matchups, including a 31-14 game in October 2024 in Minneapolis.