Gophers have three rivalries ranked among college football's top 51

Rivalry games are one of the most fun aspects of following Minnesota Golden Gophers football. As a program that has been around for over 130 years, the Gophers have some big-time, long-running rivalries in the Big Ten. And in a recent ranking of the 100 best rivalries in all of college football, three games involving Minnesota made the top 51 — including one in the top 10.

The list comes from Scott Dochterman at The Athletic. Here's where he placed the Gophers' three most prominent all-time rivalries.

No. 51: Minnesota vs. Michigan

"In the Big Ten’s first five decades, Michigan-Minnesota was its most prominent rivalry," Dochterman wrote of the battle for the Little Brown Jug, which is the conference's oldest traveling trophy.

This was mostly a rivalry in the first half of the 20th century, when both schools were battling for Big Ten titles and national championships. The Wolverines have absolutely dominated the series for decades, going 44-4 against Minnesota since 1968, but there was once a time where it was an evenly-matched rivalry. That was a very long time ago, but it happened.

Nowadays, programs like Nebraska and Illinois would likely be considered closer rivals to the Gophers than Michigan, simply because they haven't been competitive in that matchup.

No. 34: Minnesota vs. Iowa

"Few Midwestern series boast more vitriolic moments than Iowa-Minnesota," Dochterman wrote.

The battle for the Floyd of Rosedale is an iconic rivalry, even if Iowa has been the far better program over most of the last 45 years. The Hawkeyes are 31-12 against the Gophers since 1982, but Minnesota still leads the all-time series 63-53-2 due to its dominance over Iowa for much of the 20th century. Gopher fans love to chant "Who hates Iowa? We hate Iowa." Cooper DeJean's invalid fair catch signal in 2023 provided a recent moment that will go down in the rivalry's history.

No. 10: Minnesota vs. Wisconsin

"Perhaps no other border feud contains the ecstasy of victory and misery in defeat like Minnesota-Wisconsin," Dochterman wrote. "They are codependent Big Ten rivals in every sense of the word. While the Badgers have been more successful the last three decades, the result of this game impacts how every season is remembered for both teams."

It's fitting that one of the all-time best college football rivalries is currently tied up at 63-63-8. Dating back to 1890, this is the single most-played series in FBS history at 134 games. As you might assume, the Gophers had a better record in the series before 1970 than since that point, but the animosity of the border battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe has never gone away. The Gophers snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Badgers in 2018 and have won three of the last four.

Subscribers to The Athletic can read the full top 100 here and the rationale behind the rankings here.

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